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isaacgadflee · 6 years ago

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Shaping your opinion

The media is owned by the oligarchy. And they use that platform to set the stage for their dominance. They do that by manipulating the conversation. A majority of the people are dimwitted and uninformed, so they learn by word of mouth. They know what the truth is because they hear people repeating the same thing everywhere they go. If the TV says Medicare for All is too expensive then people repeat that and then it permeates out into the culture and before you know it people think Medicare for All is too expensive, despite the fact that by every analysis MfA saves money. It’s cheaper than the system we have now and it covers millions more people.

There is a war going on for the truth and the people are losing because the education system has been designed by the oligarchy to inhibit independent critical thinking. The job market has been designed to keep people poor and struggling to prevent people from having the time to learn and stand up, to rob people of the ability to strike and protest. Everyone lives in the precarious position where one bad week could send them into dire poverty.

The oligarchy is using their wealth to keep people enslaved. You think you are free, but you’re paid less and work more and thankful for what you got.

We live in a world of fiat. The government prints the money without any commodity to set the price, and then that same institution tells the people what the limits of possibility are and the unimaginative populous nods their heads and in unison say, “it has to be this way, this is the way it’s always been.” What is possible is limited only by the volition of the people who will it.

Could we provide a decent living for every American? We certainly could, but the oligarchy that rules this nation understands that the privilege of others is their own oppression. In a world where people have the choice to live as they see fit, the oligarchy cannot exist. So, they broadcast the narrative that people choose to be poor, ignoring the fact that folks who work full time can’t afford rent; they say that wealth is accumulated by hard work, ignoring the fact that it is impossible for Gates to work 100,000x harder than a typical hourly worker; they say economic failure is an individual’s own moral failing, ignoring the fact that a fifth of America’s children will experience homelessness each year.

The oligarchy doesn’t want you to have leisure, they don’t want you capable of critical thinking, and they don’t want you empowered because, to them, this is a zero sum game. If you win, you are entitled to a decent standard of living in the richest nation on Earth, in which case they aren’t entitled to a docile, sycophantic, cheap labor pool with an accompanying infinite potential to profit and impose control.

We have to face facts, just like wealth isn’t distributed equally, neither is empathy or altruism, neither is narcissism or avarice. What drives a person to the top isn’t their work ethic nor their industriousness, but a love for money and a willingness to take at the expense of others. The road to the top is a series of awful decision where one person sacrifices the value of other human lives in service of their own.

Until the masses of men can recognize this truth, the population will be destined to endure the wage slavery that they are currently subjugated to. It may seem unthinkable, impossible to imagine, but the world use to exist as slaves and masters, then serfs in feudalism, and now under capitalism we are wage slaves, still a breed to be dominated but we’ve come a long way. The slaves of the past could never have imagined having what we have today, just as we cannot imagine the liberty that our descendants will enjoy in the future.

The profits of our labor that we ought to be entitled to will not be given to us. So long as we allow the system to perpetuate as it is, those in charge who live luxuriously because of it will not willingly disband it. We have all of human history to prove that. Nor should we ever be so gullible as to anticipate that this revolution will ever be unanimously endorsed by our brothers and sisters; just as 30% of people give deference to authority today, 30% of people sided with Britain in the revolution, and 30% of people will always be obedient to the existing power structure and they will need to be dragged kicking and screaming into the future where our descendants are entitled to a decent living — a fair slice of the profits that are only made possible through their blood, sweat and tears.

#oppression #revolution #liberty #freedom #futurism #liberalism #politics #government #MSM #oligarcy #democracy #social democracy

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realitista · 7 years ago

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We all need to get behind the Anticorruption Act if we ever want the government to do what we want and not just what corporations lobby for

#government #corruption #campaign finance #politics #corporatocracy #oligarcy #democracy

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saltiestgempearl · 4 years ago

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Ok so in response to my post earlier, I got this in response:

[Image Description: Screenshot of reply from user frangipani-wanderlust that reads “Retroceding to Maryland is the only Constitutional option. The rest of your post is projecting your own power-grab-permanent-oligarcy fantasies onto me. Fuck you, and by forever.” The post is tagged with #politics, #retrocede, and #live with it. End Image Description.]

Which is hysterical in a morbidly funny sort of way. There are very ridiclous people on both the Democrat and Republican side, but this is the special sort that I’ve only ever seen on the Republican side. God. I hope this person doesn’t join Q anon or something.

Anyway, glad to know that you think “hey, these people deserve to have a say in where there money goes and it’s pretty shitty to tell them they can’t unless they vote for what you want” is “projecting my power-grab-permanent-oligarcy” on you.”

#politics #also love how they didn't even try to address my question as to why it has to be Maryland #I know why #it's becasue they can't bare the thought that some of the disenfranchised voters will have their voices heard #if those voices end up being democrat #anyway they blocked me so yeah #god two people in one day I must be extra bitchy today

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thehydrasystem · 4 years ago

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Our Inner World

Our inner world is broken up into 3 major sections. The city, the manor house, and the night club.

The city exists primarily to be a backdrop for the highschool. It is filled with npcs. It also houses city hall where the council meetings are held. The council is made up of 14 people who inherited their seats on it. Most of them are npcs. They hold all the political power in our inner world. Most of us used to go to the highschool but we've graduated so the only one who still goes there is Filly.

The manor house is where most of us live. Its 2 stories. The lower floor has the living room, kitchen, library, office, and dungeon. The upper floor has Anastasia's room, the boys dorm rooms, the girls dorm room, and Leo, Rodrich, and Kioshi's bedroom.

The last major section of the inner world is the night club. It is in a seedier part of town. It's where Arrow, Jane, Lox, and Alec live.

Other inner world facts:

It is always day in the city and at the manor but always night at the club.

The weather changes based on what mood most of us are in.

The government is an oligarcy.

All the buildings are on one side of the street. The other side is flat plains for as far as you can see and it is said that that is where the last of the wild magical creatures live.

Magical creatures are real but rare.

Technology wise we are in the 90s.

The social etiquette is we think from the 1800s.

Most of the world is broken up into factions. They each have a leader. Many either follow a specific member of the council or are trying to seize power. The factions are often at war with eachother so figuring out who all you are allied with is important.

There might be a part 2 to this but we thought the rest of the stuff had a high likely hood of being triggering. We figured we'd at least give you the safe stuff seperatly if you need to skip pt 2.

#dissociative identity disorder #disorder #multiple personality disorder #identities #identity #dissociative #dissociation #alters #multiple #system #inner world #head mates #headmates #head space #hydra system #hydra #the hydra system

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zobot257 · 4 years ago

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Propagana Callout: Tucker Carlson

Today I need to talk to anyone reading this about a matter of utmost seriousness: Propaganda.

Propaganda is something that I, as a writer, utterly despise. It's misleading, misinforming, blatantly biased sources of information meant to brainwash rather than to foster thought and further investigation. And it is all around us in this current election. More than ever we have an obligation to do research and investigate things ourselves, to stay properly informed.

I'm going to do something here, which is to show a written work I feel is very much Propaganda, and then explain how it uses fallacy, melodrama, and deception to mislead you. The piece I'm using as an example is linked below:

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/tucker-carlson-2020-election-biden-win-age-of-oligarcy

Please NOTE I'm picking this because it's an easy, obvious target, not because it's "conservative" or "liberal" or anything like that. Propaganda exists on both sides here, and in the modern age it's often harder to spot. If you want me to evaluate something from like CNN or some other obviously liberal news source as a counterpoint to this, feel free to suggest it.

With that in mind, let's begin.

Now, there's a number of things propaganda-laden about this piece. First of all, keep in mind that this is an OPINION piece. Opinion pieces are not subject to as rigid guidelines as anything intended to be presented as ACTUAL journalism. While you still can't say things to say, incite a riot, you can get away with a lot more than you could in a proper newspaper article that's meant to be an authoritarian source as long as you clearly label that it's only your opinion. So that means it's safe, right?

That's the thing here, it isn't.

The fact that it’s from Tucker Carlson, noted TV personality, gives it a sense of significance and weight (if only virtually) than an opinion piece written by any other John Doe. As much as I dislike the man, there are people who trust him and will take his word because of who he is and what he does. Because he's a person in the public eye who is supposed to report the news. So there are people who will read this and believe it wholeheartedly despite it being labeled an opinion piece, and also despite it not really giving any PROOF for his assertions. In fact that lack of any proof for his assertions, no citing of sources or indicators of what he’s saying beyond the article itself, is the first thing I’d say that flags it as propaganda for me. If you make a statement in a political arena you'd better be prepared to back it up. But the fact that it's an Opinion piece frees him from having to cite sources, while still banking on his name and fame to make it SEEM more authoritative than it really is.

Now let’s dissect some of his statements:

“We have no clue what Joe Biden actually thinks, or even if he's capable of thinking. He hasn't told us and no one's made him tell us for a full year.”

Joe Biden has literally gone the whole year campaigning on a platform. I can cite debates he’s participated in, things he’s vowed to do, and speeches he’s made. But Tucker Carlson implies he’s not “capable of thinking” and that “we have no clue what Joe Biden actually thinks”. The Bible says that “by their fruits shall we know them”. It’s pretty easy to see what Joe Biden is thinking by what he says and his history of actions, and he’s a public figure so those things are not mystified or hidden.

But Tucker Carlson in saying that sentence creates an illusion, without any proof, that Joe Biden has hidden motives, an agenda beyond his actions... or, and this is probably what he’s angling for, NO agenda at all, because he’s implied by the rest of the piece to be a shell of a man controlled by corporate interests.

(This is off-topic, but I’ll point out that Donald Trump is the first president to publicly own his own businesses and openly used his political status to PROFIT his own businesses, which I can cite a NUMBER of sources for. Ethics professors and safeguard monitors in and out of Washington DC have rang alarm bells about that being a dangerous conflict-of-interest.)

“What remains is a projection of sorts, a hologram designed to mimic the behavior of a non-threatening political candidate: "Relax, Joe Biden's here. He smiles a lot. Everything's fine." That's the message from the vapor candidate.”

This is another statement showing how Propaganda it is. It’s subtly condescending, while at the same time not condescending towards the people likely to READ it. Instead, it’s implying that “the other side”, those who support Biden for any reason, are easily manipulated and just want to feel safe. So anyone reading it who is on “the correct side” will generally feel reassured they made the right decision. They’re not easily tricked or suckered by ‘the vapor candidate”.

Another way you can tell it’s Propaganda is that it’s using mockery and derision for people who don’t fit their mold.

Propaganda uses Emotional Artifice to manipulate. It’s designed to make you Feel and Care without making you THINK. You can read this whole article without ever having to seriously question what it’s about. You don’t have to, but it’s designed to not be challenging.

Anyway, moving on, let's see the next thing Tucker Carlson says.

“Well, the first thing you should know is that the people behind Joe Biden aren't liberals. We've often incorrectly called them that. A liberal believes in the right of all Americans to speak freely, to make a living, to worship their God, to defend their own families, and to do all of that regardless of what political party they belong to or what race they happen to be born into or how far from midtown Manhattan they currently live.”

Another point that’s pretty Propaganda is this one right here. Defining terms without any basis for how they’re doing it. How does any reader KNOW this is “what a liberal is”, outside Tucker Carlson defining it? They may have outside knowledge, but that's never a guarantee. By setting up his definition for the reader, Tucker Carlson is setting up rules for how the rest of the article will go, while steering the reader towards his desired point of view.

While that in and of itself is not only a tactic used by Propaganda, it’s bad in this specific instance because of the end goal; which is to define a group without any input from the actual group itself. Think “The Noble Savage” being used to describe Native Americans as “those misguided creatures who only need the light of God to start Living and Acting Right" in earlier historical times. Creating an image of a people group without actually KNOWING the people group in question or accurately reflecting them.

Again, if Tucker Carlson gave any basis or rationale for his claims, it might not be Propaganda. But because he doesn’t, because he expects his word to exist only on it’s own in this article, then the article is the only thing he expects you to read, and to evaluate it on it’s own merits. That makes it Propaganda.

Writing to persuade is not a bad thing. Persuading people using manipulative and disingenuous statements IS.

Next point!

“A liberal believes in universal principles, fairly applied. And the funny thing is, all of that describes most of the 70 million people who just voted for Donald Trump this week.”

In the paragraph preceding this one, Tucker Carlson went on to define a Liberal as something fairly mild and inoffensive. Someone you could probably be friends with, right? Now he’s going on to explain how the people who voted for Biden are in fact NOT liberals, and how the TRUE liberals are all the Trump voters. See, if you’re reading this article, you’re clearly the ones who are mild and inoffensive. You haven’t done anything wrong, you’re the "good guys".

It’s an emotional appeal, and one done in bad faith as manipulative. A trap designed to flatter and comfort people without making them question the validity of what he’s doing. This is the sort of thing salespeople do to upsell customers. By convincing them that the more expensive product is the "smart buy".

“They have no interest in silencing the opposition on Facebook or anywhere else”

Take my words with a grain of salt. I’d rather you THINK about it and evaluate what I say rather than just believe me. But I will say in my personal experience alone this sentence does not describe people who voted for Trump OR Biden, and may be the most false statement Tucker Carlson puts into his whole piece here. EVERYONE uses Facebook for politics these days. I'm starting to get sick of it, and the fact that I've done it too is hypocrisy I need to tamp down.

Anyway, next bit of the opinion article to analyze:

“What you do know for certain is that the people behind Joe Biden are not like that at all. They don't believe in dissent. "You think one thing? I think another. That's OK." No, that's not them at all. They demand obedience to diversity, which is to say, legitimate differences between people is the last thing they want.”

Another good example of Propaganda is how it attacks others and wildly caricaturizes them. You see this in old war propaganda all the time. Look at how “the bad guys” are depicted in some of these old superman comic covers for a visual example:

https://sites.google.com/site/worldwar2comicbookpropaganda/home/superman

As much as I hate to defend Nazis in ANY context, at ALL, the “good guy” is obvious in these visual bits of art. The “bad guy” is drawn as a caricature that looks fairly ugly in a shriveled way more often than not, playing up racial stereotypes and looking unfortunate or angry, while the “good guy” looks generally happy and serene or at least stereotypically handsome to look at. Tucker Carlson is doing the same exact thing here, but with words instead of pictures. Demonizing “the other side” while explaining to his intended audience, his “side”, how they’re the sane and good ones. The "other side" is going to silence your voice, ignore the principle of live and let live, all in the name of "diversity" that isn't truly diverse.

Does he have evidence of this?

Maybe, but he doesn't present it anywhere in the article or even try. You have only this article to go by, and that means either you accept his argument at face value or reject it at face value. He's trying to scare you by presenting something no one really wants as what "the other side" is trying to do.

Propaganda almost never is used to try and convince people who aren’t already believers. It usually looks offensive or silly to people outside the “bubble”.

Instead it’s used to reinforce and manipulate the people who already generally agree with your message. Keeping them from thinking for themselves and replacing their thoughts with your own. Studies have shown a crude-yet-effective way to brainwash anyone is to just keep repeating a phrase over and over again to them while giving them positive reinforcement when they agree (or at least listen passively) while they get negative reinforcement for going against it or speaking up negatively. (Again, don't take my word for it, I encourage you to do research on this frankly horrifying concept.)

The same principle is applied in most forms of Propaganda. Constant repetition of similar messages designed to shut down independent thought or controversy. Next snippet!

“Now, if these seem like corporate values to you, then you're catching on to what's happening. The Joe Biden for President campaign is a purely corporate enterprise.”

Again this is off-topic, but I’ll point out that Donald Trump still holds a controlling interest in his own CORPORATION, and how huge a conflict of interest that is for a political official. IF Joe Biden is actually a corporate enterprise as Tucker Carlson is saying, at least he has the intelligence to keep it covered up.

Personally, I’d take competent evil over inept and stupid evil any day of the week.

But more importantly, again, this is a statement of serious allegations made without any PROOF given to back it up. It’s a statement expected to only be taken by its words alone. Remember my point about Propaganda not being used to convince OUTSIDERS.

Anyone who doesn’t already tune into Fox News would probably look at this statement and wonder where getting it from. Because they’re not the target audience. Propaganda exists primarily to reinforce believes that people already have and keep them from questioning or doubting them. This piece does that. Though I don't feel it does it very subtly, which is why I picked it to evaluate. It's easier to dissect something obvious than something artful.

Next up!

“It's the first one in American history to come this close to the presidency. If a multinational corporation decided to create a presidential candidate, he would be-“

Tucker Carlson, should I just start saying “Trump Towers, Trump Branded products, Trump’s Mar-a-largo resort...” and all the other things involved in Donald Trump’s MULTINATIONAL CORPORATION HE WANTS YOU TO BUY THINGS FROM?

“The first one in American history” is a blatant lie meant to cast shade on Biden. Again, to paraphrase from the Bible: "Remove the plank from your own eye before you remove the speck from your brother’s". I'm not quoting that perfectly but you get the point:

Hypocrisy.

Even if Tucker Carlson has a valid argument here, and Biden will be good for shady tech giants like Google (which I acknowledge may be a possibility), he’s making it seem like this is the first time we’ve had a President beholden to corporate interests. Even BEFORE Trump, it really wasn’t. I’d say it goes back to “Citizens United”, where corporations were ruled by the courts to have MORE rights than citizens, but it probably goes back before that and I just don’t know. (Just a reminder! Don't take my word for this! Read up on Citizens United and make your own opinions!)

Donald Trump is the first person to be President who is just OPEN about being beholden to Corporate interests. And if BIDEN is, it’s just a return to form, where the “form” is him outwardly appearing to be a just leader while inwardly being a puppet for them. Again, if Tucker Carlson has the slightest crumb of a point in his opinion piece here, it’s this. But he’s openly lying by saying that Biden’s the first to be beholden to corporate interests. It’s just that Biden is beholden to corporate interests he doesn’t WANT, while Trump wasn’t.

Next up, we hear Tucker Carlson talk about our next VeePee:

“They literally picked Kamala Harris as Biden's running mate, someone who can't even pronounce her own name”

Propaganda often uses mockery and derision to argue it’s points when it doesn’t actually have GOOD arguments. This is because people will laugh at the joke while not realizing it’s manipulating them.

I highly doubt Kamala Harris can’t pronounce her own name, but its presented here as a way to make her look stupid because Tucker Carlson can’t come up with any legitimate way to attack her.

And there ARE legitimate ways

There's so many legitimate ways to attack Kamala Harris.

But the purpose of this article isn't that. It's to educate on Propaganda. So let's move on!

Ooo, especially because now we get to my favorite part of the whole Opinion Piece next!

“Now, whatever you may think of Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, they did it the traditional way. Each one of them had the support of actual voters. Living, breathing people loved them, believed in them, vested their hope in them, and, by the way, agreed with their ideas, which they articulated clearly.”

THIS is the beautiful part of the manipulation. The part where Tucker Carlson tries to convince us it’s NOT Propaganda. See, he’s clearly praising someone on “the other side”, so therefore he’s clearly unbiased and entirely nonpartisan. The reason why he’s using Bernie Sanders here? Bernie Sanders also has a following among “the other side” but is ENTIRELY SAFE TO PRAISE because he’s not up for election or reelection. People will forget this propaganda-filled shitty memo in a month.

Guaranteed.

But they’ll remember the message inside it if they buy into it. And this whole paragraph is designed to make you remember Tucker Carlson as “fair and unbiased” because clearly there are people on “the other side” that he “respects”. The reality of the situation is that Bernie Sanders can’t easily be used against Tucker Carlson’s intent, because he’s not up for election in any way that rocks the dang boat. So praising him here, regardless of if it’s sincere or not, doesn’t do anything that might risk having Tucker Carlson’s audience start to think or investigate in further detail.

They don’t have to, who needs to seriously think about Bernie Sanders if he’s not one of the options for president right now? Tucker Carlson may indeed respect that Bernie earned voters fairly. But that’s not the POINT of the paragraph. The subtext is that Bernie Sanders, unlike Joe Biden, earned things “fairly”. Therefore creating the illusion, or rather reinforcing the already present illusion, that Joe Biden did NOT win voters “Fairly” to his side.

Now if there’s been election fraud or not isn’t what this is about. What this memo is saying, OUTRIGHT, in this paragraph, is: “there’s no way legitimate voters would EVER vote for Joe Biden, so therefore his victory is invalid”

But it’s not saying that OUTRIGHT, because that statement is one far more people would disagree with.

Instead, it’s creating the illusion that Joe Biden is unlikable and a front for corporate interests and using Bernie Sanders as a counterpart to illustrate a “better” example of “the other side”, who just happens to not be challenging to Tucker Carlson or “his side” right now at all.

The truth is LIKELY that if Bernie was up for Election instead, Tucker Carlson would be arguing he was a socialist and never saying a word positive about him. I mean, I can’t PROVE that, which is why I said “likely”, but I really doubt Tucker Carlson would ever praise Bernie Sanders in any other context. Feel free to show me I'm wrong if I am.

This last bit is NOT my favorite part, because it’s so overdone as to be cliché. But it’s necessary for Tucker Carlson to end on, because this way his base gets to feel virtuous for agreeing with him. It’s what I call “The Literary Death of the Martyr”. Let’s read:

“It's insulting to say that Joseph R. Biden won this election, if that is what comes to pass. The tech companies will have won. The big banks will have won. The government of China, the media establishment, the permanent bureaucracy, the billionaire class -- they will have won, and not in the way that democracy promises. If a single person equaled a single vote, a coalition like that could never win anything. There aren't enough of them.

But as a group, they have something that Donald Trump's voters sadly do not have, and that is power. They have lots of power and they plan to wield that power, whether you like it or not. It's all starting to look a lot like oligarchy at this point. The people who believe they should have been in charge all along now may actually be in charge.

So what does that mean for the rest of us? Will corporate America declare victory and back off? Can we speak freely again? Will they take the boot from our necks? Can we have America back now that the Great Orange Emergency has passed? Well, the mandatory lying orders finally be lifted? ”

I hate the phrase “Virtue signaling” with all my heart and soul and mind. But if there was ever a place to use it, this would be it. The ending of Tucker Carlson’s opinion piece is basically a bid for sympathy. Not for Tucker Carlson, but for his BASE to feel sympathetic towards itself. Tucker Carlson is saying that the majority of the American public, which is clearly what all his readers are a part of, are now beholden and enslaved to the Special Interest Groups behind the Joe Biden regime. Tucker Carlson’s readers have “lost” and are now prostrate towards these powers who have usurped control of the United States by getting Joe Biden elected. It’s melodramatic prose and it’s only purpose is to make the reader feel victimized. Like they themselves are the martyr suffering for what is right while sipping their coffee and waking up after a leisurely morning where they slept in and never had to fear about Vikings breaking down the doors of their monasteries and sacking the place. The point I'm trying to make is that GENERALLY we as Americans do not have to worry about being violently assaulted in our own homes by Norse raiders. I THINK. If there have been Norse-related sackings and lootings and slaughters in America in the past 50 years I am ignorant about please let me know so I can start living in fear of the longboats once more.

But seriously, what Tucker Carlson is doing here is using melodrama as a way to give people a brief burst of emotional Righteous Indignation, to make them feel like they’re “in the right” and that “the bad guys have won”. When people feel like the victim, they can use that as justification to DO anything without it being wrong behavior.

It’s a way of getting otherwise good people to justify doing terrible things, and Tucker Carlson is using it here. That's about it. There's probably stuff I've missed in this Opinion Piece, but I think I've demonstrated how writing can be used to manipulate, mislead, and maneuver one's opinion. Please keep in mind that this was meant to be non-partisian. If you are cheering me on for picking on someone from “the other side” you're missing the point. I've got no malice towards conservatives or even Tucker Carlson in general, but I feel like so much more these days we are being manipulated and critical thinking skills are essential for anyone to navigate the news these days. If you disagree with anything I'm saying here or feel I've quoted Tucker Carlson out of context please feel free to let me know. I welcome controversy and expression of ideas over this, even if you decide to tell me I'm a partisian piece of trash. And if you want me to pick apart some clearly DEMOCRATIC propaganda, feel free to suggest some.

#Politics PropaganaCallout Evaluation CriticalThinking Commentary Analysis

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iqbalnurrahim · 5 years ago

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Menatap Ruang Demokrasi Indonesia

Reformasi telah membawa angin segar bagi kehidupan demokrasi dan bernegara di Indonesia. Perkembangan demokrasi di Indonesia terjadi dengan cepat. Dalam studi yang dilakukan oleh Universitas Gadjah Mada dengan Oslo University dalam penelitian yang berjudul Power, Wealth and Democracy (PWD) disebutkan bahwa terdapat kemajuan yang cukup berarti terutama terkait dengan kebebasan sipil dan kebebasan politik. Survei yang dilakukan menunjukkan bahwa 50 persen informan mengatakan lembaga-lembaga yang berperan untuk memajukan kebebasan sipil dan politik serta pemilu menjalankan tugas dengan cukup baik. Tidak demikian untuk bidang penegakan hukum (rule of law) dan tata kelola pemerintahan yang baik (good governance) yang masih dalam kondisi mengenaskan. Catatan khusus juga pada lembaga yang seharusnya mewakili kepentingan rakyat (merepresentasikan rakyat) sama buruknya atau bahkan lebih parah. Implikasi dari kegagalan representasi tersebut adalah kelemahan dalam penegakan hukum dan tata kelola pemerintahan.

istilah ‘demokratisasi di Indonesia mandeg’ digunakan Olle Turnquist guna menjelaskan kondisi demokrasi di Indonesia. Kita juga menyaksikan demonstrasi secara masif oleh para mahasiswa di akhir tahun lalu yang dikenal dengan aksi ‘reformasi dikorupsi’. Dua judul tersebut saling berhubungan. ‘Reformasi Dikorupsi’ adalah ungkapan mendalam untuk menggambarkan kondisi demokrasi di Indonesia dan mandegnya demokratisasi di Indonesia. Tuntutan para mahasiswa jelas menggambarkan bahwa agenda reformasi belum kunjung selesai. Reformasi justru dikorupsi, agenda reformasi dan demokratisasi justru dibajak. Jika kita mengacu dengan thesis yang diungkapkan oleh Jeffrey Winters dan Vedi Hadiz maka akan ditemukan benang merah mengapa demokrasi di Indonesia mandeg.

Jeffry Winters memberikan thesis bahwa ruang demokrasi di Indonesia direbut dan dikuasai oleh Oligarki. Dalam International Encylopedia of Social Sciences ,oligarki didefinisikan sebagai “bentuk pemerintahan dimana kekuasaan berada di tangan minoritas kecil”. Namun, Winters (2011) menyatakan bahwa oligarki memilki dua dimensi. Dimensi pertama adalah oligarki memiliki dasar kekuasaan yaitu kekayaan material (orang-orang yang menguasai sumberdaya alam). Dimensi kedua, Oligarki memilki jangkauan kekuasaan yang luas dan sistemik, meskipun dirinya adalah minoritas dalam suatu komunitas. Sejatinya tidak ada perubahan berarti sejak berakhirnya rezim orde baru kecuali bahwa Indonesia tidak lagi dipimpin oleh diktaktor. Justru dengan adanya desentralisasi dipasca-reformasi hal tersebut memudahkan para oligarki untuk mendapatan akses ke kontrak dan konsensi melalui politik. Vedi Hadiz dan Ricard Robinson (2004) memiliki argument yang sama bahwa jejaring kekuasaan oligarki sebagai kekuatan sosial yang dibangun sejak Orde Baru tidak otomatis kehilangan kekuasaanya. Jejaring kekuasaan oligarki itu tetap menjadi kekuatan sosial dominan pasca Orde Baru. Ricard Robinson dan Vedi Hadiz dalam bukunya yang berjudul “Reorganizing Power in Indonesia : The Politics of Oligarcy in an Age of Market “memberikan penjelasan bahwa oligarki telah bertransformasi menyesuaikan konteks politik Indonesia pasca reformasi.

Di tahun 2020 ini Riau merupakan salah satu daerah yang akan melaksanakan pemilihan kepala daerah secara serentak. Ada 9 dari total 12 Kabupaten/Kota yang akan menghadapi pemilihan serentak kali ini diantaranya Kabupaten Kepulauan Meranti, Indragiri Hulu, Bengkalis, Pelalawan, Rokan Hulu, Kuantan Singingi, Rokan Hilir, Siak, dan Kota Dumai. Berbagai jenis konstelasi politik pun sudah terlihat di daerah-daerah tersebut. Baliho sudah tersebar dimana-mana, kampanye sebagai calon kepala daerah bahkan sudah dimulai sebelum masa kampanye itu sendiri diresmikan oleh KPUD. Besarnya animo masyarakat pada pemilihan presiden di tahun silam merupakan salah satu bentuk proaktif dalam agenda demokrasi di Indonesia. Animo ini harusnya dapat dipertahankan ketika masuk ke pilkada daerah masing-masing. Multiplier effect yang dimunculkan akibat computational propaganda yang sangat masif memberikan kesempatan bagi masyarakat untuk lebih peduli dengan perkembangan dan kemajuan daerahnya. Jangan sampai ruang demokrasi yang sudah terbuka dengan luas ini tidak dapat dimanfaatkan dengan baik. Proses check and balance kepada pemerintahan merupakan suatu kewajaran, namun harus diikuti dengan moralitas yang baik pula. Jangan lagi masyarakat kita memilih hanya karena rupa, ataupun kalender yang dibagikan, maupun instrumen politik yang sifatnya materil belaka. Ada rekam jejak yang bisa ditelaah, narasi politik yang bisa kita bedah bersama, serta hal-hal substansial lain yang lebih penting untuk kita kedepankan demi kemajuan dan perkembangan daerah kita.

. Berdasarkan data dari Badan Pengawas Pemilu (Bawaslu) tercatat Provinsi Riau merupakan daerah dengan persentase dengan jumlah pemilih paling kecil pada pilkada serentak tahun 2018 lalu, bersama Kalimantan Timur di angka 58 persen. Jumlah pengguna hak pilih sebanyak 2,14 juta dari jumlah DPT Riau yang mencapai 3,6 juta lebih pemilih. Fakta yang cukup ironis ini menjadi tugas besar bagi Komisi Pemilihan Umum Daerah untuk meningkatkan persentase tersebut. Berkaca pada salah satu kabupaten yang kepala daerahnya sudah double winner di dua periode yang berbeda menjadi tersangka kasus korupsi oleh KPK, tentu hal-hal seperti ini harus kita cegah sedini mungkin. Jangan sampai ruang demokrasi kita stagnan, dan hidup hanya ketika ada kontestasi politik belaka. Padahal, sejatinya proses demokrasi harus selalu aktif agar tidak tercipta oligarki di daerah tersebut.

Kolaborasi antara masyarakat dengan berbagai golongan usia menjadi kunci penting bagi terciptanya ruang demokrasi yang lebih baik. Penggunaan sosial media dalam kampanye, penyebaran berita, diskusi, menjadi saran penting dan harus dapat digunakan secara bijak. kementerian komunikasi dan informasi menyampaikan bahwa penyebaran hoaks terjadi pada masyarakat di usia 45 tahun ke atas. Di sini generasi muda yang dikenal milenial harus mampu mengimbangi dan mengingatkan perlunya proses cek kebenaran suatu berita/kejadian. Hal ini penting agar masyarakat tidak lagi tersugesti dengan hal-hal yang hanya mengundang sensasi namun tidak memiliki substansi. Ruang demokrasi ini harus terus diasah dan dimulai dari sejak dini.

Pada intinya, hari ini ruang demokrasi kita tidak menjadi titik temu masyarakat. Ruang demokrasi kita dibajak dan dikorupsi. Ae Proyono menjelaskan bahwa demokrasi memilki tiga elemen penting. Tiga elemen penting tersebut adalah kedaulatan rakyat yang dapat dilihat dari partisipasi rakyat; kedua, kompetisi politik, ketiga partisipasi atau kontrol publik. Namun, pelaksanaan demokrasi kita hari ini hanya dimaknai sebagai kompetisi politik. Kompetisi politik yang hanya dimaknai sebagai pemilu (demokrasi prosedural). Pada akhirnya demos tidak menjadi demos pada mestinya, demos hanya menjadi voters. Ruang demokrasi pada akhirnya dibajak dan dikorupsi. #ReformasiDikorupsi #PilkadaSerentak2020

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