this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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German energy giant RWE has begun dismantling a wind farm to make way for a further expansion of an open-pit lignite coal mine in the western region of North Rhine Westphalia.

I thought renewables were cheaper than coal. How is this possible?

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[–] Harrison@ttrpg.network 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Under capitalism, the capitalist class controls the media, and can use their wealth to control the political class.

A democracy can only make choices so far as it's voters are informed, and when a group controls most sources of information, it can control the democracy as a whole.

[–] jarfil 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Under a capitalist democracy with antitrust laws... the "capitalist class" will create all sorts of media sources to earn money from whatever sort of information any voters will eat up. A single group can't control most sources of information, because it will be eaten alive by all the competing groups at once.

It's up to each voter to decide whether they want to religiously follow a single source, or contrast it with others, and which ones.

[–] Harrison@ttrpg.network 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

There will of course be different sources of information, but that does not mean that they will present a fair and balanced spread of ideas. The capitalist class will push their own interests. A single owner is not required for that to occur

[–] jarfil 1 points 1 year ago

does not mean that they will present a fair and balanced spread of ideas

Not fair, and not balanced, just full spread.

The "capitalist class" interest is to earn money, which necessarily makes it fill ALL possible revenue niches: from state sponsored propaganda, through different interest group propaganda, all the way to anti-system, extremist, and a large variety of scams. If nobody else is doing it, someone will, no exceptions.

Assembling a "fair and balanced" set of sources, is left as a task for each voter; that's where each one's ability to contrast sources comes into play.