Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

2016 Postmortem

Hortensis

(58,785 posts)

10. Because there is so much of this stuff,

Reply to Maru Kitteh (Reply #8)

Tue Jun 7, 2016, 08:51 PM

Jun 2016

I posted on conspiracy theories on a large thread. Turns out this kind of thinking has become normal for populist movements on many continents, to the point that those movements can morph to pose a threat to democracy. We have conspiracy-prone left- and right-wing anti-establishment "populist" movements going in the U.S. right now.

What counts is that the traditional rules of the political game are questioned and the legitimacy of representative democracy is put into doubt. Part of the appeal of conspiracy theories is their simplicity. In a complex, changing world, it is tempting to reduce multifaceted issues to the us-and-them narrative. It is a vision that meets little contradiction because reasoned facts are sidelined by emotion. It is a binary scheme, with “the people” on one side and “the system” on the other.

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/dec/18/conspiracy-theories-extreme-right-far-left-threaten-democracy

Edit history

Please sign in to view edit histories.

27 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

The media "calling it" yesterday was good for nobody at all. [View all] Maru Kitteh Jun 2016 OP

One of the factors of putting Hillary over 2383 was the delegates from PR and VI. In this case Thinkingabout Jun 2016 #1

I know it was inevitable, but the effect was graceless. Maru Kitteh Jun 2016 #2

Hillary won 30% fewer votes in California than she did in 2008 GoldenThunder Jun 2016 #16

And Sanders got less votes than Hillary, it must have been because Obama was running in Thinkingabout Jun 2016 #20

I know you mean well, and I appreciate that... Raster Jun 2016 #3

All I can tell you is, I disagree. That's not so bad, right? Maru Kitteh Jun 2016 #5

Being given a heads-up is different from wanting something to happen, though. Garrett78 Jun 2016 #14

Agreed Lucinda Jun 2016 #4

Yup. All the news coverage in the middle Hortensis Jun 2016 #6

And it was. Yes we're moving forward, but I though it was important to realize this Maru Kitteh Jun 2016 #8

Because there is so much of this stuff, Hortensis Jun 2016 #10

In the end the media's job is to report the news whether it's good or bad for anybody. -nt- Lord Magus Jun 2016 #7

I don't disagree, I just wish ti would have been different. Maru Kitteh Jun 2016 #11

Its how the Oligarchy rolls AgingAmerican Jun 2016 #9

Well said democrattotheend Jun 2016 #12

Thank you! I appreciate that. Maru Kitteh Jun 2016 #13

Let me put it this way democrattotheend Jun 2016 #15

It's our Super Delegate system that allowed AP to call this election before the Tuesday primary Tom Rinaldo Jun 2016 #17

Well said democrattotheend Jun 2016 #18

Maybe so, but in the larger scheme of things it didn't change anything onenote Jun 2016 #19

I'm looking past this specific controversy now Tom Rinaldo Jun 2016 #21

To be clear, I'm not defending the SD system. onenote Jun 2016 #25

I agree! We All were robbed of a clean primary yesterday Equinox Moon Jun 2016 #22

I agree with you. Bluenorthwest Jun 2016 #23

I agree Nonhlanhla Jun 2016 #24

Hillary was going to win nomination with or without the call (nt) bigwillq Jun 2016 #26

AP put a damper on everything here in CA. HughLefty1 Jun 2016 #27