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by age_bronze 1689 days ago
The media had ruled and controlled the western world with propaganda for the whole 20th century, from newspapers in early 1900s to TVs in late 1900s. We had a very brief period of people escaping the matrix through the internet and communicating through alternative channels, that little blip of media sandbox escape brought Trump and the Brexit and the corporates and media have been working hard to regain control of means of communication ever since.

Be glad you got to live through this very brief period of awakening because they are about to return everyone back into the darkness again.
1 comments
gorwell 1689 days ago
I'm surprised you're getting downvoted. I thought HN was well aware of Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. Maybe not?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing_Consent

See also Revolt of the Public, which explores the consequences of the internet breaking monopoly control over the flow of information. As you point out, it's the alternative channel that gave rise to unauthorized voices. What we're seeing play out is a fight between the dissenting public and the ruling elites. Removing dislikes is just the latest in a series of moves to reassert control over information.

https://www.amazon.com/Revolt-Public-Crisis-Authority-Millen...

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thoms_a 1689 days ago
You'll find that HN, just like any other community, is largely conformist on major social/political issues.

It came as a shock to me at first, but now I simply accept that people are wired for self-preservation via cognitive compartmentalization.

People here will argue vim/emacs for weeks, but will happily repeat mainstream media talking points on every major social/political issue.

This is why I restrict my usage of online communities based on expertise now. I will find world class programmers/scientists on HN, but those same geniuses will be hilariously ignorant on history/politics.

Such is life. HN is definitely not a one-stop shop, but it's unrivalled for anything STEM related.

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k20CuozQmk 1689 days ago
>I thought HN was well aware of Noam Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent.

I did too, it is pretty depressing to see people here applauding efforts to thwart dissenting opinions.

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