English speaker here and huge fan of the very sweet Vlad Vexler. If you make more episodes in English I will happily watch them. I've never seen you before but found this episode because Vlad linked it.
There was a very brief moment when UA-cam allowed you to subscribe to playlists instead of whole channels. I wish they brought this back because I'd like to subscribe to the English language playlist here!
This is one of the most complete representation of the most relevant aspects of Vlad Vexler's thinking (as per my limited understanding after having been a listener to Vlad's channel for 2 years). Thank you, and congratulations on a very, very well conducted interview where you did not only let Vlad shine, but also actively contributed with what and how you conversed.
That was a tonic. The questions were playing into Vlad's strong suit and he performed brilliantly. I will share this with my grandson who is interested in politics.
Hoo! Vlad Futucastissa! Molempia olen kuunnellut jo jonkin aikaa ja ovat oikein hyviä. Vasta alussa olen, mutta luotan, että tulee tosi hyvää tavaraa. (Hi Vlad! You are awesome, but take it easy and rest as needed.)
Very illuminating and enthusiastic chat! You & Vlad interact well and productively together. It is clear that Vlad enjoyed your rigorous and mutually respectful engaged duscussion. I was thankful that it was in English! Regards from Ohio USA. 🤙🏼
I’m so glad you got Vlad Vexler as a guest. I value his views very highly, i think his views are very valuable. This podcast should be shown to every politician in the west.
I understand a few of Vlads points much better now and completely agree. I imagine our overreaction to russian interference like an alergic overreaction by the immune system. In that really doing far more damage than the interference ever could do alone.
I am a regular listener of Vlad Vexler in English and Futucast in Finnish. So, I felt very confused, but also very pleased, when those two channels came together in this interview! Thank you! Keep up the good work!
I very seldom comment just to say heap some standard praise on a video. But this interview was exceptional, with excellent questions, timing and lenght. You caught Vlad on one of his best days, offering not only typically wise but extraordinarily succinct answers. Kudos to both of you and whatever tireless soul acted behind the scene.
I agree with Vlad that you ask excellent questions! Keep up the great work - the world needs more insightful journalists like you! Vlad as always facilitates our thinking about politics and how we can all contribute to the strengthening of our democracies 💚🙏🇦🇺
Brilliant, I highly recommend this talk! I don't like where our democracies are headed with the rise of populism and authoritarianism, but it's comforting to know that a philosopher (Vlad) understands it and can articulate it for us.
Wow, so my phone that is always listening to me 😅, directed me to your site for the first time cuz I often listen to Vlad Vexler. That was great, and perhaps I will return. I love listening to Interviews of Vlad, I think he comes across best in such a format.
35:50 Your statement on the loss of accepted facts shook me. I never considered we cant return to shared facts. I would be quite interested to hear further thoughts on how we can improve/repair this loss.
Yeah, this is a topic I REALLY want to hear more about from Vlad. As far as I can see here in the U.S., Semmelweis Effect has hit Covid levels of spread. An ever growing percentage of the population simply will not accept any information that doesn't fit their narrative on the topic in question. And so many of such people spout utter word salad with amazing levels of conviction. Time after time I've watched people I'd think would know better just fall for the garbage hook, line, and sinker.
The algorithm brought me here from Vlad's channels, which I love. Outstanding discussion from 2 outstanding UA-camrs! The best on these topics I've heard yet! Too bad I can't understand Finnish, as I'm curious what else the host discusses.
Kiitos todella hyvästä keskustelusta! Toivottavasti luet Isak tämän kommentin, sillä suosittelisin ehdottomasti siirtymään enemmän kansainväliseen formaattiin. Sulla on natiivitason englanti ja pystyt melkein paremmin mielestäni formuloimaan kysymyksiä ja ajatuksia näin. Tämä sais sut erottumaan edukses muista suomalaisista podcast-ohjelmista + saisit todnäk. enemmän mielenkiintoisia vieraita ohjelmaan. Oikea suunta! ❤
It's so bizarre that Destiny and Vlad are among the just a few political channels/thinkers in English worth watching. There's an infinite ocean of channels and I can hardly name anyone except for these two.
@@ak5659 Agree, there're a few good podcasts out there. They cover a more narrow set of topics tho. Ryan McBeth and Mark Galeotti are excellent too but have a limited scope to their expertise. I should have mentioned Sam Harris along with Destiny and Vlad, he too has a good understanding of politics, ethics and law and generally shows good faith.
The most important part of the Harris/Walz political campaign is to keep the message future leaning. We’re not going back to the negativity and demeaning political bickering of the past. Only a hopeful future can promote joy. We’re not going back.
I agree with 90% of what Vlad says, where I diverge is on US politics. The US ship-of state has left the snug harbor and hit the ocean swell. Not only that, the US has entered the squall-line as of January 6, 2021. And now, with two attempts on a US presidential candidates' life in two months, (13 July and yesterday, 15 September) the US is clearly in more than just bumpy water.
Then allow me to give you some perspective. We have had assassinations succeed against our presidents in the past and had many attempts in between. There is nothing new here. Only one other time has there been an attempt at the overthrowing by force of the Union, the rebellion put down by Lincoln that would have seen the very humanity of one group denied so as to continue the economic ways of another.
I'd definitely listen to more English language broadcasts. right now I'm focusing on improving the languages in which I have some fluency, starting with Polish. I'm not looking to add any more languages at this stage in my life.
I don't hear it almost at all so I'm very happy to hear Vlad touch on the point that both US presidential candidates have been and are accusing the other as being a threat to democracy and that this behavior is toxic. I'm SO profoundly frustrated with my American politics because for the last ten years, that's been the primary fear mongering tactic employed during presidential campaigns. It has absolutely been true (because trump IS a grave threat to our democracy) but much like reality TV has desensitized everyone to cartoonish behavior and wild antics, everyone has also been desensitized to this very real danger. The few people who are legitimately taking this seriously are being ignored or downplayed because everyone they're shouting it to aren't listening anymore, they've heard it all before many, many times now. We've shot the cannon indoors and now can't hear the danger closing in on us.
GDay - Vlad talked a little about the whole process surrounding the BREXIT debate, the manner in which it was conducted, the lies & 1/2 truths that were used by both sides to cover the weaknesses in their arguements as well as the polarizing nature of the debate...Nobody has been really held to account for how BREXIT was conducted.
The absolutely worst thing about the world today is the extreme agendas and rhetorics and quite frankly just plain madness in politics that ordinary people seem perfectly fine with, be it to interact with or to be associated with. I don't know when this shift happened exactly or what caused it, it all feels like a horrible fever dream we can't escape. I mean, Haitians eating cats...come on!! This last couple of years have change me, my views of the world significantly for the worse. I feel so sad for my kids and the generations to come, because this is just too much, too much bad at the same time to ever be fixed, I believe it's just going to get worse I'm afraid :(
There've always been people like this. Growing up it seemed to me about ten percent of the population. It seemed to start climbing very, very slowly in the early 2000's. Then about 2015 or so it just exploded. In the late 80's I worked on a group home for people with psychiatric issues. Behavior that would have warranted a next day appt with the psychiatrist is now a regular feature of Congress. Inexplicably, it spreads like a disease. My mother and sister used to be rational adults. By the time they cut me off for not travelling six hours for a family function when I'd just had open heart surgery, the y both acted like they had TBI. y I used to teach people with cognitive and language impairments. I can tell you that trump presents with many more symptoms than Biden ever has. Yet everyone was concerned with Biden.
Democracies are known to be short lived. I would expect a change as normal occurrence to prevent the downfall of the state. Want a democracy or a surviving state? Sometimes you can't have both
We tend to choose facts that are in line to how we would like things to be. That is why I think it is important to pay attention to arguments that are based on alternate facts, to those facts that we intentionally discard or do not notice. This concerns specially arguments in economy or banking and finance. However, these days the term 'alternate facts' is demonised in our media.
With the level of polarization in the US in recent decades, it's hard to imagine my political opponent on one issue today being my political ally on another issue tomorrow. In a unitary system with winner-take-all plurality elections, you get one vote: it's for the party. Don't want anti-abortion absolutism, but do want the tax burden further shifted off the rich and onto the middle class and poor? Too bad: you have to take one package deal or the other. And without anything tangible at stake, people make their peace with that. The key part of that is what's not mentioned in Duverger's Law: a unitary system. We used to have very significant state and local politics. There was even a saying (associated with Tip O'Neill), "all politics is local". Now, it's implicitly taken for granted that all politics is national. If you support a primary challenge, even in a safe district or a one-party state, you're seen as diverting resources that should have been spent on a general election in a swing state or a swing district. I think one of the major roots of the change is modern finance. Formerly, people who wanted "expansionary monetary policy" (i.e. some unexpected inflation, so that you can make your debt payments for less than your creditors bargained for) were stuck on the opposite side of a major issue from people who wanted "prudent monetary policy" (i.e. a higher risk of deflationary crash, but your debtors have to pay you more than they bargained for). People with lots of money at stake as creditors or borrowers were stuck on opposite sides of that issue, no matter how little they might align on any other issue. So factions within each major party were stuck disagreeing. With modern finance, anyone with enough money can hedge against inflation risk, and anyone with enough money can seek a higher return by taking the opposite side of that deal. So they're free to align on the basis of other issues.
It's not even majority rule. It's rule of "the people", or rule according to "the general will". Either way, it's a mystical unity that (when push comes to shove) you're either with or against.
I worked 10 years as a party member voluntarily in politics and as a profession for now nearly 30 years. And I have to say, that I see a fundamentaly political crisis in my country. The hybrid information warfare of Russia is one thing, but even without that interference my take on actual professional politicians is, that the quality has dramaticly shrunk. Often I see member of parliament who think it is enough to post about a political problem on social media instead of working consequently to solve the problem. In my reception of my work as a lobbyist for now 10 years, the number of members of parliament who don't realy want to form or shape the things to make them better, they just want to administer the things. And yes those kind of politicians had been always in parliaments but - as I said - I think those numbers have getting worse. Apart from politicians from the far right or the far left, I don't see ill intend, but incompetence. Next year we have elections and I don't know what to vote... those parties in the democratic center are all awfull at where they stand today. For me the Internet and the social media have killed our democracies but I admit, that could be a correlation and not a causality.
You are GER as i am. Interesting post. I am no member of any political party and cannot judge abt the quality of politicians. Still it seems to me that there is a big gap bw federal politicians and the electorate in GER. The far left/right have a huge advantage in teh soc media age. Populist statements are much easier to sell on the Internet. The AfD even shapes the emotions of a broader part of the voters via soc media. They constantly badmouth the democratic parties. (Die Ampel ist ein Desaster). It's very easy and very childish / immature to constantly be negative and moan. The afD position themselves as if they could be the saviors of Germany. Unfortunately, many voters are falling for this strategy. Incidentally, this was also the strategy that brought Hitler to power. If you look at the reality, GER was much worse off 25 y back (Der kranke Mann Europas). The Ampel is not a disaster. The disaster is that the AfD/BSW appeals to and exploits the lower instincts like hate or greed of a part of the electorate. I´m a teacher. Believe me, i know how to manipulate feelings. (We surely have a problem with male migrants from some countries. But politics is more than 1 problem.)
What I don't get is how Vlad can say that we need to pursuade everybody before enacting an all but objectively necessary policy. If a large minority refuses to agree that climate change is an extreme threat to our society - tough luck - we need to and will implement climate change mitigating policy, whether you want to or not! Because we have to. Same with immigration. A modern country simply cannot function properly without immigration (you see what happens to countries with negative or stagnant population growth) and so, whether the uninformed or misinformed voter likes it or not - we will let people into the country. If you are going to be a child about some of the most important political decisions humanity is facing, then your opinions don't deserve respect. I'm sorry! We don't let people who refuse to understand traffic rules drive cars and we cannot let people who refuse to understand political issues decide our policies.
A democracy is like a sailboat. It requires constant adjusting. Otherwise you float downwind at the best, you likely wreck the ship during the next storm and you definitely won't end up where you want - or anywhere anyone abroad wants for that matter.
One thing I think is adding to the polarization is that most of our social cleavage s run along almost identical lines. If you know a person's stance on two or three social issues .... yes, you do know his stance on a half dozen others. I think Covid ate up many people's life time allotment of patience for dealing with people holding beliefs that break laws of physics.
I respect Vlad but I'd take issue with his terming of the situation as Democracy is in crisis, as if it's a natural consequence of the system. Well its in crisis, but largely due to the actions of the kremlin in concert with the far right, since 2014.
Vlad's description of "post truth" seems to just describe information containing too much noise. The excess of noise is specific to today's information space, so it is worth asking if the "post truth" politician is in fact a product of today's information space or if there exist other important factors to today problem of "post truth" in the west.
Of six siblings two remaining adults are Liberals and two are Fundamentalist Christians with the typical related U.S. voting patterns. You can say, “I care about you” but because of fundamentalist Christian beliefs you find no basis for reaching compromise or understanding as to religious belief’s role in the current election. This is the extreme danger in this election.
When you think about what a person is doing, it would be ridiculous to think about it in terms of electrochemical gradients causing ions to move through channels, and binding of motor proteins to actin filaments causing the shapes of dendrites to change, and so on, quadrillions of times over each second. You have to move away from a causal description and say that this person did what they did in order to accomplish some purpose, if you're going to have any hope of understanding it. It's a good idea to also have some notion of how it works causally, but you can't use the causal account as the primary way you think about it. When you multiply it by three hundred million, or by eight billion if you're talking about the whole world, the causal approach doesn't get any easier.
To be honest, I *am* freaking out. Historically we didn't have a stable democracies for thousands of years, true. Historically we also didn't have nuclear weapons.
What one thinks is a result of how one thinks. One’s world view is built upon a foundation of sensory information, arranged to best represent reality. Assumptions based on biased, scant or irrational evidence, will likely result in a distorted perception of reality.
English speaker here and huge fan of the very sweet Vlad Vexler. If you make more episodes in English I will happily watch them. I've never seen you before but found this episode because Vlad linked it.
There was a very brief moment when UA-cam allowed you to subscribe to playlists instead of whole channels. I wish they brought this back because I'd like to subscribe to the English language playlist here!
Another beautiful lesson from Vlad Vexler.
Todella kova vieras! Jo useamman vuoden seurannut Vlad Vexleriä ja hieno nähdä suomalaisen haastattelemana.
This is one of the most complete representation of the most relevant aspects of Vlad Vexler's thinking (as per my limited understanding after having been a listener to Vlad's channel for 2 years). Thank you, and congratulations on a very, very well conducted interview where you did not only let Vlad shine, but also actively contributed with what and how you conversed.
I second that!
Agreed. Great questioning and well done for helping bring out some of the best of Vlad.
Upea vieras, heti kuunteluun!
Vlad on myös minun suosikki. Mahtavaa että saitte hänet vieraaksi!
That was a tonic. The questions were playing into Vlad's strong suit and he performed brilliantly. I will share this with my grandson who is interested in politics.
Hoo! Vlad Futucastissa! Molempia olen kuunnellut jo jonkin aikaa ja ovat oikein hyviä. Vasta alussa olen, mutta luotan, että tulee tosi hyvää tavaraa. (Hi Vlad! You are awesome, but take it easy and rest as needed.)
Very illuminating and enthusiastic chat! You & Vlad interact well and productively together. It is clear that Vlad enjoyed your rigorous and mutually respectful engaged duscussion. I was thankful that it was in English! Regards from Ohio USA. 🤙🏼
Shinning moment for Vlad, I thank the Host for preparing this table 👏🏼
Vlad Vexler is always worthwhile. Great stuff, thanks.
Thank you, for this excellent conversation. All the best to Finnish democracy!
Thanks for the great interview. Slava Ukraini. Heroyam Slava. 💙💛
Great interview. I agree with vlad, the questions were particularly good and explorative
I’m so glad you got Vlad Vexler as a guest. I value his views very highly, i think his views are very valuable. This podcast should be shown to every politician in the west.
Great Guest!!!!
Thank you for explaining complicated topics that we all notice, but can't really comprehend easily!
Thank you so much
I understand a few of Vlads points much better now and completely agree. I imagine our overreaction to russian interference like an alergic overreaction by the immune system. In that really doing far more damage than the interference ever could do alone.
Vlad on tuttu, mutta Futucast ei joten katsotaans mitä täältä löytyy👍
Löytyy
Wonderful show today. So many great questions and answers. Please! More in English, I am English and my only foreign language is ancient Greek!
Oh, that was brilliant! Thank you.
Hey Vlad.. long-time subscriber of yours here. Will listen to the two of you when I go out running later today. ❤
Enjoy your run!
Vlad! Always appreciate what you have to say. Following you to another eye opening and wonderful conversation.
Vlad is ALWAYS has terrific and insightful!
Vlads command of the English language and ability to express concepts is like reading fine literature. We are enriched always by him
Should've pinned Vlad's channels in the comments!! Anyone who hasn't listened to him is missing out :)
Yes, more English please as I'm here because of Mr. Vexler.
Mr. Vexler is like an ambrosia for my intellectual palate. I feel refreshed.
Glad to see Vlad being loved on other YT channels.
I am a regular listener of Vlad Vexler in English and Futucast in Finnish. So, I felt very confused, but also very pleased, when those two channels came together in this interview! Thank you! Keep up the good work!
I very seldom comment just to say heap some standard praise on a video. But this interview was exceptional, with excellent questions, timing and lenght. You caught Vlad on one of his best days, offering not only typically wise but extraordinarily succinct answers.
Kudos to both of you and whatever tireless soul acted behind the scene.
This was Vlad at his best, very few speak with the precision and clarity that he does!
Great conversation!
Thanks Vlad, thoroughly enjoyed this podcast, great interview 👍❤️
Listening to Vlad is always a treat.
one of vlads best interviews
Superb convo. Such important ideas which people sadly will not appreciate until after the fact.
Vlad is phenomenal always ❤
Tuttu vieras. Erinomaista sisältöä, Futucast.
Great conversation! Thank you!
I agree with Vlad that you ask excellent questions! Keep up the great work - the world needs more insightful journalists like you! Vlad as always facilitates our thinking about politics and how we can all contribute to the strengthening of our democracies 💚🙏🇦🇺
Brilliant, I highly recommend this talk!
I don't like where our democracies are headed with the rise of populism and authoritarianism, but it's comforting to know that a philosopher (Vlad) understands it and can articulate it for us.
Thank you
Always love me some VV Chat. Also love Finland. Visited there for the first time in April. Loved it!
Greetings from 🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺
Wow, so my phone that is always listening to me 😅, directed me to your site for the first time cuz I often listen to Vlad Vexler. That was great, and perhaps I will return. I love listening to Interviews of Vlad, I think he comes across best in such a format.
Exceptional guest, very insightful questions. What a sensational job!
35:50 Your statement on the loss of accepted facts shook me. I never considered we cant return to shared facts.
I would be quite interested to hear further thoughts on how we can improve/repair this loss.
Yeah, this is a topic I REALLY want to hear more about from Vlad. As far as I can see here in the U.S., Semmelweis Effect has hit Covid levels of spread. An ever growing percentage of the population simply will not accept any information that doesn't fit their narrative on the topic in question. And so many of such people spout utter word salad with amazing levels of conviction. Time after time I've watched people I'd think would know better just fall for the garbage hook, line, and sinker.
The algorithm brought me here from Vlad's channels, which I love. Outstanding discussion from 2 outstanding UA-camrs! The best on these topics I've heard yet! Too bad I can't understand Finnish, as I'm curious what else the host discusses.
Olen seurannut Vladia jonkun aikaa ja futucastia paljon pidempään. Tämä oli yllättävä vieras. Erittäin hyvät kysymykset myös Isakilta
Excellent conversation! Since English is my native language I'd enjoy more English conversations.
I really enjoyed this! Your questions were great. The discussion was very thought-provoking.
Kiitos todella hyvästä keskustelusta! Toivottavasti luet Isak tämän kommentin, sillä suosittelisin ehdottomasti siirtymään enemmän kansainväliseen formaattiin. Sulla on natiivitason englanti ja pystyt melkein paremmin mielestäni formuloimaan kysymyksiä ja ajatuksia näin. Tämä sais sut erottumaan edukses muista suomalaisista podcast-ohjelmista + saisit todnäk. enemmän mielenkiintoisia vieraita ohjelmaan. Oikea suunta! ❤
It's so bizarre that Destiny and Vlad are among the just a few political channels/thinkers in English worth watching. There's an infinite ocean of channels and I can hardly name anyone except for these two.
Interesting that’s your experience - I haven’t interacted with Destiny but mutual followers often suggest we should.
@@VladVexler I would love to see you two talk as well. Destiny has a podcast called Bridges, and I think it would suit your style wonderfully.
I'm partial to Silicone Curtain as well.
@@ak5659 Agree, there're a few good podcasts out there. They cover a more narrow set of topics tho. Ryan McBeth and Mark Galeotti are excellent too but have a limited scope to their expertise.
I should have mentioned Sam Harris along with Destiny and Vlad, he too has a good understanding of politics, ethics and law and generally shows good faith.
@@VladVexler I would love to see a collab :)
The most important part of the Harris/Walz political campaign is to keep the message future leaning. We’re not going back to the negativity and demeaning political bickering of the past. Only a hopeful future can promote joy. We’re not going back.
Great interview , the discourse was a light in the darkness that is politics currently
22:14 Vlad thoroughly enjoying the interview.
I thought I was clicking on one of Vlad's videos. I'm glad I found your channel. I like finding new sources that I think I might be able to trust.
Great Talk!
I’d love more English episodes- watched a previous one and was very impressed with your intelligent and interesting interview
I accept all new Futucast episodes in any language
Extremely enriching discussion!
well done both of you!
Kyllä vaan englannin kielellä kansainvälisiä vieraita, erinomainen jakso, lisää tätä. 👏
I agree with 90% of what Vlad says, where I diverge is on US politics. The US ship-of state has left the snug harbor and hit the ocean swell. Not only that, the US has entered the squall-line as of January 6, 2021. And now, with two attempts on a US presidential candidates' life in two months, (13 July and yesterday, 15 September) the US is clearly in more than just bumpy water.
Then allow me to give you some perspective. We have had assassinations succeed against our presidents in the past and had many attempts in between. There is nothing new here. Only one other time has there been an attempt at the overthrowing by force of the Union, the rebellion put down by Lincoln that would have seen the very humanity of one group denied so as to continue the economic ways of another.
Great interview! Love to you both.
Looking for S-tier Brawl-Stars brawlers, finding S-tier philosopher.
Loved it ❤
I'd definitely listen to more English language broadcasts. right now I'm focusing on improving the languages in which I have some fluency, starting with Polish. I'm not looking to add any more languages at this stage in my life.
Please make more in english ❤️
I don't hear it almost at all so I'm very happy to hear Vlad touch on the point that both US presidential candidates have been and are accusing the other as being a threat to democracy and that this behavior is toxic. I'm SO profoundly frustrated with my American politics because for the last ten years, that's been the primary fear mongering tactic employed during presidential campaigns. It has absolutely been true (because trump IS a grave threat to our democracy) but much like reality TV has desensitized everyone to cartoonish behavior and wild antics, everyone has also been desensitized to this very real danger. The few people who are legitimately taking this seriously are being ignored or downplayed because everyone they're shouting it to aren't listening anymore, they've heard it all before many, many times now. We've shot the cannon indoors and now can't hear the danger closing in on us.
We've shot the cannon indoors
so true
Great interview! More English speaking episodes plz :)
Yes English and yay Vlad🥳
This is great! Please more in English!
Big up for more English episodes ❤
GDay - Vlad talked a little about the whole process surrounding the BREXIT debate, the manner in which it was conducted, the lies & 1/2 truths that were used by both sides to cover the weaknesses in their arguements as well as the polarizing nature of the debate...Nobody has been really held to account for how BREXIT was conducted.
I know it would be a huge time commitment but it would be great if you could also do more podcasts in English.
Good choice!
The absolutely worst thing about the world today is the extreme agendas and rhetorics and quite frankly just plain madness in politics that ordinary people seem perfectly fine with, be it to interact with or to be associated with. I don't know when this shift happened exactly or what caused it, it all feels like a horrible fever dream we can't escape. I mean, Haitians eating cats...come on!! This last couple of years have change me, my views of the world significantly for the worse. I feel so sad for my kids and the generations to come, because this is just too much, too much bad at the same time to ever be fixed, I believe it's just going to get worse I'm afraid :(
There've always been people like this. Growing up it seemed to me about ten percent of the population. It seemed to start climbing very, very slowly in the early 2000's. Then about 2015 or so it just exploded. In the late 80's I worked on a group home for people with psychiatric issues. Behavior that would have warranted a next day appt with the psychiatrist is now a regular feature of Congress. Inexplicably, it spreads like a disease. My mother and sister used to be rational adults. By the time they cut me off for not travelling six hours for a family function when I'd just had open heart surgery, the y both acted like they had TBI. y
I used to teach people with cognitive and language impairments. I can tell you that trump presents with many more symptoms than Biden ever has. Yet everyone was concerned with Biden.
Democracies are known to be short lived. I would expect a change as normal occurrence to prevent the downfall of the state.
Want a democracy or a surviving state? Sometimes you can't have both
We tend to choose facts that are in line to how we would like things to be. That is why I think it is important to pay attention to arguments that are based on alternate facts, to those facts that we intentionally discard or do not notice. This concerns specially arguments in economy or banking and finance. However, these days the term 'alternate facts' is demonised in our media.
With the level of polarization in the US in recent decades, it's hard to imagine my political opponent on one issue today being my political ally on another issue tomorrow. In a unitary system with winner-take-all plurality elections, you get one vote: it's for the party. Don't want anti-abortion absolutism, but do want the tax burden further shifted off the rich and onto the middle class and poor? Too bad: you have to take one package deal or the other. And without anything tangible at stake, people make their peace with that.
The key part of that is what's not mentioned in Duverger's Law: a unitary system. We used to have very significant state and local politics. There was even a saying (associated with Tip O'Neill), "all politics is local". Now, it's implicitly taken for granted that all politics is national. If you support a primary challenge, even in a safe district or a one-party state, you're seen as diverting resources that should have been spent on a general election in a swing state or a swing district.
I think one of the major roots of the change is modern finance. Formerly, people who wanted "expansionary monetary policy" (i.e. some unexpected inflation, so that you can make your debt payments for less than your creditors bargained for) were stuck on the opposite side of a major issue from people who wanted "prudent monetary policy" (i.e. a higher risk of deflationary crash, but your debtors have to pay you more than they bargained for). People with lots of money at stake as creditors or borrowers were stuck on opposite sides of that issue, no matter how little they might align on any other issue. So factions within each major party were stuck disagreeing. With modern finance, anyone with enough money can hedge against inflation risk, and anyone with enough money can seek a higher return by taking the opposite side of that deal. So they're free to align on the basis of other issues.
It's not even majority rule. It's rule of "the people", or rule according to "the general will". Either way, it's a mystical unity that (when push comes to shove) you're either with or against.
I worked 10 years as a party member voluntarily in politics and as a profession for now nearly 30 years. And I have to say, that I see a fundamentaly political crisis in my country. The hybrid information warfare of Russia is one thing, but even without that interference my take on actual professional politicians is, that the quality has dramaticly shrunk. Often I see member of parliament who think it is enough to post about a political problem on social media instead of working consequently to solve the problem. In my reception of my work as a lobbyist for now 10 years, the number of members of parliament who don't realy want to form or shape the things to make them better, they just want to administer the things. And yes those kind of politicians had been always in parliaments but - as I said - I think those numbers have getting worse. Apart from politicians from the far right or the far left, I don't see ill intend, but incompetence. Next year we have elections and I don't know what to vote... those parties in the democratic center are all awfull at where they stand today.
For me the Internet and the social media have killed our democracies but I admit, that could be a correlation and not a causality.
You are GER as i am. Interesting post. I am no member of any political party and cannot judge abt the quality of politicians. Still it seems to me that there is a big gap bw federal politicians and the electorate in GER. The far left/right have a huge advantage in teh soc media age. Populist statements are much easier to sell on the Internet. The AfD even shapes the emotions of a broader part of the voters via soc media. They constantly badmouth the democratic parties. (Die Ampel ist ein Desaster). It's very easy and very childish / immature to constantly be negative and moan. The afD position themselves as if they could be the saviors of Germany. Unfortunately, many voters are falling for this strategy. Incidentally, this was also the strategy that brought Hitler to power. If you look at the reality, GER was much worse off 25 y back (Der kranke Mann Europas). The Ampel is not a disaster. The disaster is that the AfD/BSW appeals to and exploits the lower instincts like hate or greed of a part of the electorate. I´m a teacher. Believe me, i know how to manipulate feelings.
(We surely have a problem with male migrants from some countries. But politics is more than 1 problem.)
What I don't get is how Vlad can say that we need to pursuade everybody before enacting an all but objectively necessary policy. If a large minority refuses to agree that climate change is an extreme threat to our society - tough luck - we need to and will implement climate change mitigating policy, whether you want to or not! Because we have to. Same with immigration. A modern country simply cannot function properly without immigration (you see what happens to countries with negative or stagnant population growth) and so, whether the uninformed or misinformed voter likes it or not - we will let people into the country. If you are going to be a child about some of the most important political decisions humanity is facing, then your opinions don't deserve respect. I'm sorry! We don't let people who refuse to understand traffic rules drive cars and we cannot let people who refuse to understand political issues decide our policies.
A democracy is like a sailboat. It requires constant adjusting. Otherwise you float downwind at the best, you likely wreck the ship during the next storm and you definitely won't end up where you want - or anywhere anyone abroad wants for that matter.
It takes a crew with seamanship to work together just to keep afloat. Where you want to end up is another matter - relevant but separate.
Yes: English, Dutch or German for me.
Make America Great Again, put it back the way it was before Reagan.
Yup
One thing I think is adding to the polarization is that most of our social cleavage s run along almost identical lines. If you know a person's stance on two or three social issues .... yes, you do know his stance on a half dozen others.
I think Covid ate up many people's life time allotment of patience for dealing with people holding beliefs that break laws of physics.
I respect Vlad but I'd take issue with his terming of the situation as Democracy is in crisis, as if it's a natural consequence of the system. Well its in crisis, but largely due to the actions of the kremlin in concert with the far right, since 2014.
They merely exploit weaknesses we already have.
Vlad's description of "post truth" seems to just describe information containing too much noise. The excess of noise is specific to today's information space, so it is worth asking if the "post truth" politician is in fact a product of today's information space or if there exist other important factors to today problem of "post truth" in the west.
Slava Ukraine 🇺🇦!!!!
He's the goat
Paras vieras!
All well and good, how about a level playing field first?
Of six siblings two remaining adults are Liberals and two are Fundamentalist Christians with the typical related U.S. voting patterns. You can say, “I care about you” but because of fundamentalist Christian beliefs you find no basis for reaching compromise or understanding as to religious belief’s role in the current election. This is the extreme danger in this election.
When you think about what a person is doing, it would be ridiculous to think about it in terms of electrochemical gradients causing ions to move through channels, and binding of motor proteins to actin filaments causing the shapes of dendrites to change, and so on, quadrillions of times over each second. You have to move away from a causal description and say that this person did what they did in order to accomplish some purpose, if you're going to have any hope of understanding it. It's a good idea to also have some notion of how it works causally, but you can't use the causal account as the primary way you think about it. When you multiply it by three hundred million, or by eight billion if you're talking about the whole world, the causal approach doesn't get any easier.
I do worry about my being cut off from my wider family due to the primacy of my family unit/marriage
To be honest, I *am* freaking out. Historically we didn't have a stable democracies for thousands of years, true. Historically we also didn't have nuclear weapons.
What one thinks is a result of how one thinks. One’s world view is built upon a foundation of sensory information, arranged to best represent reality. Assumptions based on biased, scant or irrational evidence, will likely result in a distorted perception of reality.
Your woldview IS YOU. We have a worldview problem. When peoples worldviews diverge too much, conflict happens.