Absolutely, across the world we’re seeing a rise in fascism, populism and oppressive regimes. And from Brexit and the election of Trump, there is a shockingly signficant amount of support for that kind of leader. People, including myself, are easily manipulated with fear into blaming other people for problems. With social media campaigns as a tool, it has only made controlling the populace more effective for autocrats.
The article touched on how bringing oppressive tactics to light, “naming and shaming” doesn’t work as well anymore because these types of rulers typically like to surround themselves with yes-men and oust those who disagree, keeping them insulated from complaints of human rights groups.
I always thought about how almost every country in the world never really added anything related to accountability in the constitution, for instance, in the USA, it almost always try to assume someone is acting in good faith even on the most important political function of the country. If we have more tools given to average people, it is possible to rein in the system.
They know that while autocratic regimes are refining their methods, the countries that say they support human rights, such as the United States, can be unreliable when their own interests are at stake.
This is a huge one. There was a time when advanced nations could completely shut an autocratic country off from the rest of the world and that country would either change its ways or lag behind everyone else. Now those bad actors are global suppliers of vital resources like oil, rare earth metals, and anything electronic.
Advanced nations now have to decide on how many human rights abuses they’ll ignore in order to ensure they still get their next shipment.
I think for most of history almost no one had any rights, then technological advancements (printing, internet, etc.) shook that system up and gave a chance for people to grab some bits of power. Now the system is stabilizing according to these new developments, and the power is getting centralized again. Im not sure if this is unstoppable, but sometimes it seems like it.
Something happened with people too, after trump - it’s like everybody got a license to be an asshole. And it’s a global thing, and the people I’m talking about are the nice grandma and the completely normal woodworker. It’s still surprising somehow, the hidden hatred everywhere.
Yes, its really frustrating to see how we have been led into a culture war. And of course when they attack minorities we have to push back, but at the same time there are so much more important issues heavily affecting everyone, including minorities. Hope there will be some day when taxing corporations is just as hot topic as whether trans people should sport nowadays.
It’s incredibly hard to snap people out of that state of mind, it takes a real toll on you. I hope trying to be good and loving will become fashionable again
