While I largely agree with the premise of this piece, stuff like this is baffling in light of recent history. Not the invasion, part, but the undermining part—Russia and China are absolutely...
During the Cold War, U.S. allies in Europe and Asia genuinely feared that the Soviet Union would either invade or try to undermine their political systems. Few harbor comparable fears today, and correspondingly few feel the need to choose sides.
While I largely agree with the premise of this piece, stuff like this is baffling in light of recent history. Not the invasion, part, but the undermining part—Russia and China are absolutely undermining adversaries’ political systems, especially democratic adversaries. Look at places like Ukraine and Belarus apropos Russia, or Taiwan, Tibet, and Hong Kong apropos China.
I think at some point we have to ask: is it Russia and China that are undermining democracy in America, or are they simply piggybacking on a more fundamental shift in our civilization? I'm not...
I think at some point we have to ask: is it Russia and China that are undermining democracy in America, or are they simply piggybacking on a more fundamental shift in our civilization? I'm not saying we should stop protecting or cherishing our liberal democratic values, and I had also been worried about the Chinese influence taking over American values in the past. But at some point we need to feel confident in knowing that liberal democracy pushes forward values that far transcend the boundaries of race, borders, etc. Things like individual freedom, humanism, liberalism, capitalism -- these have been adopted by so many cultures across the world exactly because they provide so much value. In comparison, what PRC offers is very specific to China. The government wants to see China grow strong and lead the world. They may or may not get there, but these values offer very little to the rest of the world, especially those that have already adopted the liberal value systems. Which is why PRC has to resort to exerting their economic and military might to coerce their neighbors to adopt their system.
During the Cold War, nobody actually knew whether liberal democracy was the better system or not until near the end. Things are different now. It seems like every other year we have to fear something new "taking over" America. A few years ago it was radical Islam. Now it's China and Russia. Now let me ask this: is it really these values taking over "the free world" that we're afraid of? Or are we projecting our fears of crumbling American influence on these issues?
Let's stop fearing and start working to rebuild the things we cherish. Let's lift each other up and help people find happiness in the world. When we feel confident in our systems, we'll stop fearing that something is around the corner to suddenly yank freedom from underneath our feet.
Edit: Just to clarify: I think the real problem is that our current social, political, and economic systems are ill-equipped to deal with the advances of technology. It's not just the increase in propaganda (which I argue is enabled by technology) that creates instability. It's the fact that our environment is collapsing, the capacity to modify human embryos is within our reach, longevity researches are showing promising results, millions of jobs will be replaced by automation. It is my belief that the real task is not to combat the PRC, but to figure out what systems will provide the most value in the future, and work toward those goals.
I think at some point we have to ask: is it Russia and China that are undermining democracy in America, or are they simply piggybacking on a more fundamental shift in our civilization?
I think there was an inflection point a while ago where the marginal gains from capitalism and independence stopped being Pareto efficient. A pet theory of mine is that the inflection point...
I think there was an inflection point a while ago where the marginal gains from capitalism and independence stopped being Pareto efficient. A pet theory of mine is that the inflection point occurred on or around Ice Cube's "Good Day", but that's based mostly on some desperate attempt at humor rather than deep analysis.
There's a saying that "your freedom ends where my nose begins" and I think that individual freedoms are finally manifesting themselves as detrimental to society as a whole. Climate change, anti-vax/mask-wearing, and religious indoctrination have all reached a point where they generally provide negative long term effects to the world, many of these wrongs compounding upon themselves. It's a flaw of the ego, and technology has short circuited our evolutionary drives to expose our most basic (dare I say "based"?) drives of tribalism and selfishness.
Russia/China are certainly exploiting this weakness of democracy and freedom, but I think you're right in that there was always a piece of us to begin with. I know it's not going to be accessible to most people, but I highly suggest viewing The Tragedy of Man. It poetically captures the dilemma of man's inability to see beyond his own life, and how society is built on false promises that pass the buck to the next generation. I think we're nearing the time for someone to foot the bill, and the world's governments are playing a game of hot potato before the bill's due.
Yeah, though I think Brexit was somewhat indirect it’s definitely worth calling that campaign out. Both the US and UK have right wing political movements that are helping (whether as pawns or as...
Yeah, though I think Brexit was somewhat indirect it’s definitely worth calling that campaign out. Both the US and UK have right wing political movements that are helping (whether as pawns or as willing accomplices) to dismantle the soft powers that have been built up in the west since WW2.
In 1957, Frederick L. Schuman wrote that the consequences of the expedition "were to poison East-West relations forever after, to contribute significantly to the origins of World War II and the later 'Cold War,' and to fix patterns of suspicion and hatred on both sides which even today threaten worse catastrophes in time to come."[129] For Soviet leaders, the operation was proof that Western powers were keen to destroy the Soviet government if they had the opportunity to do so.[130] Modern historian Robert Maddox summarised, "The immediate effect of the intervention was to prolong a bloody civil war, thereby costing thousands of additional lives and wreaking enormous destruction on an already battered society."[131]
While I largely agree with the premise of this piece, stuff like this is baffling in light of recent history. Not the invasion, part, but the undermining part—Russia and China are absolutely undermining adversaries’ political systems, especially democratic adversaries. Look at places like Ukraine and Belarus apropos Russia, or Taiwan, Tibet, and Hong Kong apropos China.
I think at some point we have to ask: is it Russia and China that are undermining democracy in America, or are they simply piggybacking on a more fundamental shift in our civilization? I'm not saying we should stop protecting or cherishing our liberal democratic values, and I had also been worried about the Chinese influence taking over American values in the past. But at some point we need to feel confident in knowing that liberal democracy pushes forward values that far transcend the boundaries of race, borders, etc. Things like individual freedom, humanism, liberalism, capitalism -- these have been adopted by so many cultures across the world exactly because they provide so much value. In comparison, what PRC offers is very specific to China. The government wants to see China grow strong and lead the world. They may or may not get there, but these values offer very little to the rest of the world, especially those that have already adopted the liberal value systems. Which is why PRC has to resort to exerting their economic and military might to coerce their neighbors to adopt their system.
During the Cold War, nobody actually knew whether liberal democracy was the better system or not until near the end. Things are different now. It seems like every other year we have to fear something new "taking over" America. A few years ago it was radical Islam. Now it's China and Russia. Now let me ask this: is it really these values taking over "the free world" that we're afraid of? Or are we projecting our fears of crumbling American influence on these issues?
Let's stop fearing and start working to rebuild the things we cherish. Let's lift each other up and help people find happiness in the world. When we feel confident in our systems, we'll stop fearing that something is around the corner to suddenly yank freedom from underneath our feet.
Edit: Just to clarify: I think the real problem is that our current social, political, and economic systems are ill-equipped to deal with the advances of technology. It's not just the increase in propaganda (which I argue is enabled by technology) that creates instability. It's the fact that our environment is collapsing, the capacity to modify human embryos is within our reach, longevity researches are showing promising results, millions of jobs will be replaced by automation. It is my belief that the real task is not to combat the PRC, but to figure out what systems will provide the most value in the future, and work toward those goals.
This is a false choice. It can be and is both.
Right, I never meant to say it's one or the other. I see that the phrasing makes it seem like I did.
I think there was an inflection point a while ago where the marginal gains from capitalism and independence stopped being Pareto efficient. A pet theory of mine is that the inflection point occurred on or around Ice Cube's "Good Day", but that's based mostly on some desperate attempt at humor rather than deep analysis.
There's a saying that "your freedom ends where my nose begins" and I think that individual freedoms are finally manifesting themselves as detrimental to society as a whole. Climate change, anti-vax/mask-wearing, and religious indoctrination have all reached a point where they generally provide negative long term effects to the world, many of these wrongs compounding upon themselves. It's a flaw of the ego, and technology has short circuited our evolutionary drives to expose our most basic (dare I say "based"?) drives of tribalism and selfishness.
Russia/China are certainly exploiting this weakness of democracy and freedom, but I think you're right in that there was always a piece of us to begin with. I know it's not going to be accessible to most people, but I highly suggest viewing The Tragedy of Man. It poetically captures the dilemma of man's inability to see beyond his own life, and how society is built on false promises that pass the buck to the next generation. I think we're nearing the time for someone to foot the bill, and the world's governments are playing a game of hot potato before the bill's due.
Don't forget Brexit.
Yeah, though I think Brexit was somewhat indirect it’s definitely worth calling that campaign out. Both the US and UK have right wing political movements that are helping (whether as pawns or as willing accomplices) to dismantle the soft powers that have been built up in the west since WW2.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allied_intervention_in_the_Russian_Civil_War
The US isn’t blameless, but I was refuting the downplay of current undermining going on of democracy across the globe.
This oped is the other side of the coin from Biden's Foriegn Affairs oped back in April