15 Observations on the New Phase in Cultural Conflict
Would we necessarily say that government, civic life, the media, or high finance work better now than in the mid-20th century? We can scorn the smug WASP blue bloods from Groton and Choate—and certainly their era’s retrograde views of race and gender—but their leadership helped produce the Progressive movement, the New Deal, victory in World War II... See more
David Brooks • How the Ivy League Broke America
Another issue is that today’s rationalist writings suffer from the monoculture of intellectual sources, drawn from what I personally call Silicon Valley’s shadow canon: Seeing Like a State ; The Power Broker ; The Revolt of the Public ; Exit, Voice, and Loyalty ; Reasons and Persons ; Impro ; and more. (If curious about what this canon contains, ju... See more
Sheon Han • Rat Traps
However, with the coming of automation, it may eventually be possible for a ruling intelligentsia to operate a country’s economy without the aid of the masses, and it is legitimate to speculate on what the intellectual may be tempted to do with the masses once they become superfluous.
Eric Hoffer • The Ordeal of Change
In a casual aside, Duke sociologist Keiran Healy offered a simple but terrifying observation.*
Culture has changed fundamentally.
It used to be the ballast of our world.
Now it creates chaos.
Culture has changed fundamentally.
It used to be the ballast of our world.
Now it creates chaos.
What if culture is the problem?
Dominant groups today are more secure in their position than was the most successful autocrats of several hundred years ago, because today the inertia which must be overcome in order to displace these groups is so much greater. So many persons with so many different points of view must be reached and unified before anything effective can be done. U
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