So, to sum up: The Internet has removed “constraints on what can be said.” It has meant that the mainstream media and party establishments have “lost most of their power.” Legacy institutions can no longer “set bounds” on us.
And this is all bad! And scary! And a threat to democracy!This is quite interesting in light of the social organization in the US during the anti-war protests in the Vietnam era. There was an almost total blackout of alternative opinion in the US media and what coverage there was pictured the opposition as a motley band of socialist crackpots, communist sympathizers, or DFHs (dope-crazed "dirty fucking hippies practicing "free love").
The only communication apparatus the anti-war movement had was the alternative newspapers ("underground press") that cropped up samizdat-style.
The Internet and social media have changed all that by bringing balance into the equation. The powers-that-be are freaking out. It's safe to assume that "they" are hard at work trying to devise ways to put a stop to this "outrage."
Breitbart News
This is what it is though. Not a threat to democracy but threat to the establishment's narrative. They are very angry about It.
ReplyDeleteI would have never known about MMT if there was no internet.
Nor me. Probably the case with most people that learn of MMT other than through friends or acquaintances that did hear of it on the Internet. The proliferation of understanding about MMT is a typical Internet phenomenon, and it empowers ordinary people to challenge the establishment's narratives cogently.
ReplyDelete"Nor me. Probably the case with most people that learn of MMT other than through friends or acquaintances that did hear of it on the Internet. The proliferation of understanding about MMT is a typical Internet phenomenon, and it empowers ordinary people to challenge the establishment's narratives cogently."
ReplyDeleteI can also attest to this. I learned about MMT through YouTube channels ridiculing Peter Schiff and his crackpot "predictions." It took me a while to really understand these concepts and I was also a right-libertarian at the time. The Internet has been both a great force of change and sadly where stupid myths are still perpetuated and swallowed up by the masses.
I can't remember the web site but government debt and deficits were being discussed there, some working paper was being discussed and It all made sense to me. Deficit terrorist term was being tossed around and then Warren Mosler name kept dominating the discussion. I didn't know who that Mosler guy was back then but he ran a blog and I started reading. Later on all the MMT-ers were always there, Tom was there for sure :) I am in Europe and American time is behind so sometimes I didn't want to go to sleep because it was so interesting to me. :)
ReplyDelete