I really dislike the elitist media and the control it has over the “can’t think for themselves crowd.”
Across the pond, Nigel Farage’s Reform UK is making waves. Of course, the British press is relentlessly attacking Reform now that polls show the party’s positions are popular. The British press has jumped on some Reform candidates for making non-PC remarks. Apparently, it is ok to want to nationalize private property, make people eat bugs and abolish the church, that’s not a scandal, but calling a gay person a word that simply means that person is gay, is the end of the world. Another Reform candidate has been accused of being an Islamophobe. It’s apparently ok to criticize Christianity, Judaism, the Latin Mass and have Satan clubs in public schools, but not ok for a politician to articulate why he has a problem with Islam. It’s astonishing how conditioned many are to “do as they’re told” and vote for the homicidal maniac because the other fellow used the wrong pronoun.
Sometimes speech is crass, insensitive and not very polite, but individuals as individuals can respond as they wish without Big Brother Media demanding absolute control over what is acceptable speech.
I’m all for unfettered free speech. Limiting speech limits “thinking,” and of course that’s exactly what the “Mediaverse” wants. In some situations, a pointed and unnecessary insult is cruel, but sometimes a good insult is the perfect rhetorical tool, especially when confronting loathsome and destructive ideas.
Remember when we could laugh at movies like Blazing Saddles and tell the truth about history without sugarcoating it for fear of hurting the feelings of the permanently offended? The most frustrating thing about the monolithic media narratives and speech codes is that they make people into unthinking dolts. For example, it’s summertime. It gets hot. About 10 days ago, the media was sounding the alarm about how dangerously hot it was going to be. Tons of people I know told me that they were not going to this or that event because it would be too hot. But, it’s always this hot in the summertime. I’m convinced if the media was not constantly telling us how hot it is, nobody would notice how hot it is.
Groupthink is a fascinating cultural phenomenon. There’s definitely a psychology for certain types of people who want to feel accepted by going along with the narrative that places them in what they perceive to be the “in set,” i.e., the fashionable crowd. I want to be in the “in set” too, the group that is right, because ignoring truth just so you can be cool and accepted by others is lying, and that is offensive to an honest conscience.
Clearly, there is tribalism when groupthink is applied to politics. Of all the people on earth who get away with advocating the most ridiculous things, it’s politicians. I’ve studied this issue and concluded that fear and insecurity drives otherwise reasonable people to look for a leader who states (untruthfully) that he will look after and protect his followers. The scared little bunny rabbit follower then gives his allegiance to the “promising” leader, no matter how idiotic or dangerous he is. Nothing validates my conclusion more than the Karens who posted the stupid “Stay Home/ Save Lives” emblem on their Facebook page during the Covid hysteria.
The buzzwords and simplistic narratives the elitists use in economics are pounded into our heads in an almost subliminal fashion as they are uniformly repeated over and over, and it’s all done for political reasons to shape and indoctrinate. It is as though these media sound bites are established “rules,” and if anyone has an independent thought, they are a heretic and must be punished Joan of Arc style. Many a banker, politician, pundit and university professor has lost their job for daring to think independently. Perhaps the following established “rules” thrust upon us are actual heresies:
RULES:
#1. The Fed’s interest rates drive the stock market. If a Fed Board member whispers rate reduction in his sleep, the media bombards us with breathless reports where all are expected to believe that such reduction will drive the market up. Markets don’t like surprises, but they are pliable, and they adjust. Thus, we can have a booming stock market with high interest rates, or a lousy stock market with low rates.
# 2. Good jobs reports are bad for the market. The prevailing narrative is good jobs reports mean that the economy is heating up and the Feds will raise interest rates and the stock market will drop. Markets work more efficiently without the Fed’s interference. A bustling economy is a good thing and economic growth is good for the stock market.
#3. An overheated economy produces inflation. Actually the reverse is true. #1, the true definition of inflation is a devaluation of the currency, not “higher prices.” A strong economy puts pressure on prices to go down, not up. Capital flows to where it is the most efficient. A robust economy produces more capital and more productive activity. Everyone benefits.
#4. Government economic reports are of great value in managing the economy. #1, the government cheats. If you don’t believe that I have a vaccine to sell you that will make sure you never get Covid, #2, the govt should not and cannot manage the economy, and #3, in a dynamic economy, important stats to measure the economy are always changing. If the govt includes “oranges” in a basket of goods to be measured, but not “apples,” there’s a problem.
#5. GDP is an accurate gauge to measure how the economy is performing. All production comes from the private sector. GDP includes government spending. Government spending is not production. GDP is not a very meaningful number. In spite of this, our economic wizards at the Fed rely on GDP for license to interfere with the natural organics of financial markets.
#6. Free Trade is bad and sends American jobs overseas. The wider the trade area, the better for everyone. The division of labor, where markets decide which country is best suited to produce what products drives prices down and naturally recommissions worldwide labor to find its niche to specialize in production of what it can do best, generating enormous growth and productivity. Let me clear something up. It’s true I can show you beautiful textile and furniture towns in Southside Virginia that practically dried up when those jobs went overseas. Sad, but then everybody in America started to pay a lot less for clothes and furniture. That’s creative destruction, and it is a good thing. Those affected find a niche for their labor in other areas, and this works remarkably well when capital is not overly burdened via excessive taxation and regulation.
#7. Spending creates economic growth. Spending does not generate demand. Capital creates demand. Without capital, there are no products or services. Government stimulus bills do not stimulate. They are a misallocation of capital and actually retard growth.
#8. Banks and other businesses are too big to fail. If you never spank your child, he will grow up to be an entitled brat. If banks are never spanked for bad management, they will become spoiled, entitled institutions. Bailouts protect the politically connected. Somone is always available to buy assets at what they are worth. Moreover, bankruptcy courts exist for a reason, and they have multiple methodologies to protect creditors to continue ongoing operations while a business gets back on its feet.
#9. Social Security is the third rail of American politics. Actually, Social Security is government theft and the most outrageous rip off scam in American history. The electorate is plenty smart, and Social Security can be dismantled in a way that benefits everybody.
#10. The latest statistics prove…. The talking heads in the media will often cite statistics to establish a premise, but seldom do they have any idea what they are talking about. Are sales reports year to year, month to month, store over store, etc? As the saying goes, “lies, damned lies and statistics.”
We do not have an energy crisis, a climate crisis or a new virus crisis. We have an independent thinking problem, and I think it starts when we allow the elitists to tell us what words are acceptable and which ones are verboten.
