The malaise of the industrial democracies
Thoughts; is there a malaise about industrial democracies, what is its nature and how does it manifest itself?
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There is one thing that the UK and the US share, and that is a masochistic pleasure taken in telling themselves that their country is on the fast track to destruction
Actually, as a child of the 80′s which (unlike the 60′s) actually was a time of great optimism, I can say that we are indeed in some sort of period of agonized self-examination.
My favourite practitioner of malaise-literature (if there is such a thing) is Orwell in his non-fiction. The Road to Wigan Pier is a classic still.
@kokorochris you only need to look, for example, at the world cup, to see that in reality the scots are scottish, the irish are irish, the welsh are welsh, and the english are english. ‘britishness’ is, to a large degree, merely a fabrication for official forms. so even if it is beneficial to have a united kingdom, it is hardly surprising that devolution is a popular idea.
firstly, I love you for calling it ‘populist nationalism’ rather than fascism or nazism. this, petty point though it may be, genuinely makes my day (wow, i’m even less cool than i thought…)
) so i can see why that view is popular
secondly, i think there is something fairly ‘british’ about ‘anti-europeanism’ – we have spent most of the last 1000 years at war with at least one of france, spain, and germany (usually france
thirdly, do you know anyone that considers themselves ‘british’ anyway?
Neoliberalism means the end of democracy and the end of civil society, with a great vacuum being filled by powerful corporations. People are being aggressively programmed to accept a passive existence of consumerism, isolation and apathy. They believe that they have no role to play in society, in government, or in any sort of public sphere, they have no power, and they have no obligation to their fellow man.
Is not the problem that the post-war post-cold war “american empire” is in economic difficulties and there is generally a hunt for a scapegoat – in the US the myth is that government is the bogey man – even though they don’t want their medicare touched, in the UK the scapegoat has been europe and the european union – even though they want to trade with them etc. The politicians who peddle this scapegoating are generally short lived though they can be quite devastating if they get into power.
@DLandonCole was concerned that might be your answer.
@atthetopofmyvoice Yes, and none of them good; generally, the ends of dynasties.
Does the current situation, or prevailing mood, as you perceive it, remind you of other times in human history?
@bryantulsa Not my trees, I’m afraid; we were round at the in-laws this weekend.
Good video. I’d like to make a response to it today if I can get enough free time.
Somehow you got all the trees that I lost. Really, really unfair.
@TravellingM I’m only starting to think about this, but I think I’m right in that there are common dissatisfactions with our democracies and the operation of our states right across the euro-atlantic area.
Interesting. There is a malaise and it scares me. I see it as a recognition that we are beholden to the markets rather than they us. Even if the politicians wanted to hold the markets/companies in check, they can’t.
Freedom should be the ability to meet your basic needs without fear or injury. For example how free is anyone really if they were assaulted/bullied by their boss to walk away and still be able to pay for basics like housing and food?