I will probably pitch a review of One Billion Americans: The Case for Thinking Bigger, but since Matt Yglesias is pushing for preorders, I will note a few things about the book that might induce some people to buy it.
Firstly, it’s not a case for “open borders”. The title is kind of a gimmick or hook. Yglesias spends a bit of time laying out why one billion Americans isn’t crazy (our density would be like France, not Singapore), but he’s not that focused on the number and getting to it. Rather, from the perspective of someone on the Right, the takeaways from this book that were positive are that he actually makes an argument for “national greatness”, for families and children, and the conviction that America is not totally corrupt and unsalvageable. This is all clearly aimed at a college-educated liberal audience, so Yglesias has to be careful about how he makes some of them, but I’m glad someone is making the case. It takes some courage, for example, to accede to liberal concerns about climate change, but rebut catastrophism and suggest that the future could actually be better than the present.
For me, the less compelling sections of the book are those where he’s making points that agree with the priors of those of his liberal audience. Yglesias could say anything about how great mass transit is, and his audience would go along with it. So I don’t feel that those portions were given as much thought as the “Slate-pitch” aspects. Anticipating criticism sharpens the mind! Expecting adulation does not.
Finally, for those on the Right, the idea of mass immigration is terrifying. If you aren’t a libertarian, I don’t think Yglesias will convince you. But, to be frank I’m a lot more open to the idea because I’m not sure what sort of culture we’re trying to save at this point. Our cultural elites are pretty rancid in my opinion. The ultimate question is whether they are capable of making immigrants “turn” faster than their utility would be for the type of people that think nuclear families are great and should be promoted. If the number of immigrants is small obviously they will fall in line. But what if it is so large that they can insulate themselves more?* I know it sounds crazy. But 2020 is crazy already…
* From what I have heard from friends, the “woke” activism at places like Google did not come from the Chinese and Indian foreign nationalists, who are insulated from that sort of thing.
we’ve gone from tolerating difference to inverting the norms of most societies. it’s disgusting.
I blame HBO. It started to put a homosexual character in every other show some years back, and now we have “trans right” and such.
the native population has a stake. it matters. but the native population isn’t reproducing. also, the native population cares more about its consumer goods than its values. what are we preserving here??? i’m an american with 3 children, and i’m terrified about what i’m seeing around me.
You sound like a man in need of a religious community. It doesn’t seem so dire when you have a tight community of like-minded people. We have the catacombs.
A while back, you deleted a comment of mine that was “accelerationist” in nature. So this time I’ll phrase it in the form of a question: wouldn’t you rather have the fight now? I do. I’d rather it happened now while I am still able to fight (I’m 50ish) and there is still a solid majority of center-right population. I don’t want my children to have to fight – because fight they will if it keeps going like this.
“I blame HBO. It started to put a homosexual character in every other show some years back, and now we have “trans right” and such.”
Hollywood is making transgressions in a Liberal and Marxist direction for how long? For directly and openly Cultural Marxist propaganda for how long?
This is no exceptional case, this is part of the propaganda war which is going on for decades. Many younger people today watch older movies without seeing the transgression, because they already internalised it, the indoctrination was successful.
There are many such small and big things, like how Hip Hop was promoted, how the more aggressive and anti-order Gangsta style branch was not just allowed, but even promoted. But there are really small things many people don’t notice, like how many songs being played on radio and promoted by TV and major distributors on the web which are making fun of ex-partners, of males primarily, or which just go about a bad male partner, a break up, changing partners and stuff like that.
This too started in the 1960’s on a much bigger scale than before, with promiscuity being promoted on the radio as much as by Marcuse, Wilhelm Reich & Co in the theoretical field of Cultural Marxism.
Do you really think those programs, the music the kids are listening too, is arbitrary? Or that nobody ever thought about what to promote more and what less?
Talking about the young people, the academic field and universities are important, yes they are, but better think about the popular culture too and not just the big things, but also the small things, like the texts of songs little boys and little girls listen on a daily basis. Imagine, you get in your ear that every sexual aberration, extreme promiscuity, not caring for the partner and breaking up on a regular basis for nothing is “just normal”. You hear that every day, in every second song you listen to from early childhood. Anybody thought about that? How that changes how people see relationships and sexuality, too?
Our whole popular culture mixes up nice beats with vicious propaganda, all the time, 24-hours a day. Every time you go somewhere or listen to the radio, its almost inevitable and inescapable.
Sometimes I wish the times back when I was younger and much more Germans couldn’t understand what they were actually listen. When I asked them, “Do you even know what they are singing, what this song is about?” They just answered, “No, I just like the music…”
These happy times are now gone, we have as bad texts in German now and most people, especially educated people, can understand, unfortunately, the propaganda texts well enough.
Its not just the big things which are wrong in the West, its also these “small things”. And there too, there are owners, investors, producers, marketing, mass media and distribution networks, which decide what will be played and promoted, or what not.
Just take a look at the song texts from the 1950’s to our time. With every decade, things got worse. This was a process, we are just at its end now, at the final consequences of all what was done in the last decades and it ruined the healthy base of European based societies so completely, that it might have been unimaginable to our ancestors when all this started. And people don’t even take notice anymore…
Not that off topic: To avoid the possibility of radical elements upending our society, Bret Weinstein has a plausible plan to crash the 2020 election with a center left and center right candidate team who are courageous, patriotic and competent, in the hopes of main-veining mainstream sense back into the government and its country’s institutions. It might work if we act quickly: https://articlesofunity.org
@RW: Actions like these will just cost Trump votes and make Biden win. Its like Bernie Sanders for Hillary Clinton in a completely different setting. If someone doesn’t like Trump, he can as good vote for Biden directly, because if Donald doesn’t get the full support from the complete electorate right of the center-left, he will lose for sure and there can only be a Biden win instead. The conditions for a Democratic win are so good, with months of preparations and a big bang to come most likely, shortly before the election the financial bubble might burst, Biden really has to ruin it himself to still lose this, or something of a surprise must come which brings Republicans in a better light again.
to be clear: i’m old enough and ‘connected’ enough to get a sense of conservative/republican elites. what i saw there terrifies me. they’re totally not up to standing up to radicalism.
What are the similarities and differences in Weimar Germany and the US today?
Does this seem accurate to you?
The main difference is, that a lot of the decadence in Berlin came with poverty, real starving like poverty. Actually in the 1920’s the moral of major German speaking cities was much more split and on the worse part, it was worse than it is still today. There happened unimaginable things, even for today standards, and the press was so directly corrupt and perverted, we are still not at this point.
So the main difference is, what was then contained to specific situations of extreme poverty and a deviating and to a large degree non-German social class, at its extremes, is now more evenly spread to all of the Western world.
Its like the same poison, with a much higher dose, but more equally distributed. Needless to say, minimum 80 percent of the “avantgarde” of destruction moved to the USA when National Socialism came into power. And its interesting to note, that some were, at first, not that open in America about what they wanted or did. Because they became more cautious and rather started to “take it slower”, but bring it on a broader base.
In the 1920’s Germany, you could much more clearly see, where they were going, because they had the dominant socio-cultural position and freedom to do so, and didn’t thought about a conservative or extreme right wing backlash to happen. That lesson was learned and in postwar America and Europe, many things were just done step by step by the leading protagonists of Cultural Marxism and socially corrosive, exploitative, manipulative Capitalism alike. Even the leftist Liberals and extreme Left were more restrictive on newspapers and shows, after the war, because they did now knew that going too far could induce an alienation by the majority population.
Like even the vast majority of common Socialists and Communists were not that degenerated like people like Wilhelm Reich, Herbert Marcuse and Magnus Hirschfeld wanted them to be. So this was the least missed when National Socialism came into power and it was also “suppressed” in Eastern Stalinist Communism, which were actually fairly conservative in some respects! The vast majority of “normal people” never liked that indoctrination from the Liberal and Marxist ideologists, that’s also a lesson they learned: You must first deconstruct the conservative structures, traditions, ideas and relationships, so completely, that the natural guard to reject complete social decomposition would no longer be active and the actual majority of the people could “taught” the right way of Wilhelm Reich & Co. This followed in the 1960’s with the “Sexual Revolution”, but again, still, at large, not as bad and destructive, originally, as it already was in Berlin in the 1920’s, but instead on a much broader base never reached before the 2nd World War.
That was part of the upcoming hostility of Frankfurt School, Freudian based Marxism = Cultural Marxism favoured by the Western Plutocracy as well, and the Eastern or generally “orthodox Marxism”, more concentrated on economic structures than the culture. So really, even talking about Marxism, America got the worst part.
Still little of the “Socialist best”, but packed with the worst parts of Liberal and Marxist socio-cultural corrosion.
You mention perversion several times without stating what behavior you mean except a low birthrate. Is that what you mean? The only places with higher birthrates are Africa and a few Muslim countries outside Africa. The country with the highest birthrate is Somalia. You really want the US to become like Somalia? I don’t.
The current state of US culture is not set in stone. The most toxic anti family influences come from colleges. You have mentioned several times that colleges are risking their funding by their hostility to the GOP. I think covid will also put a lot of them out of business if a cure or vaccine is not available soon.
If you and Yglesias want a more family friendly climate you and he should advocate things to make it that way instead of gambling that more people from the third world will change the climate. As David Fischer wrote in Albion’s Seed most immigrants adapt to US culture rather than change US culture.
-Conservatives haven’t conserved anything. These are the same pricks who were all for immigration just a generation ago because of their love for crony capitalism and civic nationalism.
-Immigrants especially non white ones are net financial negative. And all immigrants (even economically valuable Asians) just accelerate the demographic decline. And further accelerate radical leftness.
America is over and Europe is getting that way. how long before the English and Germans are minorities in their own countries? And idiots like Boris Johnson are advocating for giving 3 million people in Hong Kong British citizenship. “Conservative”
@mercer: I competely agree with you on the immigration, fine with that.
But to give a hint to perversion possibly meant by some, or at least by me, imagine there are women from a deviating socio-cultural background, which are, by default, hardcore Lesbians. Now my problem is not with them being homosexual as such, I’m tolerant on the issue, as I think that’s just how they are, and as long as they do no harm to others, I’m ok with their sexual way of life.
But imagine further, that they have deviating personalities too, which again, is ok, as such, and are dissatisfied with normal, traditional female gender roles. Then again, ok with me, they are out of the game anyway and as long as they stick to their own and live their lives, let it be.
But here is where the problem starts: They don’t just want tolerance for themselves, but they want to change other women’s behaviour and how, naturally normal oriented women, approach their life too. So they come together with the male Cultural Marxists, of which many were perverts too, but that’s not the main issue, and have a common interest: The destruction of traditional moral standards, roles and behaviours under the label of it being “suppressive”, when in fact the main group having problems with it are they themselves and what they call “suppressive” was more functional for all, while what they propose is simply dysfunctional!
And even worse, and here is where they are the complete anti-thesis of any sort of “conservative” approach: They invent a new ideal, some of total “equality”, not just in rights, but in behaviour, in which they won’t feel like “handicapped women” any more, but like the new role models for normal young women, which just are supposed to copy standard male behaviour or worse. That’s their new “vision”. And, again, their anti-conservative stance being clear as their distorted “ideal” has no reason to improve anything for the people practising it, it families, state and population, but rather ruin it.
Cultural Marxists are happy with this, as they want to ruin occidental traditions and Europeans, the Plutocracy is happy with his, as they want women to work more, buy more, and live individual life’s, making both males and females even more dependent from the money and materialistic system of exploitative capitalism they want to establish for the whole world.
So they give this hardcore Lesbians, with hate for males, a platform and megaphones, by influencing the state, by giving them money and influence, while at the same time silencing all others as being “intolerant”, “sexist” (they love the -Ism thing, watch out for “Isms”, they are nice inventions for the Oligarchy!), “women haters”, “retarded”, and what not.
So from tolerating women which have a sexual and probably personality deviation, which would be ok for me, we came to a situation in which these women, with a distorted view on womenhood and sexual identity, determine what is “the new normal”, what’s allowed for males and should be done by females. Remind you, they have this power, because the Plutocracy gave them the megaphone. Because the Cultural Marxist theories and their extreme Feminism being taught everywhere, not just at the universities, but the whole Western educational system is full of this “gender ideology”.
So you have in the USA families which have no benefits of Socialiam or general social policies at all. Women still have no paid maternity leave, some not even a health insurance for themselves and their kids, no social security, no affordable housing, no good job conditions, no reduced cost for public transport, no free higher education for the kids or even quality education at all. Actually even if you pay for “a good” kindergarten or school, with no aggressive lower level kids and students negatively influencing your kids, you still get the favour of Cultural Marxist indoctrination, ESPECIALLY in those private schools even.
Anyway, no Social policies, no “positive Socialism” in the United States, even less control of the banks and corporation, huge scale tax evasion and corruption, but the kids get indoctrinated 24-hours by popular culture and “education” in the cultural Marxist way. And those which we began to tolerate yesterday, like “hardcore male-hating Lesbians”, determine what’s “the new normal”.
Under these circumstances, there can be no healing, but only worsening. And again, I don’t care if people are homosexual as such, as long as they don’t annoy everyone with it or hurt others, just do their thing in private and keep it to themselves. If they tell, fine too, I know homosexual couples, they are nice people, who cares, they just are that way.
But its not up to them how we raise our kids, what’s “normal” or desirable behaviour. They should be happy with being tolerated, and that’s it, don’t interfere with what society needs to survive and thrive, because that’s what some of them do right now, in under the umbrella term of “identity politics” in a Cultural Marxist way.
You talk about the education, you talk about birth rates and families, you don’t get the better, you don’t heal it as long as “minorities with megaphones” are the moral and educational standard for our whole society. That was moving from tolerance, to dominance, just like the Cultural Marxists wanted it, and just like the Plutocracy loves it, as long as it doesn’t touch them.
And for all which want to know more about the Plutocracy and how they run a lot of the Western world by now, watch this movie:
Highly recommended, it just shows how bankers, money and politics being interwined in the shadow economy. And don’t forget, all the politicians talking about “black lives matters”, let money flow from Africa to Cayman and Jersey, and they do nothing!
The same people which talk about women’s rights and poor ethnic minorities, about the “evil white middle class”, let the money of the big corporations, the banks and plutocrats go offshore instead of being used to actually improve the conditions – the money flows make it worse.
And “funnily”, all these leftist artists and media people, guess where they put their money? They use the same shadow economy and banking secrecy to evade taxes! They talk about “bad white man”, and “poor black” or whatever, yet they themselves don’t even want to pay taxes. And if they do “charity”, its not the same, its just a way to influence society like they want, instead of working for the public good. This whole society became so corrupt and hypocritical, its unbearable.
The City of London and New York are in the centre of this financial world order. And like I said, they keep “the new Left” like a pet, they drilled it to make the right stunts and forget “the wrong behaviour”, like this movie or “Occupy Wall Street”, criticism of Financial and corporate system etc.
Do you really think hardcore Lesbian male haters could have ever become that influential by themselves? Super-rich sponsors and a corrupted state gave them the largest megaphones they could get, and silenced all other voices. Middle class European women are there to work, to consume, and to vote for the right parties – then die childless and being replaced by new immigrants. That makes the new world order just easier to achieve and is much cheaper than to care for the reproduction.
Its a scam.
Yes its the same in East Asia and elsewhere, but just because they copied, 1:1, the same sick Capitalist system with leaving all other values behind. Without facing both rapture Capitalism and Cultural Marxism, which go hand in hand since the 1990’s latest, with “political correctness”, you can’t change anything fundamentally.
Yes, perversion is everywhere, perversion and lies.
Sexual behaviour in private is just a very, very and rather unimportant part, far worse is how the wrong norms and standards being pushed in everyones face and shoved down the throat. People are afraid of defining just normal and desirable behaviour, like for family life. What do our children learn from this? Only that others are in charge, we are not sure of ourselves, and the constant bombardment of their still rather innocent and developing minds will show the fruits of this corrupt system, and if not in them first, because of good parents, it will in their peers, and so pressure will come from there…
Its a nightmare.
Obs
I don’t see lesbians as having the big influence you claim. It is the trans cult that I see as having a destructive impact today. They are even encouraging teen age girls to take drugs that will make them sterile. Anyone who is skeptical is branded a bigot and likely to get fired from their job, deplatformed from speaking events and banned from twitter.
Forgot to acknowledge in my earlier comment: women’s suffrage was another precursor to modern woke insanity that’s probably more relevant to the “perversion” Razib’s alluding to (proto-feminism -> anti-natalism and everything that goes with it*), and frankly, you can see various other instances of liberalizing as the West got richer and more detached from Malthusian reality. But I still don’t think it would have reached full bloom and achieved its present cultural dominance without outside influence.
* Speaking only for myself when making this connection, of course.
You really want the US to become like Somalia? I don’t.
this is a retarded way to comment. “razib khan wants the US to become like Somalia!” does that sound plausible to you? if it does, don’t read me again, as you are a moron, or you think i am. if it’s not plausible, perhaps i meant something different!
i left a lot of things unclear. the main clear thing i will say is that i have zero confidence in western elites. no elites? no civilization.
the socilist-left critiques of the oligarchy are persuasive. alas, their answers are not viable or of-the-moment.
i hope i’m wrong and there is spirit left in them. but we got boris, trump, and Merkel. great
i appreciate the commenter who disagreed with but acknowledge i know more history than them. if someone like me is expressing these crazy views, perhaps they aren’t so crazy? that doesn’t mean i’m right, but chill with the smug attitude. I’ve forgotten more than you know.
> I don’t see lesbians as having the big influence you claim. It is the trans cult that I see as having a destructive impact today.
Destigmatize homosexuality => sex independent from reproduction further normalized => biological sex recedes from ontological prominence => people mutilating themselves at bidding of mass psychogenic illness/Gnostic ideology.
The slippery slope isn’t (consistently) a fallacy, if it can explain past events and help predict future ones.
“Lesbians” being just an example, but an important one for two reasons:
1) A large proportion of extreme Feminism came from Lesbians and those with identity issues. Much of the rest from women in a relationship with a Cultural Marxist ideologist.
2) There is even Feminist Lesbianism, the meme that only women with women are free from “male suppression”. I don’t need to explain how happy some of the core radical Feminist Lesbians are with this idea.
So while this is just a small part in the greater scheme, its an important and no arbitrary one.
Also don’t forget that females are more bisexual and in a culture which actually encourages homosexuality, they go much more often into it than they would be otherwise. This is also a demographic loss.
The problem is not the sexual behaviour of the small minority which would try to live like that anyway, but the disproportional influence by the hardcore community,especially in Feminist circles.
Then again, there are much more important issues all leading to the main root which is the Oligarchy and ots financial system, and how they exercise control of institutions and the mass media.