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Good point. Although I think it tends to be a consensus among an influential minority of the populace rather than society as a whole.

wwright 7y ago
That is fair, but realistically, I think that’s every social consensus… and the implications are much more far reaching than social media platforms :-)
krapp 7y ago
Every motive factor in "society" is a consensus among an influential minority rather than the whole. Society is not a unified entity, nor are its boundaries even strongly defined, so there cannot be a consensus among a "whole" which doesn't exist.
- grabbalacious 7y ago
  Well, that's OK, provided we're honest about what it is, e.g. we don't use media to create the illusion of a majority consensus where none exists.
DonHopkins 7y ago
Yeah, those uppity influential minorities, what ARE we going to do about them? Exasperated sigh.
- homonculus1 7y ago
  Not "minorities" in the sense of black people or trans people or whichever group, but meaning the narrow sliver of upper-middle-class urbanites in a highly visible cluster of academic and media institutions. "Blue checks" if you will. Many of whom don't even overlap with the above minority groups, yet use them as tokens to push their moral system. They do this because that moral system is rigidly codified but arbitrarily extensible, so it has a built-in need for consultants and gatekeepers to tell the rest of us what the current standard is to be an empathetic decent person instead of a racist sexist xenophobe. This might sound overly cynical or uncharitable but woke culture is dissonant with genuine human compassion. There's a big missing mood there and I think the difference can be attributed to career incentives for the people at the top of it. The rank and file mean well but they don't grow past the moral crusade attitude because their leaders actively disparage those who do, and most people learn by example. The religious right is the same, but they're not as relevant right now.
philwelch 7y ago
Mob rule is never actually mob rule, there's a complicated relationship between the mob and the demagogues who alternately control the mob while also being controlled by it.
- lowdose 7y ago
  Controlled opposition while shuffling the real dirty jobs on them and maintaining plausible deniability.

wwright 7y ago

That is fair, but realistically, I think that’s every social consensus… and the implications are much more far reaching than social media platforms :-)

krapp 7y ago

Every motive factor in "society" is a consensus among an influential minority rather than the whole. Society is not a unified entity, nor are its boundaries even strongly defined, so there cannot be a consensus among a "whole" which doesn't exist.

grabbalacious 7y ago
Well, that's OK, provided we're honest about what it is, e.g. we don't use media to create the illusion of a majority consensus where none exists.

DonHopkins 7y ago

Yeah, those uppity influential minorities, what ARE we going to do about them? Exasperated sigh.

homonculus1 7y ago
Not "minorities" in the sense of black people or trans people or whichever group, but meaning the narrow sliver of upper-middle-class urbanites in a highly visible cluster of academic and media institutions. "Blue checks" if you will. Many of whom don't even overlap with the above minority groups, yet use them as tokens to push their moral system. They do this because that moral system is rigidly codified but arbitrarily extensible, so it has a built-in need for consultants and gatekeepers to tell the rest of us what the current standard is to be an empathetic decent person instead of a racist sexist xenophobe. This might sound overly cynical or uncharitable but woke culture is dissonant with genuine human compassion. There's a big missing mood there and I think the difference can be attributed to career incentives for the people at the top of it. The rank and file mean well but they don't grow past the moral crusade attitude because their leaders actively disparage those who do, and most people learn by example. The religious right is the same, but they're not as relevant right now.

philwelch 7y ago

Mob rule is never actually mob rule, there's a complicated relationship between the mob and the demagogues who alternately control the mob while also being controlled by it.

lowdose 7y ago
Controlled opposition while shuffling the real dirty jobs on them and maintaining plausible deniability.