What people often forget to mention is that neoliberalism is powerful because it’s extremely attractive. It can make people feel really good. This is why it doesn’t need to be imposed by any disciplinarian authority. People freely choose it because it’s fun.

For one, it gives you a sense of purpose. And it’s not only a large, overarching sense of purpose which is not that hard to find anyway but the daily sense of purpose that can motivate you to get up early in the morning, exercise, eat healthy and do your best work.

You know this annoyingly precious expression “living my best life”? It sounds tacky but it’s exactly how it feels to be in the neoliberal mindset. It’s hugely energizing.

Being an entrepreneur of self requires paying minute attention to that self. This is also deeply enjoyable. One feels massively important and endlessly capable.

The contrast between the energized, capable winners and the whiny, helpless victims of damaged identities is also pleasant. The widely accepted idea that one is irreparably damaged by something his ancestors might have experienced centuries ago makes the joy of overcoming real challenges today doubly attractive.

Milton Friedman, by the way, agreed that neoliberalism couldn’t possibly be labeled a conservative undertaking if words have any stable meaning at all:

Because of the corruption of the term liberalism, the views that formerly went under that name are now often labeled conservative. But this is not a satisfactory alternative. The nineteenth century liberal was a radical, both in the etymological sense of going to the root of the matter, and in the political sense of favoring major changes in social institutions. So too must be his modern heir.

Capitalism and Freedom (1962)

Of course, it’s a long way from 1962, and neoliberalism is no longer an aspirational goal but a reality. In this reality, we are either good or not-so-good managers of our own lives. We get a consolation prize for this game where many people will be the irredeemable losers. That prize is a sense of grievance and a victim identity.

Victim identities proliferate. Grievances – even of a really crazy kind – are praised and paid lots of symbolic tribute. There are a few smart entrepreneurs of self who manage to milk these grievances for profit. But for the overwhelming majority of the grievously wounded victims of privilege, the gains never materialize. The symbolic becomes invested with exaggerated value because everybody except for the aggrieved losers knows that they will never get any actual rewards. And the funny thing is that the losers eagerly cooperate. They accept the symbolic rewards and often seem to beg to be given nothing beyond them.

As an illustration of the preceding post’s point, please consider that I was the sort of person who spent 20 years obsessively telling everybody that I’m done with Ukraine and don’t care about it in the least.

Well, at least I’m aware that I’m not very self-aware.

If you have a meeting where you really want to impress somebody, try repeating everything they say as they say it in your mind. It’s like creating an echo of their words in your brain. (Don’t repeat anything out loud, of course. That will scare people).

The reason why this is a surefire way to make somebody instantly appreciate you is because this technique concentrates your attention deeply and immediately on that person, and people really appreciate attention.

This works beautifully in dating, too. The problem is that a person who requires effort to like you romantically is not worth the effort.

I misread “we are honored to welcome you at our event” as “we are horrified to welcome you.” I’m really horrified by how many events I have in April, so I shared the sentiment.

It’s that rare and fleeting time of year when we can open every window, fill the house with fresh air, and hear the brook babbling outside.

In a couple of weeks, we’ll have to go into a voluntary lockdown that will last until October. The only air fit to breathe will be air-conditioned. The brook will dry out, the lawn will wither, and the birds will shut up.