Is this a "something must be done!" because it's on the news, or because it's an actual new problem warranting special attention?
When the soviets decided that whatever their System was doing, it was not doing what they had been brought up to believe in, they changed it. In russia specifically, wikipedia says 3 people were killed during that change. (Romania was the most violent by far of the Warsaw Pact, with O(1000)) The US has not only stayed in afghanistan for far longer than the USSR, it's clearly had more than 3 people killed in political violence so far, and I am not optimistic enough to think they will get to a system "with liberty and justice for all" without adding any more...
But I am a cynic, so my fingers are crossed that I am wrong.
Edit: the "3 people" are from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1991_Soviet_coup_d%27état_atte... ; please let me know if I am missing any more violent episodes.
Don't forget about the US "sojourns" into LatAm! There's lots more where that came from.
Furthermore, if that is indeed the case, what makes you think that publishing platforms are the cause?
I'm skeptical of the first, and I am doubly skeptical of the latter.
Read the news? There’s been a huge upswing in far right politics dominating democracies worldwide, post-2008. The world’s largest democracy, India, is currently controlled by an explicitly enthnonationalist party whose leader has praised Hitler. The US, Australia, Hungary, Austria, Brazil, Japan, and many others have lurched further rightward.
> Furthermore, if that is indeed the case, what makes you think that publishing platforms are the cause?
In historical terms, there is not ever a single cause, but multiple forces coalescing to push things in one direction or another. Obviously, the 2008 financial crisis and it’s impact on the world economy created a ground that was fertile for all kinds of populism. Because of their long standing alliance with Capital owners, however, the right was better positioned to make use of these technologies as they emerged. You can also read any number of stories about the role that Facebook, WhatsApp, YouTube etc served in successful right wing political campaigns across the world. Google “”WhatsApp Brazil Bolsonaro” or “Trump 2016 Facebook” of you need further insight. It’s pretty much common knowledge at this point.
Why do you believe that there is some recent new acute problem?