"Ignorance. A vacuum of understanding, whether from native stupidity or arrogant disregard, of the underlying issues, the functions of government, the lessons of history, the trustworthiness of information and the evaluation of evidence."
Bingo. All of the other bullet points can be traced back to this one. Epistemology is everything. How do we know what we know ... or think we know.
Element A, "Anxiety in the population about the economic present or future" is a perfect example. We just faced a potentially devastating economic collapse secondary to the Covid pandemic. Government stepped in and fed liquidity to businesses and individuals and thereby prevented a great deal of economic pain. 97% of Americans have a cell phone. Most live in homes with large screen televisions. Few are food insecure. Jobs are available for most everyone who wants one. So, um, from whence the anxiety?
Inflation? Well join the club. Inflation is on the rise everywhere. Here in the US it is significantly milder than in many of our OECD peers. The cause of inflation can be linked to the rise of nationalist impulses especially in authoritarian regimes which have trashed the web of interconnected commerce and exacerbated supply chain disruptions.
But these are difficult ideas and require some grounding in history and economics. Much easier to sum it up into one word: Jews. Or liberals. Or immigrants. Or whichever *them* most rouses the rabble of the moment.
Yep. You got it. Thanks
"Ignorance. A vacuum of understanding, whether from native stupidity or arrogant disregard, of the underlying issues, the functions of government, the lessons of history, the trustworthiness of information and the evaluation of evidence."
Bingo. All of the other bullet points can be traced back to this one. Epistemology is everything. How do we know what we know ... or think we know.
Element A, "Anxiety in the population about the economic present or future" is a perfect example. We just faced a potentially devastating economic collapse secondary to the Covid pandemic. Government stepped in and fed liquidity to businesses and individuals and thereby prevented a great deal of economic pain. 97% of Americans have a cell phone. Most live in homes with large screen televisions. Few are food insecure. Jobs are available for most everyone who wants one. So, um, from whence the anxiety?
Inflation? Well join the club. Inflation is on the rise everywhere. Here in the US it is significantly milder than in many of our OECD peers. The cause of inflation can be linked to the rise of nationalist impulses especially in authoritarian regimes which have trashed the web of interconnected commerce and exacerbated supply chain disruptions.
But these are difficult ideas and require some grounding in history and economics. Much easier to sum it up into one word: Jews. Or liberals. Or immigrants. Or whichever *them* most rouses the rabble of the moment.