A far-right party is heading for its strongest result yet in Germany's election
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Because propaganda works.
And the only antidote is to understand media, the main driving force of so many things in the world. The media ownership will not be doing that. Governments, under control of the media ownership, will not be doing that.
Therefore: shittier.
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And to add what the others said, things are getting more expensive. Raw material prices keep going up, price of energy is rising but wages aren't. Growth of the western countries went way down but the elite still insist on their usual cut even if they means taking a cut from the general population to make up the difference.
Then comes climate change making insurances more expensive or impossible, what makes things more difficult for housing. After that the climate also messes with food production. Not to mention how modern industrial animal husbandry is a pandemic generator what's going to make it worse.
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It seems to be especially driven by migration.
No, that's just the scapegoat. Neither the number of immigrants, nor the number of illegal immigrants, nor the crime rate among immigrants are especially high right now.
All of these numbers are currently lower (in Germany) than 10, 20 or 30 years ago. -
I think maybe I was unclear. I believe that much of the shift rightward is because migrants are an ideal boogyman. They're a natural target for nationalists, and liberals are largely apathetic.
As late stage capitalism, automation, and outsourcing create greater and greater economic precarity, the far right has a perfect opportunity to enter the mainstream by giving voice to two of the biggest unspoken concerns that many politically disengaged voters relate to but often feel pressured not to talk about.
The fascists say, 'your life is worse! And your neighborhood has changed ethnically! And we have a whole explanation for all your problems that the people in charge are trying to suppress! Lol at how aggressively they try and prevent us from saying these things!'
And the dominant liberal order can't say 'It's not what it looks like! The rich are actually just taking advantage of you, and those migrants are just the earliest victims of climate change and greed!'
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I know right. The only issue is instead of a world at war with countries fighting each other, it’s going to be like 20 separate civil wars.
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Hell yeah
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Wait…why would that be good?
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The rest of the world watching the US be an extra dysfunctional mess for the last forty years and finally blow its own legs off: "well, okay, but they said it'll be different for us"
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Misery loves company
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Oh, so far we've got one European or Canadian downcoping and telling themselves "but it really will be different for us".
Fuck around and find out, bud. Hope you don't enjoy your social programs.
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Regarding important economic issues such as healthcare, welfare, taxes, consumer protection & industry regulation this is certainly the case.
The part where the European right mainly differs from the US left is on more recent additions to leftist ideology - such as identity politics & intersectionalism.
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You've heard the saying "misery lives company?"
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There's more stupid people than there are smart people. Stupid people always have more kids. They raise their kids to be stupid.
We're doomed.
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Canada also has a bunch of far right assholes who're currently leading in our polls. Luckily the US clusterfuck is making Canadians think twice about voting for them though and they're dropping in the polls
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Maple millhouse will be so fucking bad for canada
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If it's always been that way, how did things ever get better?
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We used to shun stupidity. Social media and the internet has emboldened stupid people to support other stupid people spouting stupidity. Used to be if no one would listen to you in person, you'd just have to keep your dumb thoughts to yourself.
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I mean yeah the internet has proliferated stupid. But I think everyone was always stupid, but just nowhere near power.
We need a meritocratic system that is also based on modern science and social psychology, and it needs to be diverse, equitable, and inclusive too...
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Agree with your points, stupid people still existed, but would be shunned from important roles once others realized they were stupid. Social media and the systematic underfunding of education and science also is a factor of dumbing down the general population and overall lack of critical thinking. It's one of the reasons so many mistrust scientist or experts and think watching youtube or tiktok videos counts as "research".
Can you imagine, governments made up of highly educated people that are actually experts in the fields their role is responsible for? We might actually progress as a society.
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Oligarchs are targeting democracies.
