Post AlH1F4KkciL9ydBXsG by desafinado@mastodon.social
(DIR) More posts by desafinado@mastodon.social
(DIR) Post #AlFx7nnR7HpfgYvEWm by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-08-23T10:54:40Z
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so many personalist narratives, from the party offering the alternative to personalist autocracy.it suggests we’re in a pretty dangerous place, i think. parasocial attachment seems more in tension with than supportive of deliberative democracy. even when the object of attachment is not a wannabe dictator dick.
(DIR) Post #AlG3yG7tdAhmKgt9zk by GuerillaOntologist@social.coop
2024-08-23T12:11:10Z
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@interfluidity CLR James called out this tendency in American culture as well. He warned that this attitude was fertile soil for totalitarianism to grow. We've made politicians out of celebrities, and celebrities out of politicians.https://aeon.co/essays/c-l-r-james-foresaw-the-crisis-of-us-liberal-democracy
(DIR) Post #AlG8SlYrij1kKZJ0nA by kentwillard@zirk.us
2024-08-23T13:01:43Z
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@interfluidity "That's right!", I said to the social media person, echoing through my empty house.
(DIR) Post #AlGCzzccrcCXJPADNQ by Lampa@mastodon.social
2024-08-23T13:52:32Z
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@interfluidity but there's like a kabillion compelling personalities on stage rather than zero/one
(DIR) Post #AlGDN8IilHvmtDt54y by csweatpants@a2mi.social
2024-08-23T13:56:41Z
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@interfluidity It's my hobbyhorse, but I see the death of local news as a prime factor in this. When "politics" means the daily President show, that's a much more alienating and worshipful form of parasocial relationship than one with 'that bastard running for school board' or 'our dorky mayor' or even 'my charming Congressman'. There's a subset of the population that wants to "follow the news", and if all that's on offer is the daily horserace from DC, then that's what will predominate.
(DIR) Post #AlGPT59WZxHKJSBme8 by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-08-23T16:12:15Z
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@csweatpants I have some similar hobbyhorses, but about the scale of locality. I think the base level of democracy should mean so local that everyone interested personally interacts with representatives and officials at that level. Without that gateway, it is difficult to meaningfully participate. Impersonal tokens (votes, donations) are subject to so much manipulation. 1/
(DIR) Post #AlGPTsBKI2poNEPPl2 by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-08-23T16:12:25Z
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@csweatpants Politics should be an art of collective creation, not individual preference expression, not A/B testing of people isolated behind screens. /fin
(DIR) Post #AlGPZsexQTZZar8Kae by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-08-23T16:13:28Z
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@Lampa there are, but are they competing exactly? there’s a lot of admiration and fealty expressed by pretty much all of them, not to a platform or a party, but to a person.
(DIR) Post #AlH1F4KkciL9ydBXsG by desafinado@mastodon.social
2024-08-23T23:15:30Z
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@interfluidity personal ≠ personalist
(DIR) Post #AlH4WWYjEcXUImjovI by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-08-23T23:52:17Z
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@desafinado sure, but both apply. personalism is a way of thinking that emphasizes the person and personal as key to understanding more broadly. in this sense, using a personal narrative as means of exploring and expressing ones political project is quite personalist. when we talk about a personalist leader, we conflate support of a person with support of a political project. the two senses are not the same, but they are not unrelated.
(DIR) Post #AlKQw20SEUvVXU9cmG by desafinado@mastodon.social
2024-08-25T14:47:31Z
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@interfluidity You have it upside down. The message of the Dem convention was “we are of the people” and “our election will prove that anyone can make it.” That’s what the personal stories conveyed. The contrast with the other side is pretty strong. They’re still at “only I can fix it.”
(DIR) Post #AlKZZxstmCNXyKAmCe by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-08-25T16:24:24Z
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@desafinado i’ve nothing upside down. i’ve not said the two tell remotely the same stories. of course they don’t. i’ve said they both emphasize personal stories, when they might frame things much more in community or policy terms. both try to persuade voters to vote for these people for who they are as individuals rather than emphasizing a movement that encompasses both voter and speaker. that is what “personalist” means. 1/
(DIR) Post #AlKZveb0AiEqWJ8yXY by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-08-25T16:28:19Z
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@desafinado i think you’ve captured what DNC speakers hope people hear in their parade of personalisms: “we are of the people” and “our election will prove that anyone can make it.” i will say, for me, someone all-in for kamala, who has donated to the campaign hundreds of dollars that i absolutely can’t afford, that’s not what i heard or felt, it was much worse than ineffective. 2/
(DIR) Post #AlKaKN3gVpTBMuLVwW by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-08-25T16:32:47Z
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@desafinado i heard a lot of self-righteous, extraordinarily successful people telling us their bootstrap stories means that anyone can succeed in their America. i’ve lived in their America more than five decades. it’s a harsh and unforgiving country in which the successful act like they did what anyone could and those whose stories aren’t so great are losers, who deserve “help” and pity perhaps (that’s how we’re better!) but are what they are. 3/
(DIR) Post #AlKaxZOcZi52vWpXwe by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-08-25T16:39:49Z
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@desafinado the story i want is a story about a we, who all of us rise together if we are to rise at all. that doesn’t say “you too can make it”, but that we all can make it if we work in concert. i’m not interested in the life story of famous people and what hardscrabble background they rose from. 4/
(DIR) Post #AlKbMp0JgL82ZdVFTc by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-08-25T16:44:26Z
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@desafinado i really am a Kamala diehard. i have to be, given the alternative. but also both her economic messaging and her choice of Walz has given me hope. but i watched nearly the whole Democratic convention. rather than inspired, it left me nauseous. 5/
(DIR) Post #AlKbRFu7bsZdA3igV6 by interfluidity@zirk.us
2024-08-25T16:45:14Z
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@desafinado “I would be ashamed to admit that I had risen from the ranks. When I rise it will be with the ranks, and not from the ranks.” ~Eugene V. Debs /fin