Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsUmair Haque: The Age of the Imbecile
LINKId bet, these days, shortly after reading the headlines, youve thought, shaking your head and muttering, something like: Jesus. We live in an age of impossibly catastrophic stupid.
Youre not wrong. About a decade or so ago, hot on the heels of the financial crisis, something happened an old story began to be rewritten, as the world found itself poorer once again. There was an explosion, somewhere deep in the human heart, and a tsunami rippled across the globe one boiling and bubbling with every imaginable variety of stupid: human folly, gleeful ignorance, self-destructive greed, reckless spite, dim-witted cruelty parading itself as enlightenment.
And so now a tsunami of imbecility is rolling like a slow-motion thermonuclear bomb across the globe. Lightning bolts of foolishness shiver down it. Smoke clouds of idiocy billow from it. Here are the five kinds of stupid wrecking the globe because your first job, these days, as a human being, is to make sure youre not being turned into an imbecile by this wave of stupid, too.
Economic stupid is nationalism, populism, or austerity, three words that craftily mean the same thing. Its the idea that we dont have the money to pay for it!!, whether it is school lunches, healthcare, education, parks, libraries, media, or trains. Sure we have the money. What do you think an era of zero interest rates mean? It means that there is so much money sloshing around in the treasure chests of the global economy, so much loot piled up by Jeff Bezoses and Bill Gateses, that there is nowhere left to put it. Not a single place: all the yachts, super mansions, and trophy castles have been bought. Nada left to buy equals zilch interest to lend at. Zero interest doesnt just means societies can borrow for better than free and give everyone healthcare, education, an income, and savings it means that if they dont, the economy will go right on cruising into oblivion, because that money will go on piling at the top, instead of doing anything remotely useful, beneficial, or necessary.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
4 replies, 1329 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (11)
ReplyReply to this post
4 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Umair Haque: The Age of the Imbecile (Original Post)
Algernon Moncrieff
May 2018
OP
I took it as something more like "dog whistles at the same frequency."
Algernon Moncrieff
May 2018
#3
shanny
(6,709 posts)1. No. Austerity, populism and nationalisms
are not 3 words that craftily mean the same thing.
Algernon Moncrieff
(5,790 posts)3. I took it as something more like "dog whistles at the same frequency."
"We don't have money to give welfare to immigrants" will be spoken in the same breath as "We don't have money to give free welfare to single moms." We have the money, but some among us believe that neither the immigrants nor the single moms are worthy of assistance. Yet there is always seemingly government money for someone building a professional sports arena to house a team owned by a billionaire. There is always money to "revitalize" (read: gentrify) a downtown neighborhood occupied by working class residents to push them out in favor of the wealthy.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)2. A.k.a: Idiocracy. n/t
roscoeroscoe
(1,370 posts)4. Exactly
Brawndo!