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Alexander Turok's avatar

European conversions from paganism to Christianity were, except in the earliest days of the religions, largely elite-driven affairs. Peasants, unable to read the Bible and unconcerned about getting along with foreign Princes, often resisted it, and it would take several generations before the remnants of paganism were stamped out. I'm sure the rulers of those societies could have noticed around the time that was happening that suddenly the peasants were being more rebellious, questioning their teachings when they had previously accepted them without complaint.

The simplest explanation for "the revolt of the public" is that elites adopted a form of radical egalitarianism that the people have not yet embraced. If people were becoming more rebellious as a rule, you'd expect to see it in areas other than voting behavior, such as in the workplace. But you don't.

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handleym's avatar

I agree with your skepticism, Robin. However I can give one aspect of the story that I think is important.

Gurri is frustrated by complaints that are against but not for anything. I think for the most part such complaints are performative, they exist to make the performer feel better and to rise in status in their peer group. Such silliness has always existed, but social media gives a certain personality type a way to live this performative lifestyle much more aggressively than before. And this aggressive performance can then be trumpeted by those who wish to trumpet it, from late night comedians to lazy journalists to the next Steve Bannon.

In other words I don't think Social Media is showing anything especially new or important about humanity, how it behaves, and what it wants. But it IS providing a new (and mostly destructive) set of options for political entrepreneurs, from excuses for setting the agenda, to distractions from currently problematic issues, to establishing saliency in the mind of the short-term voter.

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