Great article Tobias. I remember the last Iraq war. I was doing my PhD at the time and everyone was so self righteous about “sorting out this bad man”. It’s a scary sort of thinking that hands crazy mandates to political leaders who invariably use everything to their own end. Biden, Macron and Johnson are all benefiting from their stance…
Great article Tobias. I remember the last Iraq war. I was doing my PhD at the time and everyone was so self righteous about “sorting out this bad man”. It’s a scary sort of thinking that hands crazy mandates to political leaders who invariably use everything to their own end. Biden, Macron and Johnson are all benefiting from their stance on the Ukraine. They are coercing the rest of us to condemn Russia and help the plucky Ukrainians (until the next major shift in the news cycle, at which point we will leave the Ukrainians to solve their own problems). It’s all so disingenuous and if you say anything short of “Putin is a very bad man”, you get crucified. How on earth did it ever come to this? Why does jingoism come into fashion every 20-30 years? You think we would learn…
Brian, I think we've learnt not to learn (from history). Not learning suits the ruling power much better, as we are collectively easier to rile up in indignation, which is very useful, politically, as you point out. Thanks for your comment.
Great article Tobias. I remember the last Iraq war. I was doing my PhD at the time and everyone was so self righteous about “sorting out this bad man”. It’s a scary sort of thinking that hands crazy mandates to political leaders who invariably use everything to their own end. Biden, Macron and Johnson are all benefiting from their stance on the Ukraine. They are coercing the rest of us to condemn Russia and help the plucky Ukrainians (until the next major shift in the news cycle, at which point we will leave the Ukrainians to solve their own problems). It’s all so disingenuous and if you say anything short of “Putin is a very bad man”, you get crucified. How on earth did it ever come to this? Why does jingoism come into fashion every 20-30 years? You think we would learn…
Brian, I think we've learnt not to learn (from history). Not learning suits the ruling power much better, as we are collectively easier to rile up in indignation, which is very useful, politically, as you point out. Thanks for your comment.