What is an oligarchy as Joe Biden issues warning about Donald Trump in farewell speech
Source: Daily Star – World News
Donald Trump will soon be President of the US again, but this time around is looking a little different. President Biden has warned of an impending ‘oligarchy’ – so what is it
Donald Trump will become the 47th President of the US today – but why are so many people searching for ‘what is an oligarchy’ on Google?
Long known as the ‘Land of the Free’, the pillars of democracy the country’s punchline stands on is set for a wobble, according to soon-to-be former President Biden.
In his farewell speech before the inauguration today (20 January), Biden warned “an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom, and a fair shot for everyone to get ahead.”
The long-time politician also noted his concerns about a “crumbling” free press and aimed an attack at the billionaire led “tech-industrial complex”, presumably towards Elon Musk (X) and Mark Zuckerberg (Meta) who are holding onto the pocket of Trump.
And the question on everyone’s minds after Biden’s goodbye speech isn’t how did it get through it gaffe-less, but ‘what is an oligarchy’?
According to Google Trends, the top search during and after the speech was for “oligarchy definition” with “oligarchy meaning” following shortly behind. The word jumped from a score of one to 100 on the platform’s scale, highlighting a huge spike of interest.
If you’re one of those rubbing your head at the word and why Biden has concerns then let’s fill you in…
What is an oligarchy?
The definition according to Oxford Dictionary is as follows, Oligarchy – a form of government in which only a small group of people hold all the power.
Some examples of an oligarchy are the South African government during the apartheid era and Russia after the dissolvement of the USSR, where seven men rose to extreme power and wealth.
Instead of a democracy like we have in the UK, where the everyday people have a say on who represents them and vote on how things are run, an oligarchy means that only the few rich and powerful pull the strings.
If we go way way back, Greek philosopher Aristotle penned the word ‘oligarchy’ and saw it as a corrupt form of government as the leadership acted only to increase their own self-interest and not of the general population.
This is what Biden is fearing the US is heading for, despite a pair of political scientists arguing back in 2014 that the US had already become an oligarchy. That is despite still featuring characteristics of a democracy: free press, fair elections and freedom of speech.
However, it appears that 10 years on the concerns of an oligarchy are more prevalent than ever due to Biden’s worries of a “crumbling” independent press and tech billionaires with extreme power of the dissemination of information, or disinformation, standing by Trump’s side.
What is the tech-brofication of the White House?
But who will make up this supposed oligarchy, or ‘bro-ligarchy’ as the Guardian dubbed it. Well, Musk has been a huge supporter for Trump, which has supposedly earnt him a place in the administration.
The South African tech billionaire Musk has set the precedent after backing the presidential bid and is now primed to land a spot in the new administration as the lead of Department of Government Efficiency (Doge).
Facebook founder Zuckerberg has followed the lead by announcing the end of ‘fact checking’ and will instead rely on community notes, which was pioneered by Musk’s new age of Twitter (X). Some have accused Zuckerberg of “cosying up” to the Trump administration with this move, along with the $1m (£786,000) donation to the inauguration fund.
This peeling back of ‘restrictions’ has been penned as a priority of “free speech” for the Meta platforms, Instagram, Facebook and Threads, which opens the floor to derogatory comments about sexuality, gender and religion.
Despite western society generally becoming more equal for men and women, there has noticeably been a ‘shift’ with the ‘brofication’ of social media headed by their founders.
Only recently, Zuckerberg noted that the workplace needs more “masculine energy” and will be rolling back DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) measures at Meta. And the New York Times and Vanity Fair have penned his physical and business transformation as a “MAGA makeover.”
Upon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, the ISD (Institute of for Strategic Dialogue) found that the average number of newly created accounts following their list of “known misogynistic and abusive channels jumped to an average of 7,900 per day, an increase of 69% on pre-takeover baselines.” Under his X reign, Musk also reinstated self-proclaimed ‘misogynist’ Andrew Tate’s account after Twitter had banned him due to his inflammatory posts on women.
Social media founder, Olivia De Ramus of women’s only platform Communia, fears that we have reached a ‘boiling point’ that will see the the online world get a ‘MAGA makeover’.
De Ramus claims that, historically, social platforms have been birthed from misogynistic attitudes meaning we are in the ‘coming of age’ era of an “increasingly toxic, over complicated, and inherently flawed digital world.”
The original article: belongs to Daily Star – World News .
