Monbiot: “I believe part of the answer lies in a fundamental aspect of our humanity: the urge to destroy that from which you feel excluded.”
They wouldn’t feel so resentful if their preferred media* sources weren’t always playing it up. Would they still have the urge to destroy something if no-one ever brought it up?
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*Or the preferred media sources of the guy sitting next to you at the bar or of the person forwarding you things on social media.
Welp, wrote a long and I thought great reply, but got the infamous (for me) ‘Nonce verification failed’, and I didn’t copy it to the clipboard beforehand, so the reply is lost to the ether. I could spend the next hour trying to re-create it, but I’ll just complain instead and simply say that while conservative media’s manufactured outrage business model certainly does amplify the resentment, there are deep-seated megatrends behind it, too. Here is a discussion of one of them: https://wprnpublicradio.com/neglect-of-rural-america/
Those who feel dispossessed by mainstream media naturally turn to other sources. Those who feel dispossessed by government and the economic successes of those in the cities also tend to turn against them. Human nature. The Democrats have to figure out how to win them back before any of this changes.
I have gotten pretty good at remembering to copy my comment before I reply in case of a “Nonce verification failed” event. Only when my reply is exceptionally brilliant that I both forget to pre-copy it and get the dreaded NVF.
Important thoughts from Monbiot:
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/apr/13/trump-populists-human-nature-economic-growth
Monbiot: “I believe part of the answer lies in a fundamental aspect of our humanity: the urge to destroy that from which you feel excluded.”
They wouldn’t feel so resentful if their preferred media* sources weren’t always playing it up. Would they still have the urge to destroy something if no-one ever brought it up?
________________
*Or the preferred media sources of the guy sitting next to you at the bar or of the person forwarding you things on social media.
Welp, wrote a long and I thought great reply, but got the infamous (for me) ‘Nonce verification failed’, and I didn’t copy it to the clipboard beforehand, so the reply is lost to the ether. I could spend the next hour trying to re-create it, but I’ll just complain instead and simply say that while conservative media’s manufactured outrage business model certainly does amplify the resentment, there are deep-seated megatrends behind it, too. Here is a discussion of one of them:
https://wprnpublicradio.com/neglect-of-rural-america/
Those who feel dispossessed by mainstream media naturally turn to other sources. Those who feel dispossessed by government and the economic successes of those in the cities also tend to turn against them. Human nature. The Democrats have to figure out how to win them back before any of this changes.
I have gotten pretty good at remembering to copy my comment before I reply in case of a “Nonce verification failed” event. Only when my reply is exceptionally brilliant that I both forget to pre-copy it and get the dreaded NVF.