Politics today is less driven by ideological conviction and more by parties chasing votes based on a distorted picture of public opinion, one filtered through algorithms that amplify emotionally engaging content. This incentivises performance over substance and erodes democratic deliberation.
It's embarrassing.
When it tries so hard to capture an audience through emotion (us admin) but even that lacks a coherent core, can we call it vibe-chasing?
Maybe “vibe casting”?
Vibe Chasing is exactly what it is. Why are we having Beyonce at rallies? I'm all for celebrities using their voice to speak out, but he whole campaign felt like a comeback tour.
That's a good term
It's a single very large river of money which couldn't care less about anything besides power.
This is the main reason why they are lauding AI and done nothing to put manners on social media. AI shouldn’t have free speech or opinions.
So far the very best explanation why everyone is suddenly turning right.
I think this may be too kind an assessment. Focusing on moral panics also serves as a useful diversion away from other crises they can't address. We cannot underestimate their agenda setting power as I explore here aurelmondon.medium.com/the-people-l...
Make people read the Republic again, I guess
Did you just notice? Politicians have been living in a virtual reality bubble of their own for many years now. It probably predated the Internet. It's one of the reasons the broadcast media have to keep boosting print media, to keep the pantomime going long after people stopped reading the papers.
I think there's been a significant change in the information system our society exists within from a top down, gatekeeped model, to a peer-to-peer, many-to-many model which is exacerbating some of the worst elements of what you describe.
I disagree. The worst elements are the gatekeepers in the paranoid way they are reacting to the many-to-many model: by turns trying to limit and control it, and also to surf on it like a wave, both of which they try to achieve by means of creating panics they don't know how to control.
i would argue the two aren't mutually exclusive, I'd say what you're describing is a result of a tension between the old information system and new information system, and the hollowing out of democracy has limited the ways in which institutions can respond to the issues.
It has been the old methods that hollowed out democracy, using the old tools - pressure groups, think tanks, hidden money and influence flows, conferences. It was an old paradigm that helped it happen - neoliberalism concentrating wealth. That's the issue.
Well, whoever's vote it is Labour is after, it's not us here on BlueSky, which is why they don't bother to communicate with us here.
It is very embarrassing!
The problem with this is that these policies end up being very unpopular once enacted. And then the voters get rid of the party that put the policies in place. www.npr.org/2025/08/29/n...
You can see it at the GOP town halls. People are furious. bsky.app/profile/desi...
These town halls are in deep red districts in deep red states (Alabama, Missouri, Oklahoma, Wyoming, Nebraska) throughout the US. And it's going to get much, much worse once consumer prices rise this fall and winter and more staff are laid off of work. It's only just started.
Source?
No good if they never get another chance for a meaningful vote.
But is it enough to completely destroy the right wing in this country? Is it enough to get the Overton window back to the center?
Eventually humanity will realize we are all in this crazy world together and it’d be way better to skip the wars and work towards creating a just and lasting peace with one another, stick with policies like these. It’s going to happen for humanity at some point.
how is it that you and I k ow this, but the liberal politicians don't?
Because they are not good at being a true opposition party. They lack the skills.
third way politics really broke the brains of a generation of liberals
If they can.
In a nutshell. Furthermore. There doesn't seem to be such a thing as informed voting ...
It's worse some places than others, but it is everywhere and it's getting worse.
That’s my experience, too. One could think that „effective governance“ is measured in GDP only. The „rationalization“ of society is the justification to act „disruptive“ (one could also say „brutal“ or „inhumane“). That’s why it’s only getting worse, because „optimization“ never stops… .
I'm forced by my work to have a LinkedIn and be somewhat active there. I work with IT consultancy, so it's just unavoidable. But the number of exhausting broligarchy / 'enlightened tech libertarian' types opining on my country's tax policy just before this election is nauseating.
All of them talking about how hard the people with massive personal wealth and ownership of company stock are, because of the unrealized gains taxes. Like okay the tax is a bit draconian and can harm some startups particularly, but I think it's more a tuning problem than an abolition one.
I think (and just by emotion and not by evidence) is, the „unrealized gains“ taxation aims on those „Roth IRA“ constructs, which seems to be a kind of an „exploit“ for those knowing to „play the system“. Btw: How much P. Thiel would‘ve payed as taxes from his stake of this constuct?🤔😉
The exploit is that you can use unrealized gains as collateral for loans. And then get the debt of those loans as a tax writeoff, while living well off the loaned cash. My position is: if you can't tax unrealized gains, you can't use it for collateral either. Take the good with the bad.
Totally agreed.
I'm also seeing bias in those 'who should i vote for' questionnaires. They're effectively push polls and can mislead uninformed voters to vote against their own interests. Seen it more than once. They do more harm than good.
Trying to win over reform voters is a false economy. I keep saying to everyone who'll listen that Keir Starmer could personally execute every single asylum seeker on live TV, but so long as even 1 "foreigner" is in the UK then people are going to vote reform anyway
Aside from everything else: what votes? The election isn't for another 4 years...
There's various local elections on May 7th 2026.
Well summarized. Yes I think we increasingly live in a world of #circuspolitics : It only matters what shows up in #socialmedia headlines. Substance and political progress become irrelevant.
Following this logic, I would love to know what would be your reaction to this thread: bsky.app/profile/dhne...
Nexon’s thread nails the institutional mechanics of authoritarian consolidation. Where I’d extend it is to the epistemic environment that enables those dynamics.
Politics today is driven less by ideology or deliberation and more by distorted “public opinion,” filtered through algorithms that reward emotional performance over substance.
That distortion erodes trust, fractures coalitions, and makes cross-cutting alliances harder to sustain. Authoritarian actors exploit those fractures with wedge tactics and doctrine enforcement.
Not to mention, provides enormous opportunity for grifters
Yeah, give the in-group what they want, make money and gain power.
So while coalition strategy is vital, it must be paired with efforts to rebuild epistemic capacity and democratic discourse. Otherwise, even short-term electoral wins rest on fragile ground.
Hey, I really appreciate your thoughtful response. Thank you.
That assumes public opinion is rational and informed
Yes. Center politics are too slow to read the room Look what happened with Trump
Absolutely disgusting 🤢 they should not even be in office
