Being 'into politics '

version

Well-known member
Anyone else feel the political intensity of the last few years has dipped somewhat? Hard to tell how much of it's your particular bubble, but the atmosphere feels different to me. Obviously what's going on in Gaza's rightly a serious flashpoint, but aside from that Britain and the US seem somewhat subdued in comparison to a few years ago, despite both being in election years. Maybe it's a combination of the Tories being out seeming to be a foregone conclusion and fatigue re: Trump and Biden, but it also feels larger than that. What @sus would call a 'vibe shift'.
 

other_life

bioconfused
for me personally it's definitely a sense of defeat in the face of how indifferent 'the wider world' comes across, a sense of pessimism about how calcified people are by habit (accounting for self, also). none of the formations who glommed on to the resurgence in subcultural leftism/intellectual interest in marxism 15 years ago now* managed to cohere enough to ~build/reconstitute~ any sort of Party. people in minneapolis are no less racist than they used to be after Floyd. hell, it's disheartening to witness what i think is more animus/tension between afro-americans and african immigrants

* edited for emphasis - 15 years ago now!
 

version

Well-known member
for me personally it's definitely a sense of defeat in the face of how indifferent 'the wider world' comes across, a sense of pessimism about how calcified people are by habit (accounting for self, also). none of the formations who glommed on to the resurgence in subcultural leftism/intellectual interest in marxism 15 years ago now managed to cohere enough to ~build/reconstitute~ any sort of Party. people in minneapolis are no less racist than they used to be after Floyd. hell, it's disheartening to witness what i think is more animus/tension between afro-americans and african immigrants

Maybe it'll ratchet up closer to election time or I'm just not moving in the right circles, but I don't even get the sense American liberals are that freaked out at the prospect of a second Trump term. I'm certainly not seeing the same sort of media coverage I was in 2020.
 

version

Well-known member
A bunch of the Bernie people who coalesced around the Brooklyn podcasts still seem to be struggling with how that whole thing collapsed.
 

shakahislop

Well-known member




i'm never in england anymore but have watched this sentiment grow online over the last couple of years, particularly since the truss thing
 

germaphobian

Well-known member
Anyone else feel the political intensity of the last few years has dipped somewhat? Hard to tell how much of it's your particular bubble, but the atmosphere feels different to me. Obviously what's going on in Gaza's rightly a serious flashpoint, but aside from that Britain and the US seem somewhat subdued in comparison to a few years ago, despite both being in election years. Maybe it's a combination of the Tories being out seeming to be a foregone conclusion and fatigue re: Trump and Biden, but it also feels larger than that. What @sus would call a 'vibe shift'.

The intensity is being dialed down by the powers that be themselves, because they unwillingly pushed things too far - that became very apparent when the Palestine thing started.
I don't buy the fatigue theory though, because that makes it sound like something happening organically, but nothing whatsoever happens organically anymore. I think CNN is a good barometer (dunno about BBC) and, if you look at their coverage now, it really looks more like CNN of the 90s - still partisan, but reasonably balanced, most of the cultur war stuff being eschewed, even asking some hard questions about Biden's capabilities etc.
As far as all the alt-right type of stuff goes - that has collapsed completely. And now in EU they are doing a lot of the things that right-wing parties promised to do, like getting rid of the green policies with all the farmers protests, getting more strict on immigration etc.
So basically we are going back to some sort of centrist position, but the main reason for that, which is really driving all of this, is that everyone is becoming cognizant that we're in a Cold War 2.0 and possibly approaching a hot war, so there's no more piddling about.
At least that's a rough outline of what I think is happening. Obviously it's kind of depressing, but there may be some opportunities hidding somewhere.
 

version

Well-known member
I don't buy the fatigue theory though, because that makes it sound like something happening organically, but nothing whatsoever happens organically anymore.

I think you have a point, but I don't think people have a limitless capacity for outrage. The majority of us eventually become numb to things and burnout, interest waxes and wanes. The media's handling of Trump this time around's clearly having an impact, but he's also a known quantity and we've seen it all before so he doesn't have the same energy around him.
 
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