Attention Economy


Wednesday, August 4, 2021

Thought-Provoking Readings

What Should Conservatives Conserve?
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/03/opinion/what-should-conservatives-conserve.html
 
How Liberalism Can Succeed
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/04/opinion/liberal-biden-infrastructure.html
 
HOW THE BOBOS BROKE AMERICA
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/09/blame-the-bobos-creative-class/619492/
David Brooks notes:
How could people with high-end powerboats possibly think of themselves as the downtrodden? The truth is, they are not totally crazy. The class structure of Western society has gotten scrambled over the past few decades. It used to be straightforward: You had the rich, who joined country clubs and voted Republican; the working class, who toiled in the factories and voted Democratic; and, in between, the mass suburban middle class. We had a clear idea of what class conflict, when it came, would look like—members of the working classes would align with progressive intellectuals to take on the capitalist elite.
But somehow when the class conflict came, in 2015 and 2016, it didn’t look anything like that. Suddenly, conservative parties across the West—the former champions of the landed aristocracy—portrayed themselves as the warriors for the working class. And left-wing parties—once vehicles for proletarian revolt—were attacked as captives of the super-educated urban elite.
 
‘Freedom,’ Florida and the Delta Variant Disaster
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/02/opinion/Covid-Florida-vaccines.html
Paul Krugman notes:
Why, for example, are conservatives so insistent on the right of businesses to make their own decisions, free from regulation — but quick to stop them from denying service to customers who refuse to wear masks or show proof of vaccination? Why is the autonomy of local school districts a fundamental principle — unless they want to require masks or teach America’s racial history? It’s all about whose privilege is being protected. 
 
America’s Collapsing Meritocracy Is a Recipe for Revolt
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/16/taiping-rebellion-addison-rae-meritocracy-exams-rebellion/
 
Equality and the elites
https://www.newstatesman.com/aristocracy-talent-meritocracy%20modern-world-adrian-wooldridge-review