David RobertsI know I've said this a trillion times but I have to say it periodically to keep from going insane:
The right ran a huge, well-funded, & ultimately successful campaign to completely take over political media & the infosphere more generally. This is by far the most important political development...
Brendan JonesMight I suggest different framing? The rich took over media. The very rich are generally right wing, yes, because being very rich requires a lack of empathy. But it’s not like a bunch of poor right wingers got together to take over media.
The rich took over media to push for (de)regulation to further increase their wealth and entrench their power, both economic and political.
And I place the blame squarely at the foot of capitalism, especially our current brand that allows for massive and increasing inequality of wealth.
A familiar story, but I think two facts complicate it. One, this notion that rich people are ruthless self-interest maximizers, & only reference ideology instrumentally, as a way of getting what they want, is nonsense. These dudes are in the same epistemic bubbles as the base!
And two, may rich people are left wing. There are lots of wealthy donors to the Dem Party and surveys tend to find that they are *farther* left than Dem normies, not the reverse.
Paco Hope@volts.wtf I agree. And I would add that I think there’s left-leaning wealth that is sitting on the sidelines because there’s no one to give it to. If you are very liberal, the democrats look like republican-lite: all the capitalism, half the bias. It feels wrong to reward them for doing the wrong things, just slightly less harmfully.