Freedom from monarchical reality-control is recent and requires active citizen participation

Evidence

Before the printed word became an inexpensive source of rival information, one would not be surprised that the king—or whoever controlled the money and politics of the era—really could “create his own reality.” This is why the idea of a free media—even one polluted with fake news—was such a revolutionary (and recent) concept. But where did we get the idea that this should come at no cost to us or that we are not required to be active participants in ferreting out the truth? — Lee McIntyre, Post-Truth, 212

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Wrestles with entitlement and lazy critical thinking as enabling conditions for post-truth — an argument that resists easy summary.
• XREF: connects to: The concept of news itself dates only to the Jacksonian era; Institutions constitute citizens’ freedom from domination rather than causally producing it — Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and…, 518; Participation without control over parameters is not democracy but its evisceration — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos: Neoliberalism’s…, 247 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Institutions constitute citizens’ freedom from domination rather than causally producing it #expands (0.85) — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 518
• Active citizenship from below yields higher quality democracy than passive #corroborates (0.85) — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 819
• Participation without control over parameters is not democracy but its evisceration #expands (0.80) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 247
• Democratic legitimacy depends on citizens’ internalized commitment that imposed systems cannot replace #corroborates (0.80) — Jürgen Habermas, A New Structural Transformation of the…, 74
• Freedom requires awareness of options, not just their existence #expands (0.80) — Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, 422
• Absolute monarchy actualizes rather than contradicts social-pattern theory #corroborates (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 669
• Transparancy and accountability can enhance citizen participation in democracy. #expands (0.75) — David E Pozen; Michael Schudson, Troubling Transparency- The History and…, 1565
• Democracies split between imposed dominance and emergent self-determination #expands (0.72) — David Theo Goldberg, The Threat of Race, 709