'Populism' is first of all a strategy and implies several of the following points to be met:
(1) claiming to speak for the people (advocacy)
(2) incriminating an idea, a system, people or a group of people (scapegoating)
(3) creating a feedback system around overly simple ideas (propagation)
(4) 'convincing' people by tapping into sentiments (emotionalism)
(5) consciously misrepresenting facts and information with the aim of 'proving' a point (twisted logic)
(6) a lack of self-citicism (obstinacy)
(7) selling a hidden agenda (black box, pig in a poke)
There are many example of this in real life.
- Advertisement shows aspects of (3) and (4), so not enought to be called populist as such.
- Anti-whatever campaigns (be it anti-smoking or Occupy Wall Street) usually show at least three of the above aspects and would already qualify as populism in my books. But we usually still understand that it is only a means to an end, so we see it as legitimate cos we can easily fill in the gaps with common sense.
However, talking to an orthodox Jewish settler sure covers points (2) to (6) and can easily be called populist. And although it does not imply (7), it doesn't need to, simply because the agenda here has never been hidden right from the start.
Anyway, the winner of them all is "Mein Kampf", which gives us all seven. It is a recommended read, cos there is not a single page in it without at least four of the above aspects. Quite a training.
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Now, how much of anything related to the 'B' word in Britain and especially the personnel involved has been and still is populism... that everyone needs to decide for themselves.
But one sure indicator of populism being at work is when proponents, instead of arguing, epecially when confronted with facts that contradict or disprove their ideas, first quickly deflect and then resort to quoting the same overly simple ideas again -- with quasi-religious fervor (aspect 8 ).
Personally, I think anyone can 'believe' what they want. But when it comes to hidden agendas I get sceptical.
(1) claiming to speak for the people (advocacy)
(2) incriminating an idea, a system, people or a group of people (scapegoating)
(3) creating a feedback system around overly simple ideas (propagation)
(4) 'convincing' people by tapping into sentiments (emotionalism)
(5) consciously misrepresenting facts and information with the aim of 'proving' a point (twisted logic)
(6) a lack of self-citicism (obstinacy)
(7) selling a hidden agenda (black box, pig in a poke)
There are many example of this in real life.
- Advertisement shows aspects of (3) and (4), so not enought to be called populist as such.
- Anti-whatever campaigns (be it anti-smoking or Occupy Wall Street) usually show at least three of the above aspects and would already qualify as populism in my books. But we usually still understand that it is only a means to an end, so we see it as legitimate cos we can easily fill in the gaps with common sense.
However, talking to an orthodox Jewish settler sure covers points (2) to (6) and can easily be called populist. And although it does not imply (7), it doesn't need to, simply because the agenda here has never been hidden right from the start.
Anyway, the winner of them all is "Mein Kampf", which gives us all seven. It is a recommended read, cos there is not a single page in it without at least four of the above aspects. Quite a training.
-----------
Now, how much of anything related to the 'B' word in Britain and especially the personnel involved has been and still is populism... that everyone needs to decide for themselves.
But one sure indicator of populism being at work is when proponents, instead of arguing, epecially when confronted with facts that contradict or disprove their ideas, first quickly deflect and then resort to quoting the same overly simple ideas again -- with quasi-religious fervor (aspect 8 ).
Personally, I think anyone can 'believe' what they want. But when it comes to hidden agendas I get sceptical.
