Why do they call billionaires oligarchs if they're Russian? Here in the US they are just referred to as billionaires. The Iron Law of Oligarchy comes to mind.
Liberals are not at all fully nihilistic. In part, there is the practical belief in values vaguely corresponding to human rights. But more fundamentally, “secularists” implicitly believe in a religion of the common emotions. They generally believe that meaning is to be found in the material, biochemical processes that humans experience as emotions. They generally believe that it actually means something when these old biological mechanisms produce the familiar emotional routines.
Right, I didn't say that liberalism entails nihilism, but that secular humanism has been challenged by nihilistic interpretations since as far back as Plato.
See also Yuval Harari's book, Homo Deus, for a transhumanist criticism of liberalism, the point being that liberal values may have to change as revolutionary technologies alter our environment and turn us into virtual gods.
Why do they call billionaires oligarchs if they're Russian? Here in the US they are just referred to as billionaires. The Iron Law of Oligarchy comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteI wrote two satirical articles on exactly that point a few years ago.
Deletehttp://rantswithintheundeadgod.blogspot.com/2017/07/news-media-confound-viewers-by-speaking.html
http://rantswithintheundeadgod.blogspot.com/2018/05/cnn-lobbied-oxford-dictionary-to-add.html
https://news.yahoo.com/roman-abramovichs-65-million-private-111241995.html
ReplyDeleteOh the whitey psycho... so unnecessary drama for so long time because, specially, whitey,on avg, are dumb and mad...
ReplyDeleteLiberals are not at all fully nihilistic. In part, there is the practical belief in values vaguely corresponding to human rights. But more fundamentally, “secularists” implicitly believe in a religion of the common emotions. They generally believe that meaning is to be found in the material, biochemical processes that humans experience as emotions. They generally believe that it actually means something when these old biological mechanisms produce the familiar emotional routines.
ReplyDeleteRight, I didn't say that liberalism entails nihilism, but that secular humanism has been challenged by nihilistic interpretations since as far back as Plato.
DeleteSee also Yuval Harari's book, Homo Deus, for a transhumanist criticism of liberalism, the point being that liberal values may have to change as revolutionary technologies alter our environment and turn us into virtual gods.