What made so many of them flip their skepticism?

  • UlyssesT [he/him]
    ·
    3 years ago

    Being talked to and told they are smart for listening to the talker (very old and successful marketing trick) made them change their minds.

    Ayn Rand's giant pile of fascist vomit smeared on paper has a foreword about the reader being very smart for buying and reading it, for example.

    • TrudeauCastroson [he/him]
      ·
      edit-2
      3 years ago

      Similarly, the foreword to one of Milton Friedman's earlier books complains about how the NYT silenced him by not putting him on the bestselling list like other authors and a lot of self-victimization about being silenced.

      The man who was in charge of 80s neoliberalism and got to run Chile after the coup.

      • UlyssesT [he/him]
        ·
        3 years ago

        I used to hear that a lot more in the general internet public, with no pushback and no negative reaction, not long after the turn of the century. It was the same time when it was super cool and nearly universally praised to be "socially liberal and fiscally conservative." :disgost:

        • CTHlurker [he/him]
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          3 years ago

          So many people on Reddit used to define their politics that way. And what's funny is that the democrats have been chasing these people since 1992, and somehow haven't realised yet that these people are literally never gonna vote democrat ever. Fiscal policy will always trump social policy, especially when the social policy is largely cultural and not dictated by anything other than media-consumption.

          • UlyssesT [he/him]
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            edit-2
            3 years ago

            It really does seem as if the late 90s never ended for some people, especially the aging ruling class and their petite bourgeoisie enablers.

            • CTHlurker [he/him]
              ·
              3 years ago

              The end of history and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race etc etc etc

              • UlyssesT [he/him]
                ·
                3 years ago

                Clinton-era neoliberals must have had such a dopamine flood from the collapse of the Soviet Union that they've been chasing that dragon ever since.

                • CTHlurker [he/him]
                  ·
                  3 years ago

                  Honestly I think it kind of hurt them. They lost their big boogeyman, and suddenly half of them had no reason to exist. That's also why they kept trying to pin Iran and Iraq as these boogeymen who were working with Cuba and North Korea to destroy America. Besides, a lot of them had degrees and experience in Anti-soviet operations, and suddenly that wasn't as needed. And nobody, not even neolibs, really believe that you can just uproot yourself from the skills you've been training for your entire career. So they scrambled to find another foe, and lucky for them, they have finally landed on China.