If I had to use one phrase to describe the West since the end of the Cold War, it'd be: Dispossession sold and marketed as liberation.
First of course citizens were transformed into consumers and we all had to hand over sovereignty to this beast called GDP, which became our new god, even after decades of worship showed that 90% of the gains went to 10% of the people (if not fewer); then to keep GDP appeased we had to submit to mass immigration (sacrosanct and mandatory despite its unpopularity), which also helped the market state destroy social solidarity and subject our societies to constant churn and constant new demands about accommodating the needs and views of newcomers; then there are other factors like the politicization of education, the monetization and financialization of everything, and now (except for the cities that were flooded with money) we're left with a rotted-out landscape and a deracinated populace that knows and believes in nothing but their own desires and what's flashing across their screens in the moment.
We've past the Age of Affluence and are somewhere in the middle of an Age of Decadence, so I guess what comes next is an Age of Dissolution. But, hey, look at how many billionaires have been minted!
"Dispossion sold and marketed as liberation" is a great encapsulation of this landscape. The interesting aspect of the post-Cold War period is that the entire political spectrum bought in, even parties that in the Cold War era were Left-of-centre. Monetisation and financialisation of everything became the order of the day, with the lie of meritocracy fuelling the rhetoric as gaps in everything from wealth to education grew wider and wider.
This: "we're left with a rotted-out landscape and a deracinated populace that knows and believes in nothing but their own desires and what's flashing across their screens in the moment." Bravo, Sir.
"We have a culture so devoid of ideas for how to fill the spiritual void that pseudo-spiritual rhetoric wedded itself to hyper-individualism and materialism, and spawned a vapid culture of New Age namaste-narcissism. We cannot fill our spiritual emptiness, so instead we’ve repositioned self-interest and consumption as a spiritual journey..."
Sorry to mix up your posts, but "namaste-narcissism" was just too good not to re-read and quote. Great post!
The last 2 gods standing in the 21st-century postmodern wasteland are Mammon and The Self. People may claim to be worshipping something else, but it's usually one or both of those. The Market State slaps a barcode on all our souls, and it takes many years of work to scrape it off—I try and fail every day!
True, but that largely refers to between-country growth, primarily from low-middle income countries, not within-country wealth inequalities in nominally rich nations. To be clear, I'm not anti-capitalist. It exists in various forms, and the extremes of market fundamentalism (since ~1980) is the most ineffective, destructive form.
If I had to use one phrase to describe the West since the end of the Cold War, it'd be: Dispossession sold and marketed as liberation.
First of course citizens were transformed into consumers and we all had to hand over sovereignty to this beast called GDP, which became our new god, even after decades of worship showed that 90% of the gains went to 10% of the people (if not fewer); then to keep GDP appeased we had to submit to mass immigration (sacrosanct and mandatory despite its unpopularity), which also helped the market state destroy social solidarity and subject our societies to constant churn and constant new demands about accommodating the needs and views of newcomers; then there are other factors like the politicization of education, the monetization and financialization of everything, and now (except for the cities that were flooded with money) we're left with a rotted-out landscape and a deracinated populace that knows and believes in nothing but their own desires and what's flashing across their screens in the moment.
We've past the Age of Affluence and are somewhere in the middle of an Age of Decadence, so I guess what comes next is an Age of Dissolution. But, hey, look at how many billionaires have been minted!
"Dispossion sold and marketed as liberation" is a great encapsulation of this landscape. The interesting aspect of the post-Cold War period is that the entire political spectrum bought in, even parties that in the Cold War era were Left-of-centre. Monetisation and financialisation of everything became the order of the day, with the lie of meritocracy fuelling the rhetoric as gaps in everything from wealth to education grew wider and wider.
This: "we're left with a rotted-out landscape and a deracinated populace that knows and believes in nothing but their own desires and what's flashing across their screens in the moment." Bravo, Sir.
Thanks!
Sounds similar to:
"We have a culture so devoid of ideas for how to fill the spiritual void that pseudo-spiritual rhetoric wedded itself to hyper-individualism and materialism, and spawned a vapid culture of New Age namaste-narcissism. We cannot fill our spiritual emptiness, so instead we’ve repositioned self-interest and consumption as a spiritual journey..."
Sorry to mix up your posts, but "namaste-narcissism" was just too good not to re-read and quote. Great post!
The last 2 gods standing in the 21st-century postmodern wasteland are Mammon and The Self. People may claim to be worshipping something else, but it's usually one or both of those. The Market State slaps a barcode on all our souls, and it takes many years of work to scrape it off—I try and fail every day!
Am really enjoying your work, thanks again...
Doomsaying has become truthsaying, sad times, indeed. You could have called this An Ode to 'Free' Britain, or 'The Epicedium to the Indebted'.
True, but that largely refers to between-country growth, primarily from low-middle income countries, not within-country wealth inequalities in nominally rich nations. To be clear, I'm not anti-capitalist. It exists in various forms, and the extremes of market fundamentalism (since ~1980) is the most ineffective, destructive form.
No middle class left in my suburb of South Africa.