There is a reason media has evolved as it has - it went from a craft/trade that one apprenticed in to a college major. This of course meant it was subject to all of the problems associated with academia in general, but even more specifically, how the hell was a PhD in Journalism qualified to teach actual journalism? What horsecrap would you uncover if you examined a random collection of Journalism dissertations over the last 50 years?
I have a very strong suspicion that the shadow of Walter Lippmann looms large, even if filtered through the doctoral process and the man being essentially invisible to the undergrads of the last 30 years.
A great and much needed foundation on how luxury beliefs originate and spread. They don’t get it because they don’t interact in the sphere that would provide the understanding.
This often repeated (typically by theists) statement that "There is a religion-shaped hole" is actually well followed up by Lorenzo: "it is perfectly possible to have a morally coherent civilization without monotheism."
My personal interpretation of this is that there is always religion - as a set of beliefs in our culture and our minds - because our brains evolved so. Doesn't have to be monotheism, can be wokery, all this guilt and eternal sin, and 'moral' high and low standing, etc.
Cheer up, my friend, it is no cause for dissatisfaction. Actually, woke are most dissatisfied, and monotheists' worries with being watched from 'above' and hellfire and brimstone are no picknick either.
Is there much evidence that western societies have become less resilient because of cultural liberalism? Crime, the clearest example of social dysfunction, is down in most western countries. In America, which is an outlier in crime, it's mostly driven by native blacks and not immigrants. Even in Australia we have had dropping alcoholism rates for years.
I suppose that clearest social dysfunction is falling fertility rates. We don't know how to solve the problem. No one does. As a libertarian and a small-c conservative, I'm not unwilling to partake in large scale social engineering project. Imo the first thing we should abolish is most universal pension and healthcare systems to reduce the cost of an ageing population on future taxpayers.
Additionally Europe presumably has lower dysfunction that America does and yet, more Europeans move to America than the other way around. People might pretend to care about stuff like crime and inequality, but it doesn't seem to predict migration patterns. Actions speak louder than words.
I say all this as someone who is far right on cultural issues. We should ban Muslim immigration from the west and nuke Mecca and Medina. We should actively go out of our way to stifle economic development in Muslim countries.
You run into definitional problems—I was trying to give “left” some more specific content. Contemporary “social liberals” have become very illiberal in their attitudes to freedom of speech and thought.
While crime in general has fallen, there have been some very bad spikes from migration. Mass rape/sexual exploitation of children and young women in the UK by Muslim gangs and gang/grenade violence in Sweden are particularly serious instances. Increased urban disorder in “progressive” cities is another example as is the post BLM surge in homicide. So is the trans attack on women’s spaces and activities.
More generally, the increasingly serious concern for possible civil war in the UK is very much about a loss of social cohesion from the policies pursued by very socially liberal folk.
I just don't think we have immigration problem, we just have a Muslim problem. We don't have to exclude talent from Asia based on urban disorder caused by Muslims.
Obviously I support the Australian system (for the most part) where have a lot of skilled migrants but zero tolerance for illegal immigration of any sort. Perhaps I'm projecting too much of the Australian experience to the rest of the world. We have the highest number of foreign borns in the West and our social cohesion is fine.
Yes, Muslim migration, especially Greater Middle East Muslim migration (where you have kin groups + cousin marriage) is most of the issue. But low-skill migration is also an issue. And there are limits on integration, which Australia greatly ameliorates by having lots of small groups plus high skill migration. Anglo-Celtic demographic domination is not under threat.
The cousin marriage thing is kind of a problem but from what I have seen indian migrants tend to assimilate well in most host countries. They also have the cousin marriage problem.
For Muslims it's mostly ideological more than anything else. I'd even argue the Islamist ideology has gotten stronger in British Muslims as cousin marriages norms declined and education went up.
Is it really though? Without low skill migration, Australia's agricultural sector would have been wiped out. As long as low skill migrants can't become permanent migrants, I don't think it's a problem.
As I have mentioned in previous posts I'm against multiculturalism. We should adopt cultural nationalism like France or Japan. I think it'll be popular in the electorate because no uses the hyphenated nationality thing in Australia.
There is a reason media has evolved as it has - it went from a craft/trade that one apprenticed in to a college major. This of course meant it was subject to all of the problems associated with academia in general, but even more specifically, how the hell was a PhD in Journalism qualified to teach actual journalism? What horsecrap would you uncover if you examined a random collection of Journalism dissertations over the last 50 years?
I have a very strong suspicion that the shadow of Walter Lippmann looms large, even if filtered through the doctoral process and the man being essentially invisible to the undergrads of the last 30 years.
I agree on what a disaster university “trained” journalism is. Your point about the shadow of Walter Lippmann is very plausible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Opinion_(book)
A great and much needed foundation on how luxury beliefs originate and spread. They don’t get it because they don’t interact in the sphere that would provide the understanding.
Brilliantly logical through and through. West simply needs people like Lorenzo in high places to keep the decline of civilization at bay...
"There is a religion-shaped hole: it is perfectly possible to have a morally coherent civilisation without monotheism."
I agree, which is why I remain a dissatisfied atheist.
This often repeated (typically by theists) statement that "There is a religion-shaped hole" is actually well followed up by Lorenzo: "it is perfectly possible to have a morally coherent civilization without monotheism."
My personal interpretation of this is that there is always religion - as a set of beliefs in our culture and our minds - because our brains evolved so. Doesn't have to be monotheism, can be wokery, all this guilt and eternal sin, and 'moral' high and low standing, etc.
Cheer up, my friend, it is no cause for dissatisfaction. Actually, woke are most dissatisfied, and monotheists' worries with being watched from 'above' and hellfire and brimstone are no picknick either.
It’s what happens when you give.
Is there much evidence that western societies have become less resilient because of cultural liberalism? Crime, the clearest example of social dysfunction, is down in most western countries. In America, which is an outlier in crime, it's mostly driven by native blacks and not immigrants. Even in Australia we have had dropping alcoholism rates for years.
I suppose that clearest social dysfunction is falling fertility rates. We don't know how to solve the problem. No one does. As a libertarian and a small-c conservative, I'm not unwilling to partake in large scale social engineering project. Imo the first thing we should abolish is most universal pension and healthcare systems to reduce the cost of an ageing population on future taxpayers.
Additionally Europe presumably has lower dysfunction that America does and yet, more Europeans move to America than the other way around. People might pretend to care about stuff like crime and inequality, but it doesn't seem to predict migration patterns. Actions speak louder than words.
I say all this as someone who is far right on cultural issues. We should ban Muslim immigration from the west and nuke Mecca and Medina. We should actively go out of our way to stifle economic development in Muslim countries.
You run into definitional problems—I was trying to give “left” some more specific content. Contemporary “social liberals” have become very illiberal in their attitudes to freedom of speech and thought.
While crime in general has fallen, there have been some very bad spikes from migration. Mass rape/sexual exploitation of children and young women in the UK by Muslim gangs and gang/grenade violence in Sweden are particularly serious instances. Increased urban disorder in “progressive” cities is another example as is the post BLM surge in homicide. So is the trans attack on women’s spaces and activities.
More generally, the increasingly serious concern for possible civil war in the UK is very much about a loss of social cohesion from the policies pursued by very socially liberal folk.
I just don't think we have immigration problem, we just have a Muslim problem. We don't have to exclude talent from Asia based on urban disorder caused by Muslims.
Obviously I support the Australian system (for the most part) where have a lot of skilled migrants but zero tolerance for illegal immigration of any sort. Perhaps I'm projecting too much of the Australian experience to the rest of the world. We have the highest number of foreign borns in the West and our social cohesion is fine.
Yes, Muslim migration, especially Greater Middle East Muslim migration (where you have kin groups + cousin marriage) is most of the issue. But low-skill migration is also an issue. And there are limits on integration, which Australia greatly ameliorates by having lots of small groups plus high skill migration. Anglo-Celtic demographic domination is not under threat.
The cousin marriage thing is kind of a problem but from what I have seen indian migrants tend to assimilate well in most host countries. They also have the cousin marriage problem.
For Muslims it's mostly ideological more than anything else. I'd even argue the Islamist ideology has gotten stronger in British Muslims as cousin marriages norms declined and education went up.
Is it really though? Without low skill migration, Australia's agricultural sector would have been wiped out. As long as low skill migrants can't become permanent migrants, I don't think it's a problem.
As I have mentioned in previous posts I'm against multiculturalism. We should adopt cultural nationalism like France or Japan. I think it'll be popular in the electorate because no uses the hyphenated nationality thing in Australia.