71–80 of 180 posts
I have mixed feelings about the article. I was curious to read about a tech boom. They described a twitch player which earns enough to be afloat. A gaming pro team and an artist selling nft's. Is it just an add for nft's or a submarine piece for afro games.
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Something interesting in American history circa a century ago was the party machine, which combined both roles into one. The fact that it's not around today could be a sign of either a decline in corruption, or a decline in the importance of getting voters to be really strongly on your side (as opposed to being 1% less bad than the other candidate).
This might sound out of left field but (hear me out) I think the decline is due in large part to gerrymandering. 100 years ago you had a lot of pretty competitive races where party control might switch often. It was incumbent on the party machine you mention to make sure all its supporters got out. You'd usually see the party rally around whoever won the primary, because there was still another election to win. Fast…
This is what I really like about Ireland's elections - they are so effective in weeding out extremists that the two dominant political forces are almost indistinguishable. It's, perhaps, too efficient in that, but it also seems to be extremely safe and long-term stable.
How the hell do they run these operations or have this amount of gear safely in a favela? When I did a full-on tourist experience of Rio, the guides were adamant that we not even go near any favela, as we'd immediately be robbed or worse. My understanding was that the crime in those areas was so astronomically high that nothing even resembling IT infrastructure could exist, as it would immediately be confiscated by t…
Tourists stand out like a sore thumb as a target. Your guide was probably right.
How the hell do they run these operations or have this amount of gear safely in a favela? When I did a full-on tourist experience of Rio, the guides were adamant that we not even go near any favela, as we'd immediately be robbed or worse. My understanding was that the crime in those areas was so astronomically high that nothing even resembling IT infrastructure could exist, as it would immediately be confiscated by t…
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g303506-d24775...
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Don't know much about Rio, but what I have seen and heard elsewhere in Latin America over the years. Often times organized crimes substitutes an absent government and enforce their own set of law and order in the community. They can't afford to just rob the people blind as sometimes portrayed in media. They rely on a somewhat sybmiotic relationship with the "citizens" to act as messengers, human surveillance cameras,…
The interesting thing is that this is literally how all governments originally emerged. The strongest local gang establishes a monopoly on violence in their territory. They then extract tribute (taxes) from the local population in various ways. If they get too greedy and extract too much, then eventually the plebs have little enough to lose to break their established order and fight the establishment gang. The most c…
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The interesting thing is that this is literally how all governments originally emerged. The strongest local gang establishes a monopoly on violence in their territory. They then extract tribute (taxes) from the local population in various ways. If they get too greedy and extract too much, then eventually the plebs have little enough to lose to break their established order and fight the establishment gang. The most c…
This is very true and it paints a dim view on the XXI century- we are going to be ruled by thugs and gangsters because we “vote” them in, until it’s too late.
If the people, or more specifically the democratic majority, end up becoming more extractive than they are productive towards enhancing their state's power, then eventually some alternative organizing governance structure will emerge that accumulates power more effectively.
This isn't making an ethical judgement about one system or another, just an observation on what appears to be base level reality.
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This might sound out of left field but (hear me out) I think the decline is due in large part to gerrymandering. 100 years ago you had a lot of pretty competitive races where party control might switch often. It was incumbent on the party machine you mention to make sure all its supporters got out. You'd usually see the party rally around whoever won the primary, because there was still another election to win. Fast…
You make a very good point about the nascent extremism - as primaries become the only elections that matter, and because you need extreme candidates to flip those locked districts, there is little reward in moderation. I find it funny how Republicans embraced extremism while Democrats seem to be more averse to it, even though they'd have much to gain in this scenario. This is what I really like about Ireland's electi…
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My ex girlfriend lived in Brazil for ~10 years and her job was running tours to the favelas. She told me there were fairly strict rules about this sort of thing. The gangs there cared about drugs and making money. As long as you weren't there interfering with them making money, they didn't really care about you as a tourist. They might get a phone or pocket change from you but why waste time and money on just that? B…
I'm from Mexico— there's plenty of "bad places" there too. You really don't want something bad to happen to a tourist, so you focus on the worst-case scenario. It akin to a children and streets; it's easier to tell children to avoid crossing a street and not have to worry, even if statistically it's pretty unlikely an accident would happen. Moreover, since the news largely focuses on the tragedies, it's easy to get a…
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Don't know much about Rio, but what I have seen and heard elsewhere in Latin America over the years. Often times organized crimes substitutes an absent government and enforce their own set of law and order in the community. They can't afford to just rob the people blind as sometimes portrayed in media. They rely on a somewhat sybmiotic relationship with the "citizens" to act as messengers, human surveillance cameras,…
The interesting thing is that this is literally how all governments originally emerged. The strongest local gang establishes a monopoly on violence in their territory. They then extract tribute (taxes) from the local population in various ways. If they get too greedy and extract too much, then eventually the plebs have little enough to lose to break their established order and fight the establishment gang. The most c…
No - there are also revolutions and secessionist movements. Which already in their formation can be better thought of as mini-governments than "gangs" per se.
The basic problem with the idea of saying "it all started from gang rule" is that it brings to mind an image of criminal networks that just happened to fall into government-like activities (e.g. muscling out other gangs, running basic services) as a way of staying in business. Certainly true in some cases, but in most cases ... not a particularly meaningful description.