
The end of politics: Cities, social networks and loneliness in the 21st century - jensen123
http://futureurbanism.com/interview/the-end-of-politics-cities-social-networks-and-loneliness-in-the-21st-century/
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wreckimnaked
>If you look at a lot of Western countries like Spain, France or Italy, you’ll
easily realize that they are not doing very well: they are mostly lazy,
complacent, nothing much going on there.

Such a simplistic and borderline racist analysis of the economical situation
of these countries. This kind of narrative reminds me a lot of what was said
on some media outlets during the recent Greece bailout episode.

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baldfat
What is funny is Northern Italians accuse Southern Italians with being lazy,
complacent, nothing much going on there.

Now I would love to see the Northern Italian's reaction to this. We have
something similar in the States where the Northeast (Where I am born and
raised) and particularity in New England view the rest of the country as
backward lazy people with no real work ethic. I really had to fight this
mindset when working in the Mid-West, South and California.

EDIT data on Italy divided- [http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/italy---divided-
country.asp...](http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/italy---divided-
country.aspx?pageID=500&eid=91)

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x5n1
Article reads of ignorant hipsters that are attempting to do shallow
sociology, politics, and history.

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x5n1
> increasing influence of networks

What if I was to tell you that wealth has always traveled in networks. And
most rich people are closely related to rich people of the past.

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fwn
That goes for every amount of wealth. Poor people probably relied on their
extended networks since the beginning of time. (From that perspective, urban
social individualism and reduced social dependence are a lifestyle enabled by
modern abundance.)

I think he framed it that way to gain relevance. It is a common gesture to
indirectly refer to a previous time without any historical substance.
Especially in politics and social science.

If we assume it's a rhetorical gesture, "the influence of networks increased"
is just "i think networks are important". Saying the latter is legit, I guess.

Same for wealth concentration. Compared with 1700, we live in an egalitarian
garden eden. ..however, "the increasing gap between rich and poor" is a useful
gesture to say "I think considering the gap between rich and poor is
important". - Which again, seems legit to me.

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ommunist
This article reminded me of Peter Watts' dystopian view of the future in
"Echopraxia", and how close we are to enter this brave new world.

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oneJob
Not even going to read this. The "end of politics". No such thing. As long as
there are people we will be complaining about politics, but there will never
be people without politics. It is what we do. Facism, technocracy, theocracy,
monarcy, democracy, anarchy, it's all politics. Just because the process is
not exhibited in a format that is recognizable by Western ideals or easily
packaged and showcased on Fox News or _some_ of us get lazy and acquiesce or
some are forcibly disenfranchised does not mean we've seen the end of
politics.

