This foregrounding of economy above all came in at exactly the same time as Thatcher's neoliberal "revolution" and contemporary Reaganomics. I noticed at that time that all activities started to be justified in terms of economic productivity, growth and profitability. Coincidentally people's wellbeing started to crash dramatically. It's remained that way ever since. The culmination of economic-efficiency fetishism (based on bad economics) came with the Liz Truss government in 2023.
Regarding immigration, I'm living in one of the few countries where rational economic and ethical arguments prevail rather than the xenophobic ranting of the right wing. The national government in Spain (Socialist by name, left-centrist in practice) just voted in a bill to help immigrants settle in Spain. This is not the only case where the ethical thing to do and the economically beneficial policy coincide fully, but one of the most obvious.
Thank you for your insightful comment. You've highlighted some crucial points - Do you think Spain's approach could be a model for other countries? What obstacles do you think might prevent other nations from adopting similar policies?
I definitely think it might, and there is literally nothing stopping other countries from following this model. After all, the fundamental problem of falling birth rate in the 'native population' is the same everywhere in Europe and 'the West'. The UK's decision to put restrictive income and education qualifications on legal immigration is much more likely to be followed by other countries, despite the illogic of it (since jobs need to be filled at all levels of the economy, not just highly-skilled).
It's only a question of will. Most governments are terrified of being identified as being 'soft on immigration' by the right-wing press of their country. Since Pedro Sánchez has been attacked daily for ten solid years by the right wing press no matter what he does, and has won two general elections despite that ferocious media opposition, there's literally nothing stopping him.
Here you can see the weakness of the right-wing's blast-furnace approach to attacking opponents - if the heat is constant, and the left can survive it, then it has no deterrent effect whatsoever. The same goes for the constant lawfare mounted by the establishment judiciary against the government - annoying but basically ineffective.
There are many other factors involved, of course, from the Spanish public's ideological flexibility or indifference - the majority really don't care much for either left or right, and are basically secular centrists with open minds - to the rank incompetence of the Socialists' conservative opponents, who haven't yet mounted an effective challenge and seem incapable of campaigning properly.
Interesting points! The build up to the immigration backlash in the UK was summed up well in this I thought: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTWDzMjgsEY - wonder if it is going to take something deeper to shift that perception
Great article! I think a lot of the economic rationalization comes from the mechanical-industrial worldview, which simply means: to view the Universe as a great machine, to view society as "the machine," and even to view one's own mind and other minds as machines. I think mechanical and industrial are the same in this context, but I still hyphenate it to try to make the connection as clear as possible. I just wrote about the mechanical worldview and so did Theodore Atkinson over a week before I did from a different perspective.
I think other things that are likely relevant are Hegel, Ayn Rand (who, in a few people's assessments including my own, is a Hegelian, an opinion formed mostly on the basis of her aesthetics,) and Curtis Yarvin (pen name Mencius Moldbug, who has the idea of "the cathedral and the bazaar," which I think he got from being on a Usenet forum starting in 1989 called forum.bazaar, which in turn got it from an author's essay. I think I need to read that essay.) I think the Hegelian dialectic might be the metaphysical expression of the industrial-mechanical worldview. Point 4. about specialization in education I think is especially pertinent, since people are only educated in an industrial fashion and the education system is what people like Curtis Yarvin, Peter Thiel, and Nicholas Nassim Taleb (who is usually not considered a so-called "Dark Enlightenment" figure but in my opinion very much is) are essentially trying to do away with entirely on economic grounds.
Thank you for your thoughts Michaela! Your point about the industrial nature of education is particularly interesting. I wonder if the the tendency towards hyper-specialization in education can lead to siloed thinking and may contribute to the dominance of economic rationalization. Are we producing experts who are deeply knowledgeable in narrow fields but lack the broader perspective needed to integrate ethical and social considerations?
thoughtful 🙃🙃🙃🤗🤗🤗😘😘😘😍😍😍🥰🥰🥰
Thank you for reading as always!
This was very well put together incredibly informative! Thx you OLLIE 🙏
Glad you liked it, many thanks!
I hadn't given much thought to how money have tilted our view on morality.
Maybe only in very specific contexts (e.g. influencers not caring about maintaining any dignity, in order to get views), but not as a whole.
Thanks for the nice read!
This foregrounding of economy above all came in at exactly the same time as Thatcher's neoliberal "revolution" and contemporary Reaganomics. I noticed at that time that all activities started to be justified in terms of economic productivity, growth and profitability. Coincidentally people's wellbeing started to crash dramatically. It's remained that way ever since. The culmination of economic-efficiency fetishism (based on bad economics) came with the Liz Truss government in 2023.
Regarding immigration, I'm living in one of the few countries where rational economic and ethical arguments prevail rather than the xenophobic ranting of the right wing. The national government in Spain (Socialist by name, left-centrist in practice) just voted in a bill to help immigrants settle in Spain. This is not the only case where the ethical thing to do and the economically beneficial policy coincide fully, but one of the most obvious.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/09/pedro-sanchez-unveils-plans-to-make-it-easier-for-migrants-to-settle-in-spain
Thank you for your insightful comment. You've highlighted some crucial points - Do you think Spain's approach could be a model for other countries? What obstacles do you think might prevent other nations from adopting similar policies?
I definitely think it might, and there is literally nothing stopping other countries from following this model. After all, the fundamental problem of falling birth rate in the 'native population' is the same everywhere in Europe and 'the West'. The UK's decision to put restrictive income and education qualifications on legal immigration is much more likely to be followed by other countries, despite the illogic of it (since jobs need to be filled at all levels of the economy, not just highly-skilled).
It's only a question of will. Most governments are terrified of being identified as being 'soft on immigration' by the right-wing press of their country. Since Pedro Sánchez has been attacked daily for ten solid years by the right wing press no matter what he does, and has won two general elections despite that ferocious media opposition, there's literally nothing stopping him.
Here you can see the weakness of the right-wing's blast-furnace approach to attacking opponents - if the heat is constant, and the left can survive it, then it has no deterrent effect whatsoever. The same goes for the constant lawfare mounted by the establishment judiciary against the government - annoying but basically ineffective.
There are many other factors involved, of course, from the Spanish public's ideological flexibility or indifference - the majority really don't care much for either left or right, and are basically secular centrists with open minds - to the rank incompetence of the Socialists' conservative opponents, who haven't yet mounted an effective challenge and seem incapable of campaigning properly.
Interesting points! The build up to the immigration backlash in the UK was summed up well in this I thought: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OTWDzMjgsEY - wonder if it is going to take something deeper to shift that perception
All life is sacred. Anyone who doesn't believe that is a moral reprobate and they need to fuck all the way off.
Great article! I think a lot of the economic rationalization comes from the mechanical-industrial worldview, which simply means: to view the Universe as a great machine, to view society as "the machine," and even to view one's own mind and other minds as machines. I think mechanical and industrial are the same in this context, but I still hyphenate it to try to make the connection as clear as possible. I just wrote about the mechanical worldview and so did Theodore Atkinson over a week before I did from a different perspective.
I think other things that are likely relevant are Hegel, Ayn Rand (who, in a few people's assessments including my own, is a Hegelian, an opinion formed mostly on the basis of her aesthetics,) and Curtis Yarvin (pen name Mencius Moldbug, who has the idea of "the cathedral and the bazaar," which I think he got from being on a Usenet forum starting in 1989 called forum.bazaar, which in turn got it from an author's essay. I think I need to read that essay.) I think the Hegelian dialectic might be the metaphysical expression of the industrial-mechanical worldview. Point 4. about specialization in education I think is especially pertinent, since people are only educated in an industrial fashion and the education system is what people like Curtis Yarvin, Peter Thiel, and Nicholas Nassim Taleb (who is usually not considered a so-called "Dark Enlightenment" figure but in my opinion very much is) are essentially trying to do away with entirely on economic grounds.
Thank you for your thoughts Michaela! Your point about the industrial nature of education is particularly interesting. I wonder if the the tendency towards hyper-specialization in education can lead to siloed thinking and may contribute to the dominance of economic rationalization. Are we producing experts who are deeply knowledgeable in narrow fields but lack the broader perspective needed to integrate ethical and social considerations?