,
12 tweets,
5 min read
Read on Twitter
Just a heads up. Every op-ed and Twitter thread talking about a victory of ideology, narrative or spirit – and not talking about monopolies on money, media and tech – is part of the New Big Lie.
(2) We will see a lot of these fallacies / partial truths:
1. The Tukde-Tukde Fallacy
Establishment has openly targeted X with disinformation. Press: "Why do a majority of Indians believe this? X must admit it has failed." No reference to the distortion blitz.
1. The Tukde-Tukde Fallacy
Establishment has openly targeted X with disinformation. Press: "Why do a majority of Indians believe this? X must admit it has failed." No reference to the distortion blitz.
2. The Network thesis (true, and def part of the real picture – read the thread below). The ruling party had better messaging; optimized and targeted, which reached every Indian, which the opposition failed at. The missing factor from this formula: costs.
This kind of campaign infra means costs on an untold scale. We've talked about ads & NaMo TV, but not call-centres, political consultancies, shadow SM ops. It's easy to disparage the numbers of @AamAadmiParty. But those candidates scrounged for funds for each billboard. (4/n)
PS. Some regional parties are ahead in this game too; I think it was a part of Jaganmohan Reddy's sweep in Andhra. But Modi's nation-wide spending had economies of scale, and was on a whole other order of magnitude anyway. Key thread: (5/n)
3. The 'Respect the Mandate' fallacy.
If you accept that Modi leads a majority in Parliament, and can continue to be PM, you're respecting the mandate. Done. Beyond that, it's your absolute right to like or dislike, interrogate or ignore the underlying factors.
If you accept that Modi leads a majority in Parliament, and can continue to be PM, you're respecting the mandate. Done. Beyond that, it's your absolute right to like or dislike, interrogate or ignore the underlying factors.
Most of Indian political science is interrogating the mandates of the last 16 Lok Sabhas – what forces moved Indians to vote how they did – and in no case do scholars say, 'Our starting point is that the people made the right decision.' (7/n)
(8/n) A mandate is not the last word. It's the opposite.
And you don't need to be anti-Modi to ask these qns, you just need an inquiring mind. There's a pro-Modi article out there I want to read, analysing his strategy to dominate funds, media & platforms. Link me if you see it.
And you don't need to be anti-Modi to ask these qns, you just need an inquiring mind. There's a pro-Modi article out there I want to read, analysing his strategy to dominate funds, media & platforms. Link me if you see it.
(9/n) In fact, despairing liberals are currently as guilty of feeding the New Big Lie as giddy right-wingers.
[Check out @praymurray's TL for related, important thoughts: tinyurl.com/y6tt5g8c]
[Check out @praymurray's TL for related, important thoughts: tinyurl.com/y6tt5g8c]
(10/n) There are at least three or four major fallacies that will be doing victory laps now ('Champagne Leftists' is a classic – less relevant to this thread, but here's what I wrote about it: tinyurl.com/ybsf2pq4).
Feel free to add new ones and I'll RT.
Feel free to add new ones and I'll RT.
(11/n) It took @RamMadhavBJP to say it this clearly.
In Napoleonic France, Le Moniteur Universel was one newspaper. Today we need to take the phrase much more literally.
In Napoleonic France, Le Moniteur Universel was one newspaper. Today we need to take the phrase much more literally.
(12/n) @VSirnate lays it out for the people who most need to hear it – those who feel this is their victory.
'I get the resentment... I’ve also felt it.
You’re socking it to hypocritical elites.
But the old elite weren’t half as rich as this new one."
'I get the resentment... I’ve also felt it.
You’re socking it to hypocritical elites.
But the old elite weren’t half as rich as this new one."
