We had a lunch lecture where this environmental scientist gave a talk about critical materials and how big of a problem our reliance on these are. He links the whole thing up with politics pretty well, explaining how various political actors are involved and benefit from this or that.
At some point, he even mentions how in the netherlands, policy doesn't get passed without a buy-in from industry. It means quite a lot, cause this guy is government hired in recommending policies.
Then he contradicts himself in the next paragraph by saying that this is the curse of democracy that people make stupid decisions.
I ask this guy about the contradiction. How you simultaneously harp about profits over needs, the evils of consultancy firms, and the inability of the Dutch government to do anything but pursue corporate interests, while also talking about the problems of "democracy"?
He just tells me "we are a democracy that's why the Dutch government listens to industry". Well not exactly that, but at least that's the message I get when he talks about all the corporate controlled parties winning the elections and how that's what the people chose.
Dude is this close to realising that the definition of liberal democracy is "legitimised rule by corporations" .
Of course, the lecture ends with a book recommendation for a book about the collapse of human civilisation. And a recommendation to go vote and participate in political parties.
Unlimited death upon elections.
The system is still working well enough for them to not really question it too deeply. They see Drumpf mucking things up on MSNBC, but their daily lives are still basically the same, and treat-filled. (This is why they get angry and not curious when you tell them that it’s possible to change things without necessarily voting or doing peaceful protests.) For me at least, as a liberal I sacrificed so much to the system and just kept getting fucked so hard in return that (with the proper guidance) I couldn’t help but start asking deeper questions.