its fucked

I wouldn't go that far.

But they do last longer than is probably healthy.

oh def

now despite all this the power still ultimately lies with the voter, the issue with them is lack of information, and even manipulation, although not to the degree of other Countries.

I'm not sure I necessarily blame the voters.

I think apathy actually saves us from alot of the problems.

If more voters were properly informed they could put some of the more corrupt out of power

I think voters are frequently in an awkward position.

I mean, here's the thing.

I want good policy.

yea

If I have to choose between good policy and corruption...

Do I give up all the stuff I value because my preferred candidate did some unsavory things?

I mean, you can spin lots of innocuous activities into scandals. Add in the Three Felonies a Day factor.

Depending on the nature of the scandals and the quality of the policies (or other factors) and I very well might choose a corrupt candidate.

It's an ugly calculus, but it's a thing.

Now, the proper solution would probably be to primary the sucker, but that doesn't always happen.

Suppose I fundamentally don't want to be listed as part of a party because I'd get harassed (this is true in my case)

What are the options?

Frequently, you have political machines that are themselves corrupt or the alternatives are just as corrupt on their own.

yea tbh its often a moral dilemma. I just think if more were informed then the standards might be raised idk

perhaps, but I think you have to factor in stuff like information manipulation. Activists on Reddit. Reddit itself. Partisans controlling and manipulating the media, etc.

This is why stuff like ideological or partisan diversity and balance is so important in stuff like Unis and Media companies.

If you don't have good balance you can fundamentally lie and get away with it.

Or deluge people to where they no longer know what to trust.

yea thats def an issue and ive got nothing against it to some degree but if it gets into censorship territory it becomes and issue, which is essentially what we are dealing with right now. People are ultimately free to believe whatever they want but they should be able to access as much information as possible and not just what is "authoritative sources".

Education is also an issue

Yeah. I do think the real issue is that the "authoritative sources" are not very good though. There shouldn't have been an outcry over hiring, e.g. Kevin Williamson at the Atlantic.

because when it becomes to one sided then people wont event question anything

They actually block hired to try and get a balance of views and then only kicked Williamson and kept his left wing counterparts.

Yeah, and you can see it on this board, even.

CNN, The Atlantic, and so on *should* be better.

If they were better then there would't be room for The Gateway Pundit.

def and they have the potential imo

But they refuse to do so is the issue.

It's the same in academia.

its more profitable in the short term to do what they are doing atm

Where Heterodox Academy was attacked as a "right wing entry-ism attempt to seize the academies"

I'm not so sure.

I think there's a strong group think and intolerance in these places. I've seen it.

like with politics, people seek short term solutions over long, or in this case profits

the thing is they THINK its profitable

I really don't think it's a short or long term thing. I think there's a strong intolerance in these circles and they harass out and fire anyone they don't like.

but its actively backfiring on them

You would have to sit at a dinner and raise a counter point to see it.

But there is a very, very strong aversion to any kind of dissent. People talk of the "good boy's club"

It's the "good boy's club"

Some things are more important to people than pure profit

Like good standing among the friend circle.

My alma mater has started to show signs of being infested with "progressives" more so than while i was there

I guarantee you it has been fully infested at this point.

They usually hide it from the alumni

You have to really dig or act like a social justice warrior to see it.

The other thing is that the social justice types actively fire and recruit people to think like them.

**actively**

And they're pretty open about it if you can understand the codewords.

But they also are smart enough to know the alumni often aren't interested.

I was reading a recent article chronicling the social justice brigades at my alma mater (which has been completely infested for years despite being a state school in a deep red state)

No mention of any of their new social justice programs or requirements in any alumni communications.

Interestingly during college i was told not to talk politics within my friend group, but i was just blunt and said "nope, im gonna talk about it and while i respect that you dont want to talk about it, you cant stop me" (essentially)

Looked at the job board. They want diversity statements.

Safe spaces were a thing by the time i left but they werent rampant

I had a mandatory diversity training session during orientation.

I'm sure the humanities had safe spaces but I wasn't looking.

Things have gotten infinitely worse since I was there though.

last time i talked to a still attending student they said that there was a bigger push for them but it failed

As a history and poly-sci major I never had to deal with it all much

Poly-sci encouraged debate

I was engineering. We couldn't care less about any of this stuff.

History didnt try to be revisionist or judge the past on todays standards

I wouldn't be too sure of that. But I wouldn't know.

You don't know unless you talked to someone on the other side.

Friend of mine had to take a genders studies class for something and said that it was typical sjwisms

I'm not sure when you went, but the canon wars were a thing in the 90s.

That's all it is. And it's mandatory now.

he passed but did not enjoy it

Even at the state schools in red states.

canon for history?

I'm sure there was one.

How much Rome did you cover for example?

most of my work was research

The canon wars extended to most of the humanities.

so i had to gather the sources myself more often than not

If you were doing research it might have been different. Aside, maybe from the choice of topic.

Some of these were for Poly-Sci and the ones more to the right of the shelf were not class related.

A couple of the more political ones are not class related either

Yeah, canon wars. No plutarch from what I can see.

i rented some books but more for classes outside my majors

Rome was for class or personal edification?

personal

Had a hunch.

same with Empires and Barbarians

Rome is on the legions mostly

In the 60s Plutarch would have been required along with The Federalist Papers.

And several others.

I did read the Federalists

I'd figure you would.

like even in HS iirc

But in the 50s and 60s, it would have been mandatory for everyone.

So it would be assumed without saying.

Plutarch MAY be in that big book but i dont think we covered him

I know of him though

just dont remember when lel