Accusations of polarisation mask technocratic fear of popular deliberation

Evidence

“Polarising” in most of these repeated uses means that the mass of people have been asked to consider issues fundamental to their lives: these are difficult questions. It would be better if they didn’t task themselves with them and can’t understand them anyway, so “polarising” equals, likely to cause thought, debate, dispute and subject them to the stresses of political agency. How dare a government go to the people with such pressing and complex questions, when its job is to shield them from the difficulty of thought via technocracy. Polarising here just means profound questions, questions that touch and demand action on fundamental aspects of social organisation. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 2004

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to Fisher’s running themes of political agency being stripped from ordinary people and technocratic neutrality (chs 103, 106). — connects to: Technocratic consciousness is less visible as ideology yet more harmful than older ideologies — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 2700; Treating communication problems as technical faults masks a political choice favoring dominant elites; Collective public commitment dissolves pluralistic ignorance by revealing shared doubt — , The Rod and the Child: A Global History…, 7371

Broader Connections

• Treating communication problems as technical faults masks a political choice favoring dominant elites #corroborates (0.85)
• Technocratic consciousness is less visible as ideology yet more harmful than older ideologies #expands (0.80) — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2700
• Collective public commitment dissolves pluralistic ignorance by revealing shared doubt #corroborates (0.80) — , The Rod and the Child, 7371