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Death of Michael Ledeen, maker of the phony case for the invasion of Iraq

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93 points nabla9 | 3 comments | 25 May 25 07:08 UTC | HN request time: 0.444s | source
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jaybrendansmith ◴[25 May 25 16:47 UTC] No.44089027[source]▶
This is the last time I felt the power of the propaganda machine. (The most recent time was the 2024 election) It was so obvious to myself and my friends that this was completely cooked up intelligence. And yet the truth was not getting out, and had fooled many people with this strange groupthink, almost like a dumb, braying herd animal, where the collective intelligence was utterly ambushed and tied up in a sack. I don't like feeling powerless, yet I have this feeling that our voices have been smothered of late, destroyed by ridiculous talking points.
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CoastalCoder ◴[25 May 25 22:18 UTC] No.44091728[source]▶
It certainly is making me wonder about the supposed benefits of democracy.

If our votes, even those of our elected representatives, are so easily manipulated, then what's the point?

My question isn't entirely rhetorical. I'm hoping someone can talk me out of that conclusion.

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mediumsmart ◴[26 May 25 04:24 UTC] No.44093960[source]▶
Democracy still is a good idea.
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ndsipa_pomu ◴[26 May 25 08:23 UTC] No.44095228[source]▶
Only with an educated population. An uneducated population is more easily swayed by cults of personality which can lead to the rise of dictators as the people will accept and justify any behaviour from the leader of their tribe.
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1. lm28469 ◴[26 May 25 12:52 UTC] No.44096996[source]▶
"democracy is bad because it can lead to dictatorship" can't be a serious argument...

Democracies are all flawed but theocracies, monarchies, oligarchies, &c. certainly aren't better when it comes to cult of personalities and serving their own tribes

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2. rightbyte ◴[26 May 25 16:48 UTC] No.44099116[source]▶
> "democracy is bad because it can lead to dictatorship" can't be a serious argument...

Heh you got a good point. People seem to expect way to much from their form of government and get desillusionized when it is not magic.

Like, join a party and see how the sausage is made.

3. ndsipa_pomu ◴[26 May 25 18:04 UTC] No.44099928[source]▶
> "democracy is bad because it can lead to dictatorship" can't be a serious argument...

It's not and I didn't write, nor intend that.

Educated voters are a pre-condition for democracy and without that, democracy fails. It's similar to how market knowledge is a pre-condition of free markets as otherwise markets favour the biggest trader.