Populism: Why can't we use it?

[JHan]

40. Yes people were duped. folks get duped all the time.

Why you would chafe against this fact is beyond me, especially when I contextualize it in the way the Dem Nominee was slandered.

The point of propaganda is best explained in this quote:

"The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth."

And truth mattered for little in 2016. Unless you seriously think that dezimformatziya was not a factor in 2016, and if you think this you would be wrong.

And I repeat, it is far better to look at other demographic markers ( which I explained). There are cultural factors, income factors, ethnic and gender factors, a whole myriad of other markers far more useful. The idea of summarizing "generations" in this way came into vogue after WW 2. There was a baby boom, and someone decided hey let's call all this new babies "boomers", and someone else decided a generation gap would be 15-18 years give or take. It is completely made up.

But let's talk about the primary some more. Among African Americans, Sanders barely edged Clinton among "millennials" , that 72% figure drops to 52% among African Americans vs Clinton's 47%. And I can tell you that yes, propaganda played a HUGE part in it, we now know that Cambridge Analytica targeted young African American voters, they called it "voter suppression". I saw the impact of it, to dismiss this phenomenon is to be dangerously oblivious to dynamics threatening the health of democracies.

Edit: To tie this back in with the OP, the idea that because 72% ( in total) of those aged 18-29 supported Sanders in the primary means populism should be a thing is a reach, especially since such analysis is devoid of other dynamics at work in 2016. And.. I guess people above 29 don't count ( this is how meaningless it is)