https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-the-revolt-of-the-public

"Martin Gurri's The Revolt Of The Public is from 2014, which means you might as well read the Epic of Gilgamesh. It has a second-edition-update-chapter from 2017, which might as well be Beowulf. The book is about how social-media-connected masses are revolting against elites, but the revolt has moved forward so quickly that a lot of what Gurri considers wild speculation is now obvious fact."

An excellent book review concerning the future of US democratic politics in the age of the internet.

From Wikepedia: "Martin Gurri is a former CIA analyst who writes about the relationship between politics and media. He is a visiting fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia and is a contributing writer to the center's Discourse magazine. He served at the Director of National Intelligence Open Source Center in various senior positions, including director of research. "

Also from Wikepedia, the reviewer: "Slate Star Codex (SSC) was a blog focused on science, medicine (especially within psychiatry), philosophy, politics, and futurism. The blog was written by Scott Alexander Siskind,[1] a San Francisco Bay Area psychiatrist,[2] under the pen name Scott Alexander."

On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 12:22:30 PM UTC-4, ltlee1 wrote:
> https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-the-revolt-of-the-public
>
> "Martin Gurri's The Revolt Of The Public is from 2014, which means you might as well read the Epic of Gilgamesh. It has a second-edition-update-chapter from 2017, which might as well be Beowulf. The book is about how social-media-connected masses are revolting against elites, but the revolt has moved forward so quickly that a lot of what Gurri considers wild speculation is now obvious fact."
>
> An excellent book review concerning the future of US democratic politics in the age of the internet.
>
> From Wikepedia: "Martin Gurri is a former CIA analyst who writes about the relationship between politics and media. He is a visiting fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia and is a contributing writer to the center's Discourse magazine. He served at the Director of National Intelligence Open Source Center in various senior positions, including director of research. "
>
> Also from Wikepedia, the reviewer: "Slate Star Codex (SSC) was a blog focused on science, medicine (especially within psychiatry), philosophy, politics, and futurism. The blog was written by Scott Alexander Siskind,[1] a San Francisco Bay Area psychiatrist,[2] under the pen name Scott Alexander."

"Gurri calls our current government a kind of "zombie democracy". The institutions of the 20th century -
legislatures, universities, newspapers - continue to exist. But they are hollow shells, stripped of all legitimacy.
Nobody likes or trusts them. They lurch forward, mimicking the motions they took in life, but no longer able to
change or make plans or accomplish new things.

There is no longer a role for leaders qua leaders; they would attain office, fail to solve everything immediately,
and get torn to pieces. To adapt, leaders have become “protesters-in-chief”. Gurri says that Obama's presidential
speeches took an unprecedented turn from "here is why America is great" to "I stand beside you in your conclusion
that everything sucks and in your desire to change it". Obama marched with protesters and validated their anger.
In the afterword for the second edition, Gurri holds up Trump as a different sort of protester-in-chief, somebody
whose very existence sends a message of "I hate the elites and everything they stand for", and who consequently
gets a pass on not having solved all problems yet. "

On Wednesday, July 13, 2022 at 7:26:20 PM UTC-4, ltlee1 wrote:
> On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 12:22:30 PM UTC-4, ltlee1 wrote:
> > https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-the-revolt-of-the-public
> >
> > "Martin Gurri's The Revolt Of The Public is from 2014, which means you might as well read the Epic of Gilgamesh. It has a second-edition-update-chapter from 2017, which might as well be Beowulf. The book is about how social-media-connected masses are revolting against elites, but the revolt has moved forward so quickly that a lot of what Gurri considers wild speculation is now obvious fact."
> >
> > An excellent book review concerning the future of US democratic politics in the age of the internet.
> >
> > From Wikepedia: "Martin Gurri is a former CIA analyst who writes about the relationship between politics and media. He is a visiting fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia and is a contributing writer to the center's Discourse magazine. He served at the Director of National Intelligence Open Source Center in various senior positions, including director of research. "
> >
> > Also from Wikepedia, the reviewer: "Slate Star Codex (SSC) was a blog focused on science, medicine (especially within psychiatry), philosophy, politics, and futurism. The blog was written by Scott Alexander Siskind,[1] a San Francisco Bay Area psychiatrist,[2] under the pen name Scott Alexander."
> "Gurri calls our current government a kind of "zombie democracy". The institutions of the 20th century -
> legislatures, universities, newspapers - continue to exist. But they are hollow shells, stripped of all legitimacy.
> Nobody likes or trusts them. They lurch forward, mimicking the motions they took in life, but no longer able to
> change or make plans or accomplish new things.
>
> There is no longer a role for leaders qua leaders; they would attain office, fail to solve everything immediately,
> and get torn to pieces. To adapt, leaders have become “protesters-in-chief”. Gurri says that Obama's presidential
> speeches took an unprecedented turn from "here is why America is great" to "I stand beside you in your conclusion
> that everything sucks and in your desire to change it". Obama marched with protesters and validated their anger.
> In the afterword for the second edition, Gurri holds up Trump as a different sort of protester-in-chief, somebody
> whose very existence sends a message of "I hate the elites and everything they stand for", and who consequently
> gets a pass on not having solved all problems yet. "

The following is book reviewer SSC's input
"I’m reminded of Tanner Greer’s claim that the great question of modernity is not “what can I accomplish?” or “how
do I succeed?” but rather “how do I get management to take my side?”

Together with America's short history and citizens' propensity to fantasize on what the US could do, and its theocratic
history offer a path of least resistance. Recreate a version of theocracy with God the management, faith and prayers
would certainly get management to take side favoring the religious.

On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 9:22:30 AM UTC-7, ltlee1 wrote:
> https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-the-revolt-of-the-public
>
> "Martin Gurri's The Revolt Of The Public is from 2014, which means you might as well read the Epic of Gilgamesh. It has a second-edition-update-chapter from 2017, which might as well be Beowulf. The book is about how social-media-connected masses are revolting against elites, but the revolt has moved forward so quickly that a lot of what Gurri considers wild speculation is now obvious fact."
>
> An excellent book review concerning the future of US democratic politics in the age of the internet.

It's an interesting take on the ways we in the West as a population are affected by protests and activism.

What about in the PRC? How do people's feelings and desires influence day to day life?

On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 12:22:30 PM UTC-4, ltlee1 wrote:
> https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-the-revolt-of-the-public
>
> "Martin Gurri's The Revolt Of The Public is from 2014, which means you might as well read the Epic of Gilgamesh. It has a second-edition-update-chapter from 2017, which might as well be Beowulf. The book is about how social-media-connected masses are revolting against elites, but the revolt has moved forward so quickly that a lot of what Gurri considers wild speculation is now obvious fact."
>
> An excellent book review concerning the future of US democratic politics in the age of the internet.
>
> From Wikepedia: "Martin Gurri is a former CIA analyst who writes about the relationship between politics and media. He is a visiting fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia and is a contributing writer to the center's Discourse magazine. He served at the Director of National Intelligence Open Source Center in various senior positions, including director of research. "
>
> Also from Wikepedia, the reviewer: "Slate Star Codex (SSC) was a blog focused on science, medicine (especially within psychiatry), philosophy, politics, and futurism. The blog was written by Scott Alexander Siskind,[1] a San Francisco Bay Area psychiatrist,[2] under the pen name Scott Alexander."

"Gurri talks a lot about Center and Border, but barely even mentions Left and Right. Once you reintroduce these,
you have a solution to nihilism. The Left can come up with a laundry list of High Modernist plans that they think
would solve all their problems, and the Right can do the same. Then one or the other takes control of government,
gets thwarted by checks/balances/Mitch McConnell, and nothing happens. No American Democrat was forced to
conclude that just because Obama couldn't solve all their problems, the promise of High Modernism was a lie. They
just concluded that Obama could have solved all their problems, but the damn Republicans filibustered the bill.
Likewise, the Republicans can imagine that Donald Trump would have made America great again if the media and
elites and Deep State hadn't been blocking him at every turn. Donald Trump himself tells them this is true!"

Actually, two distinct reality are leading to the mass movement depending on the influence of elites.
One is the unlivable kind of reality. The other, as described by SSC above, is split reality. American
elites have successfully created and so far maintaining the this split reality. But it is not any kind of
solution to nihilism except the extremists. Little chance to rebuild a unified and trusted by all center.

On Monday, July 18, 2022 at 11:15:26 AM UTC-7, ltlee1 wrote:
> Actually, two distinct reality are leading to the mass movement depending on the influence of elites.
> One is the unlivable kind of reality. The other, as described by SSC above, is split reality. American
> elites have successfully created and so far maintaining the this split reality. But it is not any kind of
> solution to nihilism except the extremists. Little chance to rebuild a unified and trusted by all center.

Because of the fact of fair elections in the US, there will always be divisiveness. In the PRC, they do not have fair elections. So that is better? Seems quite wrong. The divisiveness is still there.

On Monday, July 18, 2022 at 2:15:26 PM UTC-4, ltlee1 wrote:
> On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 12:22:30 PM UTC-4, ltlee1 wrote:
> > https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-the-revolt-of-the-public
> >
> > "Martin Gurri's The Revolt Of The Public is from 2014, which means you might as well read the Epic of Gilgamesh. It has a second-edition-update-chapter from 2017, which might as well be Beowulf. The book is about how social-media-connected masses are revolting against elites, but the revolt has moved forward so quickly that a lot of what Gurri considers wild speculation is now obvious fact."
> >
> > An excellent book review concerning the future of US democratic politics in the age of the internet.
> >
> > From Wikepedia: "Martin Gurri is a former CIA analyst who writes about the relationship between politics and media. He is a visiting fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia and is a contributing writer to the center's Discourse magazine. He served at the Director of National Intelligence Open Source Center in various senior positions, including director of research. "
> >
> > Also from Wikepedia, the reviewer: "Slate Star Codex (SSC) was a blog focused on science, medicine (especially within psychiatry), philosophy, politics, and futurism. The blog was written by Scott Alexander Siskind,[1] a San Francisco Bay Area psychiatrist,[2] under the pen name Scott Alexander."
> "Gurri talks a lot about Center and Border, but barely even mentions Left and Right. Once you reintroduce these,
> you have a solution to nihilism. The Left can come up with a laundry list of High Modernist plans that they think
> would solve all their problems, and the Right can do the same. Then one or the other takes control of government,
> gets thwarted by checks/balances/Mitch McConnell, and nothing happens. No American Democrat was forced to
> conclude that just because Obama couldn't solve all their problems, the promise of High Modernism was a lie. They
> just concluded that Obama could have solved all their problems, but the damn Republicans filibustered the bill.
> Likewise, the Republicans can imagine that Donald Trump would have made America great again if the media and
> elites and Deep State hadn't been blocking him at every turn. Donald Trump himself tells them this is true!"
>
> Actually, two distinct reality are leading to the mass movement depending on the influence of elites.
> One is the unlivable kind of reality. The other, as described by SSC above, is split reality. American
> elites have successfully created and so far maintaining the this split reality. But it is not any kind of
> solution to nihilism except the extremists. Little chance to rebuild a unified and trusted by all center.

Ultimately, the issue is not about Democrats versus Republicans, the center versus the border. Rather it is
incompetent and unaccountable government officials. Nihilism is the result of hopelessness.

On Monday, July 18, 2022 at 2:15:26 PM UTC-4, ltlee1 wrote:
> On Saturday, July 9, 2022 at 12:22:30 PM UTC-4, ltlee1 wrote:
> > https://astralcodexten.substack.com/p/book-review-the-revolt-of-the-public
> >
> > "Martin Gurri's The Revolt Of The Public is from 2014, which means you might as well read the Epic of Gilgamesh. It has a second-edition-update-chapter from 2017, which might as well be Beowulf. The book is about how social-media-connected masses are revolting against elites, but the revolt has moved forward so quickly that a lot of what Gurri considers wild speculation is now obvious fact."
> >
> > An excellent book review concerning the future of US democratic politics in the age of the internet.
> >
> > From Wikepedia: "Martin Gurri is a former CIA analyst who writes about the relationship between politics and media. He is a visiting fellow at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Virginia and is a contributing writer to the center's Discourse magazine. He served at the Director of National Intelligence Open Source Center in various senior positions, including director of research. "
> >
> > Also from Wikepedia, the reviewer: "Slate Star Codex (SSC) was a blog focused on science, medicine (especially within psychiatry), philosophy, politics, and futurism. The blog was written by Scott Alexander Siskind,[1] a San Francisco Bay Area psychiatrist,[2] under the pen name Scott Alexander."
> "Gurri talks a lot about Center and Border, but barely even mentions Left and Right. Once you reintroduce these,
> you have a solution to nihilism. The Left can come up with a laundry list of High Modernist plans that they think
> would solve all their problems, and the Right can do the same. Then one or the other takes control of government,
> gets thwarted by checks/balances/Mitch McConnell, and nothing happens. No American Democrat was forced to
> conclude that just because Obama couldn't solve all their problems, the promise of High Modernism was a lie. They
> just concluded that Obama could have solved all their problems, but the damn Republicans filibustered the bill.
> Likewise, the Republicans can imagine that Donald Trump would have made America great again if the media and
> elites and Deep State hadn't been blocking him at every turn. Donald Trump himself tells them this is true!"
>
> Actually, two distinct reality are leading to the mass movement depending on the influence of elites.
> One is the unlivable kind of reality. The other, as described by SSC above, is split reality. American
> elites have successfully created and so far maintaining the this split reality. But it is not any kind of
> solution to nihilism except the extremists. Little chance to rebuild a unified and trusted by all center.

"I believe there’s a relationship between our fractured reality and the rise of the nihilist—persons and
groups that consider destruction and mass murder to be a form of progress. The nihilist lurks in a
broken sliver of truth that is impossible to debate or refute. There, he experiences absolute grievance
and the absolute negation of the system, the repudiation of everything that stands and of everyone
he encounters. Not just politics but all of humanity, he holds, must be purified and made new. As the
last righteous person, the nihilist aims to bring this about in the blood of random strangers. He acts
out the violence that so many others perpetrate verbally and virtually on the web: he is, in that sense,
the avenging angel of post-truth, and the rant made flesh." (The Revolt of the Public by Martin Gurri)