I was reflecting last night on the news and its obsession with Trump, with Putin, with war, with genocide, with Israel, with small boats, and with whatever Farage has had to say. I could not help but think that what so much of this far-right agenda is achieving can be measured in the way it is pushing news that is important out of our line of sight.
Poverty, inequality, diversity, stagnant wages, the absence of job opportunities, NHS waiting lists and strikes, the punishment of those on benefits, the impossibility so many face in making ends meet, and so much more — all of which are vastly more important than most of the things the media are talking about — have simply disappeared from the news because of the success of the far right in controlling the media agenda with their madness.
There is, in economics, the concept of opportunity cost. That is the cost that arises because something that was possible was not done, as another action was preferred. I think that this applies very strongly to the media's obsession with fascist causes at present. So long as we give these people the news agenda, the pressure for reforms that would really make the lives of many better is forgotten.
At the same time, issues that are essential for our long-term well-being are also being pushed to the sidelines, including, most especially, climate change; the growing impossibility of people living in some parts of the world where habitation has previously been considered normal; and the fact that the need for climate migration is growing almost by the day. Add to that mix the fact that we have done nothing to solve the water crisis in this country, or to improve our long-term food supply, or to address the impact that food quality has on our health, and we really are in profound trouble.
It's all too easy to be sucked into the vortex of concern about what the fascists are doing — but that is precisely what they want us to do. We then forget what is necessary for survival, and that issue is, to them, a matter of complete indifference, because the whole point about fascism is that it has no concern for people at all. The only thing that matters for those who lead fascist movements is the accumulation of yet more wealth and power for a tiny elite.
When people ask me what they can do to challenge the current status quo, I always say that engaging with the media is vital, and one way to do this is to talk about what really matters. In this regard, I particularly like the approach that the commentator who uses the name RobertJ on this blog has. He talks about the discussions that he has on “the omnibus”. I do, of course, get the metaphor, which I presume must be based upon Lord Denning's reference to the person on the Clapham omnibus, who was the representative of all ordinary people. That conversation can, however, take place anywhere and doesn't need to be face-to-face. It could also be on social media.
My point is, those conversations need to happen. In the madness of the world in which we live, we should not forget to talk about what really matters to us, because if we do, then the politicians will undoubtedly do so as well — and that is the last thing that we want.
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Reforming the Upper Chamber -the Lords-, PR voting, more regional governance, limiting donations are all needed. Most people coming on here will agree but unless the hold of the oligarchs on the press and the issues they cover, is challenged ( the TV current affairs tend to follow their agenda ) IMO it will not be enough.
I could not agree more with you Richard. The fascists are emboldened by the media it’s a self serving doom loop that’s pumped out 24/7 365. Thankfully main stream media is in decline. The non far right fascists amoungst us are mobilising. We must do so much more and rapid. Thank you for everything you do to drive a better future.
Thanks
The omnibus idea is a good one but it depends on your audience, who is around, etc.
I find that working people are always up for a chat (people doing real jobs), but where it gets harder is with the management class. They will sit there bemoaning budgets and then reject higher taxes which they think would hit them, knowing that their services need more money. They already think that they are paying for everything. How can you justify that, intellectually? And I’m talking about the public sector.
And then when you do talk about MMT, spend and tax, sovereignty, who owns the money supply, (I try, I really do) they look at you nonplussed and just as soon as it occurs to them that you might know more than them, they remember your pay scale and luxuriate in the fact you must be wrong because they are earning more than me and I just cannot be that clever otherwise I’d be on what they are on.
The thing is, the management class are actually in the micro part of the economy – discussing macro concepts with them is very, very difficult. They think it all begins and ends at micro.
This country has conflated wealth with success and then conflated that with high intelligence. A lot of wealth acquisition seems to be to be no more than theft to me.
As we know, greed is not a form of intelligence. This society of ours is very ill. Pleonexia is contagious it seems.
Pleonexia: another very good word.
Pleonexia is derived from the Greek word for “having more,” refers to an insatiable desire for more, often characterised by greed, covetousness, and avarice.
It’s the relentless pursuit of possessions, power, or wealth, even when one already has an abundance, and it’s frequently described as a pathological condition.
How about addiction – it describes the nechanism of greed a bit.
Unchecked desire leads to addiction… not sure whose quote that is.
Addiction starts when a stimulant produces such a big pleasure response in brain & body that one wants to repeat the stimulus.
Over time bigger doses are required -an amplifying feedback…
Some stomulants are legal – mine is coffee.
Gambling is a stimulant… and looking at the financialisation of capitalism the accumulation of positive sums in one’s own accounts seems to do it as well.
How to check such neuro/physiological responses… to what sphere of human belief, thought, action do such checks belong?
We all need to understand where we get our dopamine hits from, and how to control them.
The Chinese term for Pleonexia is Hungry Ghost Disease. It is applied to addictions or any other insatiable lust.
You might recall that beginning with the Ronald Reagan presidency, the US corporate religion shifted from the corporate place in society and its responsibilities to society to the opposite religion of Greed is Good and the only corporate responsibility is to increase shareholder value.
See, for examples, Neutron Jack Welch https://geekway.substack.com/p/jack-welchs-theory-of-leadership or Chainsaw Al Dunlap. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_J._Dunlap
This, of course, is an issue I want to discuss when looking at economic thought. The pivot earner though.
I am an admin of a relatively large social media group on FaceBook (50k+ members), the ostensible purpose of which is to provide a forum for discussion of the post-Brexit relationship between the EU and the UK. Over the past year, I have watched as the dialogue in the forum has increasingly become dominated by discussion of Farage and Reform, with the accent on the former. A year ago, perhaps 1 in 500 posts were Farage-related. Today, in the region of 70% of them are about Farage, so that they almost obscure the EU/UK conversation. I have tried a number of ways to address this – direct appeals to members to remain on topic and not to post Farage nonsense, post filtering to delay posts and break up Farage-centric conversations, targeted comment deletion and the like – and all of these have failed to stem the tide.
I can, and have, easily stopped posting trends related to far more important topics such as Gaza, NHS etc., usually by no more than a pinned post reminding members of the group charter and perhaps a few targeted suspensions of persistent “offenders”.
I am at a loss – Farage has nothing of import to say – his publicity is totally undeserved – he leads a party, (actually, a company), with a tiny number of MPs that is persistently failing in the very small number of places where it has gained some actual government positions, his antics and bombast have no relevance to the group mission and yet members persistently engage in long threads about him and, to a lesser extent, Reform.
I could, of course, simply filter and remove all Farage posts and comments at source, but I am painfully aware that that would probably kill the group. And, in this instance, there are no key posters responsible for posting the Farage content – it is a membership-wide phenomenon.
It seems a very good example of the issue you have highlighted.
Any suggestions?
Seek other posters. There are other stories to tell. Empower people to tell them.