I still vote Democrat, but it is the growth of exactly this attitude that you've identified that is causing me to move increasingly away from considering myself a "Democrat".
I can't see how people fail to notice the snobbish elitism underlying "we need to manage the discourse so that people's behavior is under control."
It's amazing how cyclical this sort of stuff is. Plato's Republic was enmeshed with a similar logic: that there is a natural way for society to progress, that human society is interfering with this natural way and that is a problem, and that we ought to have philosopher-kings (read: techies & politicians) to shape beliefs and discourse into a more natural (and thus "good") direction.
G.A. Cohen's writings on the history of philosophy have a scathing critique of this sort of thinking that I recommend.
I can't see how people fail to notice the snobbish elitism underlying "we need to manage the discourse so that people's behavior is under control."
It's amazing how cyclical this sort of stuff is. Plato's Republic was enmeshed with a similar logic: that there is a natural way for society to progress, that human society is interfering with this natural way and that is a problem, and that we ought to have philosopher-kings (read: techies & politicians) to shape beliefs and discourse into a more natural (and thus "good") direction.
G.A. Cohen's writings on the history of philosophy have a scathing critique of this sort of thinking that I recommend.