[notjoemama]

You should spend some time on YouTube watching videos about China and North Korea. It’s not absurd at all and the psychological mechanisms are well known to anyone who’s spent time reviewing how controlling a population works. Just a minimal cursory review reveals how fear and a rigid hierarchy are all that’s needed.

[yafinder]

I was born in the USSR, so, with all due respect, I think I know more about the internal mechanics of undemocratic states than a person who watched YouTube.

[MichaelZuo]

I would go even farther, that someone recommending to watch youtube for such a topic is either joking, never been around the block, or literally copy-and-pasting from somewhere else.

Though to be fair, the vast vast majority of HN comments regarding more complex topics are not coming from first hand sources, or those who've had serious discussions with people who've had that first hand experience.

[acdha]

This is not helpful advice: YouTube has a vast amount of video but much of it is misleading, incomplete, or simply wrong and it’s all presented in exactly the same way. If there’s a specific person you think has expertise on a topic you have to link directly to their work.

[t0bia_s]

By watching YouTube and made conclusions like this you literary fulfill your description of manipulated society.

[hotpotamus]

> Just a minimal cursory review reveals how fear and a rigid hierarchy are all that’s needed

Or you can just work for a large company.

[baq]

It's always local lords and barons who make the rules. There are top-down rules, more like guidelines really, which are used to remove local government officials under whatever pretext when things go really south.

[arrowsmith]

And the years 2020 and 2021 provide an obvious example of your second sentence.