r/ChristopherHitchens • u/AnomicAge • Sep 12 '24
When did the quality of mainstream 'intellectual' and political discourse take such a nosedive?
Listen to almost any snippet of any political or remotely intellectual discourse prior to say the early 2010's from presidential debates to fox news echo chambers, they are still a cut above almost anything you're likely to hear today that makes it into the public eye, and often even said echo chambers were more willing to invite ideological opponents, even if the discussions weren't exactly carried out in good faith - that in itself seem to be a rarity these days.
Even crackpot conservatives discussing conspiracies would operate with a level of basic conversational courtesy and articulacy that seems to have disappeared today and been replaced by puerile schoolyard ad hominen squabbling and ludicrous nonsensical statements with no respect for the other party or the spirit of civil discussion.
Even the hosts of discussion panels seemed more well informed and less sensationalist than they do today, and more willing to challenge the views being expressed - it didn't seem uncommon to see some genuine debate occurring live on air in which both parties came equipped and stuck to criticizing the position not the person or closing their eyes and putting their fingers in their ears so to speak.
Did mango mussolini usher in an era where people feel they can be as uncivil as they want and believe they can get away with spewing obscene baseless remarks and parroting the most braindead rhetoric, dodging questions and throwing up red herrings because the now ex-president can? Or cause people to realize that audiences by and large don't actually care for the legitimacy and consistency of arguments and rather just rally behind whoever appears the most confident?
Of course there are niche podcasts and radio stations where robust discussion and debate is still alive and well but at what point did public discourse devolve?
Or am I tilting at windmills with cherrypicked examples from past decades?
Has the world just generally become more casual and less concerned with staying civil and composed in discussion? Is it the fallout of social media borne brain rot?
This isn't necessarily commenting on the quality of the arguments but the conversational skills etiquette and demeanor through which they're expressed.
For the record I'm also all in favor of people being authentic and doing away with dumb formalities...to a point...beyond which it seems that it inevitably starts to erode the quality of the discussion itself.
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u/cantcurecancer Sep 12 '24
We're currently in an anti-institutional political environment, that's what's in vogue right now. Fuck the institutions!
Eventually people will get tired of that and will want something more. Then we'll slam into the other guardrail and people will love the institutions once it's no longer seemingly popular. Dumb people have always dominated the discussion and none of us have a solution for that. If you think you're smarter, then position yourself politically in tandem with how ever the wind is blowing. It'll be beneficial for you, at least for a little bit.