Democracy has been the system of the richest and most powerful countries in the last century. Survival of the fittest says it's the best (among the currently available).
The economic crisis, the relative power decline versus the non-democratic China is a new thing. So is the slow but steady changing of Eastern Europe and Russia into much more centralized systems. There were economic problems before, but they hit everyone and hit non-democratic countries harder (when US citizens lost their jobs in the thirties depression, people starved to death in Ukraine by millions). Democracies were overthrew by military Juntas against the people but now people happily vote for leaders taking away more and more rights.
The solution seems obvious: take away the votes of the idiots/lazy, but it does not answer the question how did it happen. I mean the overall education level increased over the decades, the people who voted for Abraham Lincoln were surely less informed, less educated, less enlightened than those who vote various populists now. If simple dumbness would be the problem, democracy would only get better every year. Also, my idea, the welfare leeches aren't the clue for this problem: the amount of inactives did not increase that much over the decades.
I've been reading articles in newspapers, blogs, have my own blog myself. Recently I got involved to unmoderated forums. The solution was right there: shitposting. No, I'm not kidding, I really thinks that shitposting and its media, the internet broke democracy and will force its replacement.
What is shitposting? It has nothing to do with being wrong, despite shitposters call their opponents shitposters. Shitposting is simply adding an argument that has some basic logic fallacy, or adding no argument at all, but some totally random opinion or insult. Let me give some examples. They all argue for evolution against intelligent design, so I believe them to be right but they are still worthless crap:
The internet removed the financial barrier from posting. Everyone who has time can reach lot of people with his opinion, even if that's utterly worthless crap. Anyone can reach the wide audience with good-sounding but utterly wrong arguments. The number of arguments only tell what other uneducated people think. Ad hominem attacks became standard, in the current election people spent more time scrutinizing what Bain Capital did or if Obama is a muslim or not than their actual programs.
People did not get dumber, they can now choose from a palette holding utterly dumb options. So they do. Let's give the obvious example, the economic crisis. Before the age of shitposting there were two group of economic ideas. The "left wing" believed that high governmental redistribution leads to growth. The "right wing" believed in free market and individual responsibility. If someone would come up with the idea that "hey guys, how about throwing money made from thin air to the people, so everyone would be rich", he would have been laughed and ignored by both sides. He couldn't get his ideas posted in the books and papers of either side, nor he had the money to fund his own. In the age of internet, this nonsense became mainstream. The politician who did not offer better education/health care/welfare/jobs/defense without tax raise had no chance to win. Cheap loans that were defaulted in the minute of giving out became standard. The voices of those who told it's nonsense either from left or right was lost in the noise of millions of dumb people who couldn't add two numbers.
It will just get worse. Every day new and new people get hooked on the internet, believing that talking without having a clue or avoiding any kind of logic is the norm. The time when people honestly believe that everyone could live in wealth without anyone working is near. You can't undo internet. You can't revoke the ability of people to write to their Facebook page that Obama is a muslim nigger or Romney is evil because his kiss with his wife shows no emotion. Dumbness must be filtered elsewhere, and I have no better idea than the urns. Democracy - the system when everyone can vote - has came to the end.
Note to dumb people: I do not mean that internet is bad. Internet is good. Democracy was always bad but worked with the limitations of the information monopoly of the intelligent people. This monopoly locked out dumb and uninformed people from the decision making process, they simply followed their local (relatively) intelligent opinion leaders. This monopoly wasn't good because it locked out lot of people from information, especially those who were born into poverty.
Thursday morning report: 184.8B (6.6+2.0 spent on main accounts, 7.1 spent on Logi/Carrier, 3.8 on Ragnarok, 3.3+2.0 on Rorqual, 3.4 on Nyx, 3.4 on Dread, 37.4 sent as gift)
The economic crisis, the relative power decline versus the non-democratic China is a new thing. So is the slow but steady changing of Eastern Europe and Russia into much more centralized systems. There were economic problems before, but they hit everyone and hit non-democratic countries harder (when US citizens lost their jobs in the thirties depression, people starved to death in Ukraine by millions). Democracies were overthrew by military Juntas against the people but now people happily vote for leaders taking away more and more rights.
The solution seems obvious: take away the votes of the idiots/lazy, but it does not answer the question how did it happen. I mean the overall education level increased over the decades, the people who voted for Abraham Lincoln were surely less informed, less educated, less enlightened than those who vote various populists now. If simple dumbness would be the problem, democracy would only get better every year. Also, my idea, the welfare leeches aren't the clue for this problem: the amount of inactives did not increase that much over the decades.
I've been reading articles in newspapers, blogs, have my own blog myself. Recently I got involved to unmoderated forums. The solution was right there: shitposting. No, I'm not kidding, I really thinks that shitposting and its media, the internet broke democracy and will force its replacement.
What is shitposting? It has nothing to do with being wrong, despite shitposters call their opponents shitposters. Shitposting is simply adding an argument that has some basic logic fallacy, or adding no argument at all, but some totally random opinion or insult. Let me give some examples. They all argue for evolution against intelligent design, so I believe them to be right but they are still worthless crap:
- Every scientists believe in evolution. [citation to some metastudy? Also, who counts as "scientists"]
- Even the pope accepted evolution. [since when did the pope became authority on the topic]
- There is no God, therefore there can't be intelligent design. [there is no disproof of God, also no God needed for intelligent design, space aliens could also design Earth ecosystem]
- Only Tea Party idiots believe it. [worthless ad hominem]
- No scientific book teaches otherwise. [just like no books taught F = m*a before Newton wrote one]
The internet removed the financial barrier from posting. Everyone who has time can reach lot of people with his opinion, even if that's utterly worthless crap. Anyone can reach the wide audience with good-sounding but utterly wrong arguments. The number of arguments only tell what other uneducated people think. Ad hominem attacks became standard, in the current election people spent more time scrutinizing what Bain Capital did or if Obama is a muslim or not than their actual programs.
People did not get dumber, they can now choose from a palette holding utterly dumb options. So they do. Let's give the obvious example, the economic crisis. Before the age of shitposting there were two group of economic ideas. The "left wing" believed that high governmental redistribution leads to growth. The "right wing" believed in free market and individual responsibility. If someone would come up with the idea that "hey guys, how about throwing money made from thin air to the people, so everyone would be rich", he would have been laughed and ignored by both sides. He couldn't get his ideas posted in the books and papers of either side, nor he had the money to fund his own. In the age of internet, this nonsense became mainstream. The politician who did not offer better education/health care/welfare/jobs/defense without tax raise had no chance to win. Cheap loans that were defaulted in the minute of giving out became standard. The voices of those who told it's nonsense either from left or right was lost in the noise of millions of dumb people who couldn't add two numbers.
It will just get worse. Every day new and new people get hooked on the internet, believing that talking without having a clue or avoiding any kind of logic is the norm. The time when people honestly believe that everyone could live in wealth without anyone working is near. You can't undo internet. You can't revoke the ability of people to write to their Facebook page that Obama is a muslim nigger or Romney is evil because his kiss with his wife shows no emotion. Dumbness must be filtered elsewhere, and I have no better idea than the urns. Democracy - the system when everyone can vote - has came to the end.
Note to dumb people: I do not mean that internet is bad. Internet is good. Democracy was always bad but worked with the limitations of the information monopoly of the intelligent people. This monopoly locked out dumb and uninformed people from the decision making process, they simply followed their local (relatively) intelligent opinion leaders. This monopoly wasn't good because it locked out lot of people from information, especially those who were born into poverty.
Thursday morning report: 184.8B (6.6+2.0 spent on main accounts, 7.1 spent on Logi/Carrier, 3.8 on Ragnarok, 3.3+2.0 on Rorqual, 3.4 on Nyx, 3.4 on Dread, 37.4 sent as gift)
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