Dumb Ideologies wrote:The Xenopolis Confederation wrote:Whether or not this is occurring is up for debate, but suggesting it is deliberate on the parts of world leaders or especially of those advocating for open borders is borderline tinfoil hat talk.
You don't need groups of men with pinky fingers in their mouths doing evil laughs from their McEvil volcano base for the capitalist elite to be able to collectively and repeatedly push social arrangements that further the interests of capitalism. This is why capitalism is so resilient, why it is able to survive despite its rampant and obvious inequities and injustices.
The ideological apparatuses that broadcast the messages that keep the system going don't need to be controlled by a central cabal. Elites don't need direct central coordination in order to use their resources to act and advocate in their groups' interests. The media, for example, operates in a capitalist environment, and outside of very temporary moments during deep economic and political crises the fundamentals of the current system appear as "natural" to mainstream readerships to the extent that speaking of anything different is "crazy talk". Politicians are pushed to the centre by the logic of the electoral system, by lobbyists, by the media and so on, to the point where non-capitalist choices struggle to get their voice heard and are lambasted from all sides for their "unrealistic" suggestions.
Ideology allows the system and the interests of the capitalist elite to self-perpetuate with no need for Illuminati, lizardmen, or Bond villains pulling the strings. Within a capitalist system, the people pull their own strings as much as they're pulled by others; media, politicians and even peer pressure; (see the airbrushed, glamourised "dream lives" people share on social media for other people in turn to aspire to) all help to keep the ideological wheels of capitalism turning.
Yes, there are plenty of lobbyists and corrupt billionaires eager to preserve capitalism by any means necessary, but I sincerely doubt that it is them that are pulling the strings behind pro-immigration advocates or pulling the strings behind pro-immigration government initiatives. Governments allowing in migrants to perform cheap labour certainly isn't unheard of, but I don't think it's the driving force behind open borders advocates.
Indeed, capitalism is a self-perpetuating system whose internal logic allows it to very easily shroud the overton window in its folds. When the status quo is about profit, supporting the status quo is profitable. But it's open to interpretation how much of this is due to sinister forces and how much it's just due to capitalism being a decent system that's easy to maintain. At any rate, hopefully the greater openness that new media provides allows for an expanded overton window so that ideas can win on their merit, rather than on their proximity to the status quo as is too often the case.
Indeed, liberal capitalism, rather than perpetuating by silencing its detractors by sword, simply silences its critics by drowning them out by rendering illiberal ideas too unprofitable and unpopular. That said, nobody really likes the "dream lives" people from what I've seen. I guess in that respect, liberal capitalism is more like Brave New World, and more authoritarian systems are more like 1984. That's a depressing thought. On the upside, I'd rather live in Brave New World than in 1984.
Posted: Thu May 09, 2019 2:53 pm
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