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CITIZEN_SLACK

                                                     August 30, 2012

Rich Yeselson, August 4, 2009,
"Avoiding the Lasch of Modernity":
                                         http://crookedtimber.org/2009/08/04/avoiding-the-lasch-of-modernity/
  Yeselson mentions "the famous
  Lippmann/Dewey debates of the
  1920s about the public's
  knowledge of policy issues,
  and its ability to rationally
  adjudicate politics in a
  democracy ..."

  Along with Lippmann, Yeselson takes
  what he calls the "anti-populist" side:

     "... ordinary people had enough
     on their mind regarding their
     family, jobs, and whatever simple
     pleasures engaged them without
     trying to understand, oh, say,
     the public option for health
     care, or the virtues of cap and
     trade vs. a carbon tax."


                           There's a (to my eye) contrary
                           position that you sometimes see
                           taken: if you look closely, the
                           masses are better clued-in than
                           you might think, they're just
                           kept disenfranchised and divided.

                              One form of this position
                              can be seen in some Scilabba
                              commentary from 2009, on the
                              Crooked Timber site:

                              He describes some
                              construction workers
                              of his aquaintence,
                              and talks about their      (Not to mention
                              lefty opinions, etc.       Friedman's cab
                                                         drivers, eh?)



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