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What’s fuelling the rise of the far right? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 1 hour ago* by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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It’s been reported that in the German elections, a far right party has made ‘significant gains’.

In the UK (at least before the scandals) Reform UK seems to have had a significant boost and has even surpassed the right-wing Conservative Party in some polls/predictions.

Even France, one or two years ago, was threatened with a far-right government due to the French far right party gaining a lot of support.

Now I’m not political, but it feels like in the last few years, the far-right has exceeded itself and had a surge in popularity. Is this the case? And if so, wtf is fuelling it?

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[–] 27 points 1 hour ago (7 children)

Changes in the media landscape. Up to the 1990s, mainstream media in Western democracies were dominated by intellectuals, who are typically against racism and fascism. This gradually changed as media became more commercialized and sensationalist, a change that rapidly accelerated with the advent of social media, which is completely flooded by hate speech.

Economic reasons are often proposed, but this explanation falls flat considering the lack of a significant economic downturn since the 1990s, and the fact that we have seen fascists massively gaining popularity even in societies that are among the most prosperous in human history. This is especially obvious in Germany, where in East Germany (where the fascist strongholds are) the economic situation has in fact dramatically improved since the 90s.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 hour ago (4 children)

    Economic reasons are often proposed, but this explanation falls flat considering the lack of a significant economic downturn since the 1990s,

    wut

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  • [–] 3 points 1 hour ago (3 children)

    I don't mean there haven't been recessions, just that on the whole the economic situation is not significantly worse (and in fact probably somewhat better) than in the 1990s.

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  • [–] 11 points 1 hour ago (2 children)

    The "on the whole" economic situation is not what you want to be looking at.

    If you look at the real wage growth compared to expenses, life has been being getting grimmer and grimmer for the vast majority of individuals since the 1970s, even if GDP continues to climb.

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  • [–] 4 points 54 minutes ago (1 child)

    Did you, in fact, look at real wage growth?

    Here is data for the US specifically, which shows modest growth of median real wages over the past decades.

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  • [–] 1 point 20 minutes ago* (last edited 8 minutes ago)

    Edit: I'd also see the shift in the media landscape as a very conscious effort made by oligarchs to control the media landscape, including Reagan removing the Fairness Doctrine, and Fox News being explicitly created to allow Republican presidents to engage in criminal activity.

    Not sure what you're seeing. Everything I see things pointing to life getting worse and harder economically.

    Rise in consumer debt: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CCLACBW027SBOG
    Decline in housing affordability: https://worththen.com/tools/housing-affordability
    Increase in student loand debt: https://thecollegeinvestor.com/32031/average-student-loan-debt-by-year/

    Medical bankruptcy is another thing to look into.

    Culture is another window, maybe less valid. The idea behind the Simpsons was a family of 3 was barely scraping by, yet they owned two cars, a house, and Homer had a union job and no college degree, and usually Marge didn´t need to work. In the 1980's Anthony's Song complained about, "Who needs a house out in Hackensack? Is that all you get for your money?" would be a flop today because a house out in Hackensack isn't conformity, it's just unattainable.

    Edit: I'd also see the shift in the media landscape as a very conscious effort made by oligarchs to control the media landscape, including Reagan removing the Fairness Doctrine, and Fox News being explicitly created to allow Republican presidents to engage in criminal activity.

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  • [–] 3 points 25 minutes ago

    There was one particular morning in 2014 when Google dropped articles from The Daily Stormer directly into the personalized news feed widget on my phone. I grew up in the South, so I know the ins and outs of racism there. This was completely different. It was wildly genocidal anti-Semitism; straight up Nazi shit. Right there on my phone and presented as news.

    That's when I knew that something was seriously wrong.

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