Links to Consider, 6/25

Renee Diresta on niche propaganda; Sam Freedman on the UK health care system; Russ Roberts and Mike Munger on following moral norms; Helen Dale on Matt Goodwin on British politics

Renee Diresta writes,

The propagandists of today are not incentivized to create the overarching hegemonic national narrative that Chomsky and Herman feared. Rather, their incentives drive them to reinforce their faction’s beliefs, often at the expense of others. Delegitimization of outside voices is a core component of their messaging: The “mainstream” media is in cahoots with the government and Big Tech to silence the people, while the media-of-one are independent free-thinkers, a disadvantaged political subclass finally given access to a megaphone … though in many cases, they have larger audiences and far larger incomes. It seems likely that at least some of the audience believes that they have escaped propaganda and exited the Matrix, without realizing that they are simply marinating in a different flavor.

She points to the Substack leaderboard, and I have to say that most of the top twenty cultivate a style that is pugilistic, if not outright paranoid. The tone is “Look how powerful they are. But we can fight back.” I believe that Matt Yglesias is the only exception among the top ten. I sometimes find his self-assurance off-putting, but at least he is not trying to give the reader a tribal outrage thrill.

Sam Freedman writes,

Beds aren’t the only physical capacity constraint. A large part of the outpatient waiting list is caused by lengthy delays for diagnostic equipment. Some of this is due to vacancy rates in key roles – like radiology – but much is just a lack of machines. The UK has the fifth lowest number of CT and PET scanners and MRI units per capita in the OECD

Pointer from Tyler Cowen. We no doubt have more physical capital to provide medical services, for what that’s worth. But I would not jump to the conclusion that this proves that a government-run health care system is bound to be inferior. It is not automatically a panacea, for sure. But there are many ways to mismanage health care.

Interviewed by Russ Roberts, Mike Munger says,

things that are legal are not necessarily things that should be done uh and and and similarly many things that should not be done perhaps should not be illegal they should just be part of what Lord [Moulton] was calling manners uh that is obedience to the unenforceable so we don't enforce them through the state we enforce them through our social interaction

I think we have a hard time with the category “legal, but socially disapproved.” Once behavior is legalized, it tends to become socially approved. I am thinking of abortion, marijuana use, and gambling. Because of this, there may be some justification for Fear Of Others’ Liberty.

Helen Dale writes,

Liberal Remainia [older, moderate Democrats] and Brexitshire [Paul Ryan Republicans] have money and houses. Radical Remainia [young ultra-Progressives] may have a lot of followers on Twitter or TikTok but goes home to a shoe-box-sized bedsit in Bermondsey or Brighton. Leaverstan [Trump supporters], meanwhile, is genuinely on the outer. Liberal Remainia and (currently) Brexitshire run the country. Radical Remainia wants to run the country but—unless Labour is elected next year—must content itself with the universities and charitable sector. Both Liberal Remainia and Brexitshire mistake their preferences for Radical Remainia and Leaverstan’s preferences, and so fail at governance for the reasons Goodwin describes in his “Voice” section.

I have translated her British political terms, coined by Stephen Davies, into American equivalents. In America, I think that the establishment factions (the older moderate Democrats and the Paul Ryan Republicans) are much more deferential to the outsider factions than is the case in Britain. It is the disconnect between the establishment and the outsiders that is the main theme of Goodwin’s book.

Substacks referenced above:

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How bad does it need to get?