There’s an extent to which the whole “Leopards ate my face” thing is an expression of our worst impulses. Schadenfreude feels great, but man this post makes me feel terrible for Argentina. Especially after having seen The Take. (It’s been a while since I watched it, but it left an impression.)
I think people are feeling like this because the awful people that enable and drag the rest of society into these messes, never learn. Sure once shit hits the fan and it affects them deeply they’ll be complaining and calling for heads to roll, but the second the rest of society fixes the messes they created, the second they get a comfortable life again, they return with the same attitudes that lead down the dark path to begin with. They just don’t learn. Only changing their views when it affects them personally and then immediately flipping back when life is good again.
oh i think that people do learn, everybody learns, it’s just that some people are more like experimental physicists. let me explain:
In physics, there are mostly two branches: theoretical physics (which makes predictions and does mathematical calculations on paper) and experimental physics (which touches things with their hands, does experiments and observes the outcome). the same is true in politics:
Some people see a situation, think about it, do some guesswork and write articles, discuss with friends what would probably be the outcome if a certain policy is implemented, then decide whether it’s a good idea to implement that policy or not. Other people, however, take the opposite approach: implement the policy first, then wait and watch what happens. That’s the experimental approach: do things and figure out the hard way. That’s exactly what happens in politics. people vote for austerity politics, and for a while it goes well, until suddenly it doesn’t anymore. then people crash and society suffers, and people observe this and then conclude that these policies did in fact not work well. that’s when they learn. after harm has been done, and they’ve experienced it themselves.
What actually happens is rich Conservatives, in the Edmond Burke mold, use some grievance, real or imaginary, to worm their way into power.
Once in power they start doing two main things, the first is to rob the government blind, transferring wealth from public good programs to themselves via things like defense contracts or sueing the government you control for billions of dollars.
The second thing they do is implement some sort of restrictive law or policy that is designed to hurt one group of people more than everyone else, dividing people from each other and amplifying the hatred of the worst assholes around.
Eventually the conservative is ousted, usually after crashing the economy. But usually enough conservatives remain in power to stymie any actual reforms that would actually fix all the problems that they caused.
If only we had decades and decades and decades of this “research” already done in the form of countless hopelessly failed “experiments”… Oh wait. We do.
Sorry, but no. You don’t get excused because you ignored everyone who told you that THIS SHIT HAS BEEN TRIED AND IT DOESN’T WORK.
You don’t get to ruin people’s lives simply because you’re incapable of learning something without doing it yourself.
I had to remind myself about Milei’s policies… I mean I know he’s a hapless* Trump copycat** but I was thin on the details:
Milei advocates minimal government, focusing on administering justice and ensuring security, with a philosophy rooted in life, liberty, and property, and free market principles. He criticizes socialism and communism, advocating economic liberalization and restructuring of government ministries. He opposes Argentina’s Central Bank and current taxation policies.
Economically, Milei is influenced by the Austrian school, and admires former President Carlos Menem’s policies.
There we are. Austerity, the favorite cover-up for “just doing my rich donor buddies bidding”. And unfortunately I don’t even need to look up the Austrian school. And it ties back nicely to the movie you mention.
* Some time ago when the economy was already tanking he sang live in a rock band. The article was titled “Burning Down The House”
** TBF Trump did not invent Trumpism, he’s just the most prominent
PS & BTW
Donkey (and horse) meat is a relatively common ingredient in e.g. Salami. Yes the economy is fucked up but people eating donkey meat is probably not the best indicator. And as someone else pointed out, the article talks about selling donkey meat in large cities, not the eating per se.
There’s an extent to which the whole “Leopards ate my face” thing is an expression of our worst impulses. Schadenfreude feels great, but man this post makes me feel terrible for Argentina. Especially after having seen The Take. (It’s been a while since I watched it, but it left an impression.)
I think people are feeling like this because the awful people that enable and drag the rest of society into these messes, never learn. Sure once shit hits the fan and it affects them deeply they’ll be complaining and calling for heads to roll, but the second the rest of society fixes the messes they created, the second they get a comfortable life again, they return with the same attitudes that lead down the dark path to begin with. They just don’t learn. Only changing their views when it affects them personally and then immediately flipping back when life is good again.
oh i think that people do learn, everybody learns, it’s just that some people are more like experimental physicists. let me explain:
In physics, there are mostly two branches: theoretical physics (which makes predictions and does mathematical calculations on paper) and experimental physics (which touches things with their hands, does experiments and observes the outcome). the same is true in politics:
Some people see a situation, think about it, do some guesswork and write articles, discuss with friends what would probably be the outcome if a certain policy is implemented, then decide whether it’s a good idea to implement that policy or not. Other people, however, take the opposite approach: implement the policy first, then wait and watch what happens. That’s the experimental approach: do things and figure out the hard way. That’s exactly what happens in politics. people vote for austerity politics, and for a while it goes well, until suddenly it doesn’t anymore. then people crash and society suffers, and people observe this and then conclude that these policies did in fact not work well. that’s when they learn. after harm has been done, and they’ve experienced it themselves.
That’s a nice sounding line of bullshit.
What actually happens is rich Conservatives, in the Edmond Burke mold, use some grievance, real or imaginary, to worm their way into power.
Once in power they start doing two main things, the first is to rob the government blind, transferring wealth from public good programs to themselves via things like defense contracts or sueing the government you control for billions of dollars.
The second thing they do is implement some sort of restrictive law or policy that is designed to hurt one group of people more than everyone else, dividing people from each other and amplifying the hatred of the worst assholes around.
Eventually the conservative is ousted, usually after crashing the economy. But usually enough conservatives remain in power to stymie any actual reforms that would actually fix all the problems that they caused.
And no, people never fucking learn.
If only we had decades and decades and decades of this “research” already done in the form of countless hopelessly failed “experiments”… Oh wait. We do.
Sorry, but no. You don’t get excused because you ignored everyone who told you that THIS SHIT HAS BEEN TRIED AND IT DOESN’T WORK.
You don’t get to ruin people’s lives simply because you’re incapable of learning something without doing it yourself.
I had to remind myself about Milei’s policies… I mean I know he’s a hapless* Trump copycat** but I was thin on the details:
There we are. Austerity, the favorite cover-up for “just doing my rich donor buddies bidding”. And unfortunately I don’t even need to look up the Austrian school. And it ties back nicely to the movie you mention.
* Some time ago when the economy was already tanking he sang live in a rock band. The article was titled “Burning Down The House”
** TBF Trump did not invent Trumpism, he’s just the most prominent
PS & BTW
Donkey (and horse) meat is a relatively common ingredient in e.g. Salami. Yes the economy is fucked up but people eating donkey meat is probably not the best indicator. And as someone else pointed out, the article talks about selling donkey meat in large cities, not the eating per se.
The Argentinians were desperate for change. I wouldn’t have voted for him but the peronists were a complete failure over the last 10 years or so too.
Interesting, the director of that movie is the ndp leader in Canada now