Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

My view is that there's a rather complex feedback dance which works in both directions.

See Umberto Eco's description of Ur-Fascism: https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/umberto-eco-ur-fasci...

Robert O. Paxton's "The Five Stages of Fascism" (https://web.archive.org/web/20170221113224/http://theleder.c...) and The Anatomy of Fascism (https://archive.org/details/anatomyoffascism00paxt_0) make a case that I interpret as much of what we view as fascist behaviour seems to be information-theoretic, and typical of any culture or community under increasing stress. (This raises several grim prospects.)

Dwight MacDonald's 1956 take on mass media describes much, "A Theory of Mass Culture": https://is.muni.cz/el/1421/jaro2008/ESB032/um/5136660/MacDon...

Edward Jay Epstien's News from Nowhere (1973) discusses the considerations in national television news production. Many of those constraints have been lifted (it's now far easier to capture, transmit, and edit content), others have been introduced (there's far more competition for audience), and some remain largely constant (there are only 60 minutes in an hour, or 30 in a half, of which a substantial portion is lost to advertising). The news business is a constant juggle between sourcing material, producing it for broadcast, audience maintenance, and working within the confines of a time-bounded medium.

https://archive.org/details/newsfromnowheret0000epst

(Several of these works are NOT on my previously-linked biography.)

A general consequence is that commercially-organised media and majority-based governance seem to have a number of factors and dynamics which drive them toward demagogic / nationalistic populism. This may be problematic.



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: