The Harsh Couch - 2016.06.14 Vunt

#1

After work, I dream -- I've slipped the velvet handcuffs -- And could make real change. - Dr Gob, 10 June 2016

This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at http://theharshcouch.com/thc/2016-06-14/
#2

you probably won’t hear this discussed much (at all) in what little Mainstream Media you still expose yourself to, but wherever Medical Marijuana has become legal/available, purchase of (and prescriptions for) painkillers in particular have dropped sharply…

this is something which hits drug companies where it hurts them most - the Bottom Line - and indeed they tend to inspire/encourage/fund the most vocal opposition to the legal use case for marijuana

makes you wonder about Prince, Michael Jackson, et al…

also, just quickly, been meaning to mention about Tholf’s point about governments being “economic managers” I think there is a tendency to conflate The Federal Budget with The Economy and I believe this is what he is referring to - while it is true they USUALLY have a minor, indirect impact on The Economy, I think it is important to note a government’s IDEOLOGY still has a major impact

see: Labor’s Keynesian approach to tackling the GFC, back when Turnbull was Opposition Leader, vs the “Trickle Down” approach the Liberal Party - to this day, still - insists is the best way for an economy to operate

imagine the difference if Australia had the other guys in power, at the time - imagine what effect that government would have had on the last six or seven years of this, still growing, economy…

#3

I was too old for Pokemon and ken it only through secondary culture, similar to the Harry Potter phenomenon.

I suspect the Couch is of a similar age at which the Pokemon Go thing is all a bit bemusing.

However, I think the Couch and its audience needs to understand this phenomenon from someone with first hand experience.

Accordingly, I request a Couch member get into this and report back to us.

I suggest Harry. He seems to get out the most, with his regular attendance at Greens branch meetings and such.

#4

I see some C-list Australian celebrity made Hanson-esque comments on national TV about fear of Muslim immigrants.

I strongly disagree with what she’s saying, but I fear the response of the ‘enlightened progressives’ will only deepen the divide. The latter have a tendency to declare this sort of commentary as self-evidently stupid and something to be dismissed out of hand.

This is the same sort of reaction contributed to Brexit and the rise of Trump.

There are people who feel fear and anxiety for various reasons, whether Islamaphobia, being hard done by globalisation, whatever.

Dismissing both the symptoms (eg Islamaphobic comments) and the underlying causes (which can be many and varied) as stupidity and ignorance is not a constructive way to engage, educate or build a better society. These people vote and simply dismissing their concerns as illegitimate drives those votes to people who are happy to cultivate hate (eg Trump, Hanson).

EDIT: Another way of putting this - the progressive part of society is running a very high risk of intellectually and morally seceding from the rest of society and becoming the disengaged chattering elite its long been accused of being. Becoming an isolated political class fueled by self-satisfaction and disdain.

It will dupe itself into thinking that it’s taking the moral highground with it (“no one rational could disagree with us”, “Brexit is driven entirely by xenophobia and ignorance”) and will console itself by painting those it disagrees with as being populists and fascists, ignorant and stupid.

Large (albeit dwindling) sections of the media will secede with it in a self-satisfying feedback loop of mutual preaching to the choir.

Ironically, I think a large part of what fuels this secessionist tendency is intellectual laziness. It has been easier for progressives to manipulate the rules of public discourse than to engage with concerns that it simply doesn’t care about. Easier to declare opinions “offside”, unacceptable and illegitimate than to spend the mental energy to persuade, educate and argue the merits of an alternative view. Easier to prosecute an intellectual buffoon like Andrew Bolt for vilification than to make a persuasive argument that convinces others of his wrongness.

Even if offensive opinions are triggered by circumstances of legitimate stress, it’s easier to dismiss both the opinions and the uncomfortable circumstances that yield them.

The progressive class has increasingly focused on declaring particular opinions wrong, but without asking “but what’s causing people to think this way?”. When dealing with more familiar, mundate cultures rather than romanticised Others, it’s often easier to blame racism, ignorance and other thought crimes.

It’s possible that some of the factors that nurture offensive views are the same factors which have benefited those who are more likely to sit in the progressive elite class. Particularly globalisation and the rise of the service sector in developed economies and the decline of the industrial sector. The increase in inequality which has tended to leave many social progressives in the upper end of the distribution.

It’s also easier for the elite class to march about refugees or gay marriage than for, say, improved pay for workers. The latter may involve sacrifice. The former does not. At least, I suspect that may be how it appears to a large number of voters in developed economies who have not fared as well in the last two decades. Those who missed the services economy train that was supposed to take industrial workers into the glittery promised land of the service sector, or those who caught it, only to find that call centres are shitty workplaces.

The forces arraigned on the other side are not smarter. The Murdoch press panders to its own favourite demographics and convinces people to blame the progressive elites.

And the progressive elites let the Murdoch press get away with it.

Tut-tutting is easier and involves less self-sacrifice and we’ve got more important things to focus on, Guardian articles to read, Twitter feeds to refresh, planes to catch, yes yes.

On the other hand, I’m a banker living in New York sucking at the biggest teat of capitalism. So I could be talking out of my arse here.