This makes it evident how this strategy exists to maintain the "magic" and fool the masses. It has no place in a progressive society where being duped with propaganda into believing falsehoods should not be something to look up to.
The royal family has obviously fallen apart entirely as its human foibles have become evident, and in modern society it is almost impossible to hide.
I think this really misses the nuance of all of this. To put it bluntly: there's too many dumb people who need to believe in this kind of "magic" to be able to reasonably ignore it on a political strategy level. Just trying to treat everyone as intellectually-capable of being presented facts and making a logical choice clearly doesn't work, and the opposition is perfectly willing to exploit this dynamic.
( especially when the truth is being intentionally hidden behind a wall of propaganda ).
Also is a strategy of being part of the crowd ( even if it's an astroturfed one ) a dumb or smart survival strategy?
Dumb. It's not about paying proper attention. It's about not practicing critical thinking. Someone not having the opportunity to not practice critical thinking because they're "too busy surviving" isn't who I'm talking about. I'm talking about the people who simply don't practice critical thinking even when they have the opportunity to do so.
>Also is a strategy of being part of the crowd ( even if it's an astroturfed one ) a dumb or smart survival strategy?
If it means doing things like voting against your best interests, then it's dumb. Certainly not a smart survival strategy at all. Basically the opposite.
If you'd prefer to use a different word than "dumb," then that's fine. But my point is that there are a lot of people who simply lack the capability to comprehend reality in a way that would allow them to make logical, informed decisions when it comes to society as a whole. If you don't believe this, then you haven't interacted intimately with enough people. Despite this, we do have to live in the same society as these people, so they need to "handled" appropriately. The "magic" of royalty (or politicians or whatever) is effectively just a way to cut to the chase; it's letting this people off the hook for not being able to apply critical thinking skills by just giving them an easy to consume policy for them to follow. Without that, these people would be directionless which is not good for society as a whole.
I think your wrong - but not dumb.
The core disagreement appears to be whether you see the split between informed and uninformed, educated and uneducated, rich or poor, powerful or powerless to be one of intrinsic capability ( dumbness ) or something else.
I don't believe the vast majority of people are incapable. Capabilities are multifacted and spread via normal curves - there is no separate elite - it's a multi-dimensional continuum, where differences are exacerbated and reinforced by opportunity.
I do think a lot of decision making is more emotional than rational - but that's a self delusion that applies to everyone - and it's what professionals in the persuasion industries understand very well and ruthlessly exploit.
And while this persuasion techniques now scale to the masses, they are still much more powerfully focussed on the elites in power.
ie the power of democracy in the past was while you could powerfully knobble/persuade representatives with targetted lobbying, the people were unblinded.
So take the Iraq war - the UK people thought the 45min weapons of mass destruction stuff was rubbish - millions marched against the war - however the small group of people actually making the decision had been persuaded to 'do the right thing'.
The fact that is was a diaster based on a like was a suprise to nobody outside the bubble, and those in the bubble still seem to think it was a good idea.
Trump just said he'd do the Iran war again given a second chance..... is that dumb or something else?
I agree, but believe we’re now in a regressive society, moving as fast as we can to repeat history, investing vast resources into effortless propaganda machines.