Tim Uckun (Aug 29 2025 at 04:47): Tim Uckun (Aug 29 2025 at 04:47):I was listening to the latest Mindscape episode (highly reccomended BTW) where Dr. Sean Carroll was talking to Dr. Natalie Batalha about the latest developments in exoplanet research and observations. Somewhere along the conversation Dr. Batalha hesitated and then used the word "spectrum" saying she wasn't sure if she should be using that word, she immediately followed up by saying she won't use the word rainbow. The implication was that these words could trigger the ire of the current administration.
We have seen universities delete any language that could possibly be associated with any kind of "identity politics" from their web sites and communications and apparently the word is going out to the academia to refrain from saying certain words.
This is the very definition of "politically correct speech"
Ron Waldon-Howe (Aug 29 2025 at 06:28): Tim Uckun (Aug 29 2025 at 22:07):That's just sick. Honestly why aren't people revolting?
Aaron Dowd (Aug 30 2025 at 19:43):my perspective is that America is a big place, people's attention is scattered, and most people don't care much unless it directly affects their lives in some negative way.
Ron Waldon-Howe (Aug 30 2025 at 20:06):There's also this effect: https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/05/study-undermining-democracy-is-ok-if-others-do-it-first/
It turns out Democracy isn't more important than winning
Nabeel S (Aug 30 2025 at 22:07):It turns out that if you're the first one to undermine democracy, you simply accuse someone of undermining it first, and then do it yourself.
Tim Uckun (Aug 30 2025 at 22:14):I have no idea what people are thinking but maybe they think Democracy isn't working for them so they want to get away from it.
I saw this happen in Turkey BTW. Erdogan got into power and slowly but surely rigged the country so that he could stay in power indefinitely. He even changed the constitution to make that happen. He learned the playbook from Putin and others like Orban, Netinyahu and now Trump are following the exact same steps.
If history repeats or rhynes democracy is already dead in the US or at least in the death throes. The only hope is that Trump is too old and whoever takes over won't have the came cult of personality.
Ron Waldon-Howe (Aug 31 2025 at 01:01):Hardly anyone lives a truly democratic life
The power structure I interact with most frequently is my employer, and there's nothing democratic about that
If our only democratic experience occurs once every 3-5 years, and our needs are completely ignored in-between, I think it's pretty easy to become cynical
And that's assuming a functioning democratic federal government that you also perceive to be functioning (an enormous assumption)
Nabeel S (Aug 31 2025 at 14:58):If our only democratic experience occurs once every 3-5 years
Maybe every 3-5 years isn't frequent enough, but an advantage of the process is to (ideally) elect someone qualified, so that everyone else can go about their lives without worrying about government details.
Nabeel S (Aug 31 2025 at 15:06):Also, maybe it's wishful/overoptimistic thinking, but I try to zoom out and remind myself that the world has recovered and thrived after far worse. WW1 and WW2 in general. Japan and a few other countries come to mind. Maybe the things that are happening will be a wake up call that will kick people into action.
Tim Uckun (Aug 31 2025 at 21:35):I don't even think a "true democracy" is possible. We have always relied on some sort of a pack hierarchy since we were roaming the plains of Africa. It's just terribly sad that the western world is moving so rapidly in the direction of authoritarianism so fast. It's true we did survive WWII and such but it was so painful and caused so many deaths and so much suffering and so much waste of human potential and wealth.
Having said that. Although we only vote every few years we spend money every day. I personally feel how you spend your money is more important than how you vote and that's one way we could all make immediate and measurable change in the world.
Oh and one more thing. When you look at mass movements for greater freedom in history they have almost always been headed by unions.
Ron Waldon-Howe (Sep 01 2025 at 02:48):Another positive example from history: The Dark Ages
We did eventually exit that period
Maarten Hazewinkel (Sep 01 2025 at 08:12):That doesn't feel like as hopeful an analogy as you probably intended.
The dark ages lasted a long time, and while I'm not a historian, I believe that increasing literacy and education fostered by the printing press was a large factor in getting us out of them.
Currently all the trends seem to be opposites of that with large parts of the populace rejecting knowledge and rationality.
I'm personally still hopeful that at least parts of the world will reject this trend before it goes too far, but I worry that things will get very messy if some groups refuse to accept the rejection of authoritarianism.
Owen Valentine (Sep 02 2025 at 08:06):Related: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ER53GroAyU
Tim Uckun (Sep 02 2025 at 22:27):I read this when it was first published in 2017. It's prophetic and everybody should read it and ponder it.
https://medium.com/@alexey__kovalev/message-to-american-media-from-russia-6e2e76eeae77#.37fm1sgqi
Last updated: Oct 14 2025 at 04:41 UTC