Peter Lynn ARCHIVE
How will this Cultural Revolution End?
There is a cultural revolution underway in Western countries broadly characterised by a set of left wing/collectivist/progressive/identitarian views. It is being driven by an urban elite and is being spread primarily through urban populations.
This new elite reject the values that provided the unprecedented prosperity, security and social justice that Western Countries have enjoyed post WW2. They reject 19th and 20th century enlightenment principles of objective truth, rewards for competence and work (rather than race, class or gender) and open informed debate.
Gestating in universities, they have colonised media, the public service, local and national political leadership and most recently, larger employers (hence DEI and ESG). In some countries (NZ for example) they have captured the judiciary.
Primarily a city phenomenon, they are hostile to cars, favour cycling, public transport (for others), large government, high taxes, and regulation as the solution for perceived problems. Causes include 'work-life balance' (that is, less work) a perceived climate emergency, racial preference (Maori in NZ), LGBTQ rights, open borders and equity (in a new meaning of equal outcomes).
With more support amongst females, especially younger females, denigration of white males is routine and not accounted as either discrimination or hateful.
They assign diminished responsibility to groups deemed to be oppressed. (hence sentencing discounts and tolerance of bad behaviour by the indigent, migrants, gangs and beneficiaries). By promoting welfare payments for this client base without requiring work or responsible behaviour in return they gain electoral support in excess pf their actual numbers.
Followers have an overwhelming belief in their own virtue, rightness, and entitlement which extinguishes civility and politeness when heretical views are encountered. They are intolerant of dissent, use cancelation, intimidation, bullying, compelled speech, and personal vilification, to enforce their ideology.
Urban elite opinion leaders are the intelligentsia: 'social justice' activists and educated, high income, university, state and media employees.
This cultural revolution will fail for obvious reasons:
Like energy prices
Like negative effects on productivity- dislike of business, demonisation of 'profit'. more regs, work/life balance, higher taxation, needless bureaucracies.
Like causing people to be split into identity groups - dissent and suspicion.
Like striving for equality of outcome can and is only achievable by penalising talent and success- which is demotivating.
Like they have failed to take the mass of people with them- are mistaking the suppression of opposing views with agreement with theirs.
Like eventually, they will so damage their economies, they'll be struggling to survive and have no time for luxury beliefs.
Like failure of education systems and the growing criminal underclass this generates.
Like unsustainable beliefs such as that women and men are the same (they're not- physically or behaviourally) to pretend otherwise is absurd,
Like that that borrowing can forever expand to pay for lifestyle.
There are many signs that this collapse is already underway- increasingly anti migrant sentiments in Europe and the US, the rise of populist parties, growing underground push back against favoured identity groups (racial, gender sexual orientation), support for Trump in the US, borrowing limits (unwilling lenders).
No doubt some echoes will remain even many generations hence, but what these will be is hard to predict. Perhaps the most likely is that what is most favoured now will be become most reviled- this is the way this has generally worked in the past. Which will be pretty unfortunate for those groups or practices singled out.
And this is my theme here:
The growing backlash has every chance of making the world a much worse place for everyone.
Peter Lynn, July 2024
