The KISS principle is that people should 'Keep It Simple, Stupid'.
The problem is that politicians think they have to do just that.
The result was Brexit, where it seemed that those campaigning for departure (I stress, those campaigning and not necessarily those who voted) believed that it really was simple.
But it wasn't: far from it. The idea that it was easily possible just was not true, as the evidence has proven: it's fiendishly hard. And getting harder as those who thought it simple have had to be re-educated along the way, to the irritation of the EU, Ireland, business, trade unions and many others.
Whether or not the mess of Brexit will be resolved in the last twenty-four hours before departure remains to be seen. I am now erring towards pessimism. But let's be clear, important as that issue is, it's not the big picture.
The big picture is about the fact that the whole of populism is built on the KISS principle. The idea is that there is a big idea. And it's simple. And that those who don't get it are stupid. And are the be reviled as a result.
That's how politics is developing.
And it is deeply dangerous. The world is much more nuanced than that. And difference requires respect or democracy cannot happen. But we are losing that understanding. Or rather, some are deliberately sweeping it aside. As Fintan O'Toole argues in The Irish Times, what we are now seeing are the trial runs for fascism. The KISS principle summarises exactly what they do.
Unless we're very careful this will end in tears.
Or much worse.
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KISS has also given us falsehoods such as the household analogy for macro economics and that all Government money is actually taxpayer’s money so you are right to highlight it.
To me politics should be about dialectics – taking opposing views on matters and finding a way through – finding resolution, creating win/win outcomes through compromise – combining gains and sacrifices.
These days politics has become about absolutism – increasingly creating and reinforcing monocultures and being intolerant of things that do not fit in. You don’t just win. You destroy the other side and then harry it out of existence or to subjugate it.
This phenomenon has all the hall marks of affluence affecting politics – those with money unwilling to make any sacrifices at all and using money as a power leverage to ensure things stay the way they want it to as the ‘natural order of things’.
You are right to be worried. But maybe we have to lose the gifts given to us by the Age of Enlightenment and progressive eras in order to once more value them?
We humans seem to like learning the hard way unfortunately. Too many seem to be hard wired for it. But there is hope.
I’m currently reading Pablo Nerudas ‘Memoirs’. He is a name dropper supreme but the quality of his writing is superb. On page 334 he writes this:
‘Everything struggles to change, except the outworn systems. These outworn systems were spawned in the immense spider webs of the Middle Ages…….Spider webs stronger than the steel of machinery……..Yet there are people who believe in changes, who have made changes work, who have made change burst into flower…….Caramba!……..Nobody can hold spring back!’
I deeply fear Fintan & you are right. It’s the only logical explanation for how politics in the west are panning out. It’s not random or accidental. With neo (and latent) fascists in control of so many levers of power, it’s difficult to see how it can be nipped in the bud. It’s probably already too late as it’s been in the making, behind the scenes, since the 1980s. All those global right-wing think tanks have surreptitiously & systematically been laying the foundations, only occasionally being outed as in the case of Cambridge Analytica.
With their man in the White House and the Republicans controlling the Supreme Court, their agenda is clearly more advanced in the US:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/20/magazine/trump-government-heritage-foundation-think-tank.html
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/may/15/rightwing-thinktanks-secret-plot-against-unions.
http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-court-trump-travel-20180626-story.html.
It should be a massive wake-up call for every voter, not just the progressive left. The trouble is whenever the suggestion of a fascist plot is aired publicly, there are cries of ‘conspiracy theory’ from its protagonists. So realistically what can ‘ordinary’ people do? Like you I’m hugely pessimistic. I think the horse bolted from the stable a while back.
Fascism always worked, and works, on simplicity, or rather on a Procrustean simplification of the messy complexities of existence, in which the rich – and messy – mix of things are purged, lopped off, so that “reality” is reduced to “the truth, pure and simple”.
But as E. M. Forster said (or words to the effect that): “The truth is never pure, and very rarely simple”, whereas KISS would replace that with “park your brain at the door, and surrender. Just accept.”
But that way lies madness, as we saw last century, and still see now. Take your pick of examples, but for me the destruction of Yemen is THE exemplar of that madness.
Fintan O’ Toole’s article is excellent. The idea of market testing fascism reminded me of something Professor Bev Skeggs said during this talk:
“You Are Being Tracked, Evaluated and Sold: an analysis of digital inequalities”
http://www.lse.ac.uk/website-archive/newsAndMedia/videoAndAudio/channels/publicLecturesAndEvents/player.aspx?id=3883
Firstly that online tracking and marketing is constantly testing people, to see what they will respond to, using machine learning by algorithm.
Secondly that those advertising platforms are also being used as the basis for changing the political landscape, by targeting political messages to particular groups, using the very same techniques that she described.
And they still teach young people economics as if we had free will
Staying away from social media probably helps, although for young people these days I realize that that is virtually impossible. It’s also another reason why we cannot afford to lose the NHS. Imagine if private healthcare interests were allowed to use this kind of profiling, as the basis of providing services…
And many people have a benign view of government, that despite their failings politicians have our best interests at heart. During the Terror in the Soviet Union, people used to say “If only Stalin knew” he would put a stop to it. He not only knew, he was the prime instigator. People may curse but they’ll never believe there’s a fascist-like change taking place – until it’s too late.
And from what fertile ground did this simplistic populism spring?
Was it that which was laid by the bipartisan, technocratic expert class in government and the corporate world? Those who made everything so specialised, jargonised and complicated that most people couldn’t understand it then offshored everything, robbed everyone blind, dumped them in crisis and bailed themselves out nicely?
This populism emerges from a crisis of confidence and trust. A lot of people no longer trust the expert class (or “establishment”) They don’t trust expertise or nuance. They have been excluded and they feel excluded. These new fascists are merely opportunists just as they were in the 1930’s. Their opportunity, the conditions for it, was created by a more respectable (?) mainstream.
Is this populism? If it is I think I like it:
““Top Democratic Congressman Loses Seat To N.Y. Democratic Socialist In Huge Upset
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez won an unexpected victory against powerful incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley, all but guaranteeing her a seat in the U.S. House.
Ocasio-Cortez’s progressive platform includes ideas like a $15 minimum wage and Medicare for all, which have become more mainstream among Democratic Party leaders in recent years, as well as more radical proposals, like abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and having a federal job guarantee.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/entry/ocasio-wins-primary-democratic-nomination-congress-crowley_us_5b21a084e4b0bbb7a0e46ccd
I loved the story
That’s not populism
That’s democracy
I agree.
Although I do sometimes have reservations about the word “populist”. It is sometimes used to denigrate candidates that are non-technocratic, grass roots and authentic (even the good ones).
“The idea is that there is a big idea. And it’s simple. And that those who don’t get it are stupid. And are the be reviled as a result.”
A bit like how you promote MMT, Richard?
MMT is an explanation of what happens
Not what I want to happen
Can you spot the difference?
Dear John,
Since when was that simple? And who is being reviled? I suspect that, with this provocation, you are hoping to be reviled.
No luck there, then.
I don’t see anyone promoting MMT. That’d be pointless. It’s a bit like promoting gravity.
It isn’t a doctrine, it’s a system.
It really doesn’t matter if you believe in it or not, it still IS.
Precisely
Having seen some of the recent contributions from the likes of John (above) and ‘Sarah’ I got a sense that Worstall was lurking around the sidelines again so I visit his blog. Lo and behold, about a third of his posts in the past month are devoted to you.
He must really love you that guy. He follows you so closely and does everything he can to raise your profile. He has also come up with one of the stupidest posts that I have ever seen:
http://www.timworstall.com/2018/06/27/yes-well-done-this-is-how-evolution-works/
Given the puerile flippancy that characterises most of his posts he might say that he was just kidding with this one but I doubt it.
I confess to not visiting Timmy Boy’s place too often
I think he should get a life
Populism isn’t just a right wing phenomenon. There are left wing populists too. It just refers to things that are popular. Unfortunately thanks to decades of mainstream media brainwashing racism is popular among a great number of us.