Actually, the story about Mayor DiBlasio in one of the previous posts is a great example of the individualist ideology I’ve been discussing here. He proceeds in accordance of his deeply individualistic view of human beings. He sees humans as completely identical and ahistorical objects on a shelf. If anything goes wrong, they simply need … Continue reading Individuals #11

Unlike classical liberals or neoliberals, progressive liberals don’t openly support the truly stratospheric inequality of modern times. To the contrary, opposing the inequality is a large part of their platform. Curiously, they achieve a whole lot in every area that matters to them but this one. Inequality grows. The reason why they are so unsuccessful … Continue reading Individuals #10

Another defining characteristic of this mentality is the war on time. Individuals have to be shorn asunder not only from nature but also of the vision of themselves as rooted in time. Instead, people are mired in presentism that doesn’t allow for the existence of either the past or the future. I’ll just give one … Continue reading Individuals #6

One of the central characteristics that the liberals / neoliberals share is their war on nature. Neoliberals believe that nature needs to be subjugated to the needs of global capitalism. Nature is the enemy that needs to be defeated and squeezed for every penny you can get from it. Their opponents are appalled by this … Continue reading Individuals #5

Conservatives keep blabbering about family values and smaller communities. But all they really ever advance is economic deregulation, globalization of the economy, and crushing inequality. Dog eat dog, everybody is out for their own self-interest. As for the progressive achievements, they have all happened strictly in the area of personal sexual autonomy. There is a … Continue reading Individuals #4

The theory I’m talking about is, of course, liberalism. It can take all kinds of forms. There is neoliberalism which concentrates on the economic freedom that individuals supposedly will deeply benefit from when supposedly left to interact freely with supposedly free markets. It never quite works out this way but in theory it should. Practitioners … Continue reading Individuals #3

The fashioning of the individual consciousness that perceives itself as unique and separate from others, from nature, and from any pre-existing order is the great project of modernity. For that project, the word “freedom” is key. The alienation of the individual from everything and everything is posited as liberation. Now that individuals are no longer … Continue reading Individuals #2

Seeing oneself as an autonomous individual is not a natural state for human beings. This vision of the self had to be engineered and battled for, and it’s a pretty recent construction. The reason why it was constructed is that it’s needed for the development of capitalism. Capitalism requires individuals who are alienated from the … Continue reading Individuals

So what is the difference between left-wing and right-wing neoliberalism? The right-wing kind believes that there needs to be something keeping individuals away from embracing complete cuckoo-bananas freedom. People tend to become addicted, miserable, lonely, mentally unwell and impecunious if they start exercising complete freedom. So they need something that will keep limitless human desires … Continue reading Different Flavors of Freedom

Marjorie Taylor Greene and Thomas Massie vote against a resolution that mourns the loss of life in Turkey and Syria caused by the earthquakes pic.twitter.com/1jfldsVRAH — Acyn (@Acyn) February 28, 2023 It’s very hard to keep holding on to the conviction that these two are homegrown morons and not Russian plants when even in this … Continue reading Hard-working Parrots