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Do things feel different today than in other decades?

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superboyac:
For those interested in the distribution graphs, it may be worth having a look at the Wikipedia article on Pareto.
One section reads as follows:
 "One of Pareto's equations achieved special prominence, and controversy. He was fascinated by problems of power and wealth. How do people get it? How is it distributed around society? How do those who have it use it? The gulf between rich and poor has always been part of the human condition, but Pareto resolved to measure it. He gathered reams of data on wealth and income through different centuries, through different countries: the tax records of Basel, Switzerland, from 1454 and from Augsburg, Germany in 1471, 1498 and 1512; contemporary rental income from Paris; personal income from Britain, Prussia, Saxony, Ireland, Italy, Peru. What he found – or thought he found – was striking. When he plotted the data on graph paper, with income on one axis, and number of people with that income on the other, he saw the same picture nearly everywhere in every era"
-David1904 (January 12, 2012, 01:52 PM)
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fascinating.

joiwind:
For those interested in the distribution graphs, it may be worth having a look at the Wikipedia article on Pareto.
One section reads as follows:
 "One of Pareto's equations achieved special prominence, and controversy. He was fascinated by problems of power and wealth. How do people get it? How is it distributed around society? How do those who have it use it? The gulf between rich and poor has always been part of the human condition, but Pareto resolved to measure it. He gathered reams of data on wealth and income through different centuries, through different countries: the tax records of Basel, Switzerland, from 1454 and from Augsburg, Germany in 1471, 1498 and 1512; contemporary rental income from Paris; personal income from Britain, Prussia, Saxony, Ireland, Italy, Peru. What he found – or thought he found – was striking. When he plotted the data on graph paper, with income on one axis, and number of people with that income on the other, he saw the same picture nearly everywhere in every era"
-David1904 (January 12, 2012, 01:52 PM)
--- End quote ---
fascinating.
-superboyac (January 12, 2012, 04:04 PM)
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Yes, but did you read on ... ?  :'(

tranglos:
Today, I read the EXACT SAME STORIES in the news and watch them on Youtube:-Renegade (January 11, 2012, 07:24 PM)
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Did you see this? That's precisely what Winston's job was, except now it's in near-real time.

OTOH, I don't believe this is actually new. I think it's been happening all along, but now (a) it's more in-your-face, more shamelessly done, and (b) we read more about it, which is partly due to the Internet, and partly due to (a).

Oh, and (c): we may read more about it, but the institutional press has become so corporatized that it no longer takes a stand on these issues or cares about them. What was a political scandal in the 70s won't raise a brow.

Daniel Ellsberg, the Pentagon Papers whistleblower, recently said that all the illegal actions Nixon and his henchmen took against him in 1971 are now legal. Just that, legal. And he was told by several editors that today neither NYT nor WP nor any other big newspaper would print documents like these. That's a big difference, too.

superboyac:
Today, I read the EXACT SAME STORIES in the news and watch them on Youtube:-Renegade (January 11, 2012, 07:24 PM)
--- End quote ---

Did you see this? That's precisely what Winston's job was, except now it's in near-real time.

OTOH, I don't believe this is actually new. I think it's been happening all along, but now (a) it's more in-your-face, more shamelessly done, and (b) we read more about it, which is partly due to the Internet, and partly due to (a).

Oh, and (c): we may read more about it, but the institutional press has become so corporatized that it no longer takes a stand on these issues or cares about them. What was a political scandal in the 70s won't raise a brow.

Daniel Ellsberg, the Pentagon Papers whistleblower, recently said that all the illegal actions Nixon and his henchmen took against him in 1971 are now legal. Just that, legal. And he was told by several editors that today neither NYT nor WP nor any other big newspaper would print documents like these. That's a big difference, too.

-tranglos (January 12, 2012, 04:39 PM)
--- End quote ---
i agree.  It seems like it takes more courage today just to have an OPINION, than it was before.  And with the main media outlets being big businesses themselves, it leaves the ideas that circulate among the majority of the population with no public outlet (other than personal blogs, discussion forums, etc...other "raw" outlets).  So all the "news" we get is all stuff that we really don't have any involvement with.  Like if I go to the top stories on google right now, its all global military news, some sports, some tragedy here...and it all gets harped on constantly on TV, cable, etc.  But none of this stuff has anything to do with our primary concerns right now: what is in store for my personal future?  Job opportunities, education opportunities, local shopping, retirement plans, opportunities for kids, etc.  This is what I see most people concerned with on a daily basis.  A drone lost in Iran means nothing to us, really.  We are seriously not worried about it on a personal level.  Our military has plenty of money and people in place to handle that (not saying they do a good job, but it's completely out of our hands AND we have tons of other REAL things to take care of right NOW).

I mean, even when they talk about jobs, the language is always stock-markety...like, "Nasdaq gains today based on news that 30,000 jobs were created in December."  I mean, who gives a shit??!  Where are those jobs?  How can I get one?  How can I guide my child to get one?  What are the jobs?  Is there a major I should study to get that job, is there a certificate I can get?

What's the point of such vague, useless information?  It has no personal value, it doesn't have enough relevant details to even make it educational...so what's the point?  Just waste our time...maybe gets me to stop thinking about my job so I don't bother people.  I don't know.  It's all pretty worthless to me.

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