Re: On Mass Political Attention

[robert <http://dummy.us.eu.org/robert>]

 > From: Noelle <noelle>
 > Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2021 09:43:40 -0700 (PDT)
 >
 > he really nails it here, very long but worth reading
 > 
 > https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/10/29/on-mass-political-inattention/

I like the discussion about time poverty.  This kinda goes back to the two
books I mentioned recently ("Time Management for Mortals", and "This Life"
by Martin Hagglund) and how time is main bargaining chip that working
people have.

This is also what we were talking about last weekend:

 "Even with time and energy to “pay close attention,
 day to day, to what’s going
 on” (Ornstein), there’s the
 problem of how to make any sense of it."

That just reading and listening to the news doesn't offer any systemic
analysis.

I agree: our society is a bureaucracy wrapped in an ideology:

 "In short, it is an ideology, not just a series of economic structures,
 and apart from feudalism, it is probably the strongest ideology that we
 have seen."

Our form of capitalism would not exist without the bureaucratic structures
and associated ideology.  No doubt this contributes to people believing
that Uber should be independent contractors (Ca prop 22) rather
than workers.

I think this is a bit unfair:

 "Twenty years ago, everybody had a book or newspaper. Now they just
 fiddle with their smart phone gadgets."

People can and do read stuff on their phones -- 'tho, I'm not exactly sure
how [given the tiny font].

The discussion about books reminds me of, in the "Continuum" TV series, in
the year 2077, printed books are contraband because they are able to be
shared and copied; only digital content is legal because its dissemination
can be controlled.

The "Time and Place for the Dialectically Inseparable Tasks of Knowing and
Doing" section makes me think about that conversation with Max Haiven
(https://thisishell.com/episodes/1389 ) about how, even if you cut off the
head of the capitalist hydra, another one grows in its place, and that
successful revolution comes down to persuasion and education.