May you live in interesting times
Perhaps it's time now to stop mapping political differences along the left-right dichotomy. The great political, intellectual and emotional chasm of our world runs between transnational elites with access to diverse forms of social, economic and cultural power, and masses who feel left out from the global party and who express their fury and resentment through social media and xenophobic movements.
We have entered a perilous new era in politics, where a whirlwind of raw emotions is blowing away all the verities of the past. The global elites, whose competence and moral legitimacy are questioned like never before, need, as Martin Wolf wrote in the Financial Times last week, "to work out intelligent responses." Until then, progressively more and more intemperate outbursts against posh boys will define political life.
Sadly true. I first heard about something called technocracy when I was in high school, which was ages ago. It sounded like a good idea at the time. But the credentialed elites are proving to be even more incompetent than their predecessors, who at least on occasion displayed some integrity.
ReplyDeleteYup. Watch for the appearance of populist anger in the worlds of science, medicine and engineering. Interesting times, indeed!
ReplyDeleteFrank, I disagree with your take on the issue. The problem has nothing to do with credentials, and everything to do with money. Physicians have become little more than indentured servants under the thumb of the insurance industry, while scientists and engineers are simply pawns to be moved around and sacrificed by corporate lackeys to further the interests of Wall Street.
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