Sign up for a free recipe e-book →

Clarissa's Blog

A Paradox

Published by

Clarissa

on

Conservatives support market economy but reject the culture and the way of life that this economy engenders. Free markets need consumers ⇒ consumers like to shop around for everything and anything ⇒ it is unavoidable that consumers will start shopping for (and easily discarding in order to shop for even more) sex partners, gender identities, etc.

At the same time, Leftists resist the idea of free markets and see the evils of consumerism yet are obsessed with forcing everybody into the ideology that market economy engenders.

Thus, both Leftists and Rightists are ideologically and intellectually inconsistent and are doomed to run around in a vicious circle of condemning the very thing that gives them life and celebrating the very thing that kills them.

11 responses to “A Paradox”

  1. el Avatar
    el

    Have you solved this paradox for yourself?

    Like

    Reply
    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      This has to be done collectively. I’m in favor of stepping out of this hamster wheel of “freedom to buy is freedom to buy is freedom to buy” and looking at things from a different perspective. Even just conceiving of such a possibility would already be a big deal.

      Like

      Reply
  2. Stringer Bell Avatar
    Stringer Bell

    I don’t see it. I’d be willing to bet money that the idea of multiple sex partners is not a historically new thing. I’m sure it existed way before the idea of ‘free markets’.

    “..yet are obsessed with forcing everybody into the ideology that market economy engenders.”

    “Obsessed with forcing” down women’s rights, gay rights, workers’ rights, adult franchise for women and black people, etc. down people’s throats. Oh no, the tyranny!

    vs

    Obsessed with restricting abortion, for example.

    These two things aren’t remotely the same. It’s just a false equivalency that allows people to feel superior to both parties.

    Like

    Reply
    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      “I’d be willing to bet money that the idea of multiple sex partners is not a historically new thing.”

      Socially sanctioned and open? Not that I’m aware of. Maybe a small tribe somewhere but not a large society.

      ““Obsessed with forcing” down women’s rights, gay rights, workers’ rights, adult franchise for women and black people, etc. down people’s throats. Oh no, the tyranny!”

      This is not about moral judgments. Let’s get past them for a moment. Consumerism brings a certain way of life with it. It is senseless to reject one part of the equation while celebrating the other. And if an equation doesn’t work, what should we do? How about changing the terms? For instance, we could abandon the deification of both “free markets” and “choices.” We can step out of the equation and create one that works.

      Like

      Reply
      1. Z Avatar
        Z

        How is the “left” promoting a consumerist attitude toward sex and identity

        Like

        Reply
        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          One very glaring example is the Woman of the Year, the Hero (at least, until she said she was voting Republican), lionized in every feminist publication Caitlyn Jenner who said she was so happy she could finally live as a woman because that meant she could buy all the nail polish she wanted.

          Similarly, the issue of gay rights has been reduced to buying cakes and floral arrangements.

          Endless opportunities to buy even more stuff in ever expanding categories is the greatest prize at the end of the road of “identities are fluid.” It’s like that commercial about a fellow who thought he was of German ancestry and bought dirndls but then discovered he’s of Irish ancestry and is now buying kilts.

          Like

          Reply
          1. Z Avatar
            Z

            OK, I see, I just wouldn’t have called that left …

            Like

            Reply
            1. Clarissa Avatar
              Clarissa

              Well, the right is surely not promoting transgenderism or fluid identities. Although if it were truly faithful to free market principles, it should be.

              Like

              Reply
              1. Z Avatar
                Z

                OK, I guess so — the fluffy left. I guess I might be New Left which is now old. We would be promoting things like justice and fluid identities would be a secondary thing. 🙂

                Like

              2. Clarissa Avatar
                Clarissa

                I’m afraid justice will fade into the background because it isn’t conducive to increased consumption.

                Like

    2. Z Avatar
      Z

      What Stringer Bell said.

      Like

      Reply

Leave a comment

A conservative literary critic and college professor

Recent posts