‘Britain’s Populist Revolt’ by Matthew Goodwin in Quillette 3rd August 2018
Between 1964 and 2015, the percentage of politicians in Westminster who had worked in manual jobs crashed from 37 to just 3 percent, while more recent research has shown how the rise of ‘careerist’ politicians, particularly in the Labour Party, lowered the amount of attention going to working-class interests. Meanwhile, the numbers that had been elected after working in politics or in London reached record heights. Such findings leant credibility to the perception of a political class that had become increasingly insular and detached from ordinary voters. Before the referendum even got underway, nearly 40 percent of working-class voters agreed that “people like me have no say in government.”
https://quillette.com/2018/08/03/britains-populist-revolt/
Comment from ‘David’ on DavidThompson.typepad.com
March 22nd
It’s odd how so much talk about rights has shifted from a notion of individual rights (meant to restrict the power of the state or king) to group rights and entitlements, which give the state greater power over individuals and what they may say, how much they may earn, whose lifestyle they have to subsidise, etc.
https://davidthompson.typepad.com/davidthompson/
Uri Harris
‘Patreon Games’
9th January 2019
Quillette.com
Women are traditionally are more conservative than men, but modern progressivism seems to have gradually developed into a movement that is extremely appealing to women, especially younger, more secular women. And part of the reason for this, perhaps, is that it has shifted away from the freedom-oriented attitude of the 1970s and towards safety and rigid norms. It has essentially adopted values traditionally associated with conservatism, thus making it something of a hybrid.(This refers to mainstream progressivism, not the radical fringe.)
[Corporate censorship] seems like something progressives should be concerned about, but as their goals have shifted from freedom to safety this can no longer be taken for granted.
https://quillette.com/2019/01/09/patreon-games/
Konstantin Kisin
‘The New War on Comedy’
3rd January 2019 Quillette.com
The underlying assumptions of social justice censorship are that words are a form of violence, that a subjective interpretation matters more than the speaker’s intent and that safety is contingent on not being teased or challenged. The mainstreaming of these ideas is an existential threat to comedy (and freedom of speech in general). Comedians use lies to tell the truth—the notion that the exaggerations, stories and carefully crafted falsehoods we deliver on stage should be taken literally will be the death knell of comedy. The idea that your safety depends on me never challenging you is the end of any sort of useful communication.
https://quillette.com/2019/01/03/the-new-war-on-comedy/
Dominic Cummings
‘How The Referendum Was Won’
9th Jan 2017
The Spectator
Swing voters who decide elections – both those who swing between Conservative/Labour and those who swing between IN/OUT – do not think like this [thinking in terms of the ‘centre ground’]. They support much tougher policies on violent crime than most Tory MPs AND much higher taxes on the rich than Blair, Brown, and Miliband. They support much tougher anti-terrorism laws than most Tory MPs AND they support much tougher action on white collar criminals and executive pay than Blair, Brown, and Miliband.
https://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/01/dominic-cummings-brexit-referendum-won/
Wagner Clemente Soto:
‘Effete men turn to the left because there they find fashionable and self-righteous justifications for their lack of manhood’
Allister Heath
‘Will any political party be able to survive the second act of Brexit?’
The Telegraph
February 20th, 2019
‘The emergence of a distinct political class at the turn of the century – a back-scratching, culturally homogenous, post-ideological, self-interested coterie whose members have more in common with each other than their constituents – is a central reason why so many voters are attracted to populism of Left and Right.’
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2019/02/20/will-political-party-able-survive-second-act-brexit/
Ben Pile
‘It’s The End of The World…As They Know It’
Climate-resistance.org
12th Feb 2016
The more detached from ordinary people and ordinary life politicians and political parties become, so the more they seek legitimacy in ideas that are beyond the senses of ordinary people, and the more they locate power above democratic control on the basis of seemingly ‘global’ risks.
http://www.climate-resistance.org/2016/02/its-the-end-of-the-world-as-they-know-it.html
The Rise of The Absurd
The Z Man
We have arrived at the monstrous end of the liberal project. What started as a reasoned assault on superstition is now a collection of increasingly bizarre superstitions, in service to a war on observable reality
https://www.takimag.com/article/rise-of-the-absurd/
Lord Hailsham from the Sunday Times, 19 July 1970:
‘It is the Parliamentary majority which has the potential for tyranny. The thing that Courts cannot protect you against is Parliament, the traditional protector of our liberties. But Parliament is constantly making mistakes and could in theory become the most oppressive
instrument in the world’.
Alex Thomson, taken from his Telegram account. 22 Feb 2022.
‘Woke liberalism is quite literally the most gut wrenching political view point I have ever known.
It means you can foster beliefs such as :-
▪️Everyone deserves freedom, except those we say can’t be free
▪️Everyone is equal, except those we say are not equal
▪️Everyone should be treated the same, except those we say shouldn’t be treated the same
It applies twisted logic to reach these conclusions which its followers parrot in unwavering belief.
It is the most segregating and divisive political ideology I have ever known, and there is nothing remotely truly liberal about it.’
Nick Cave, July 2020:
‘I tend to become uncomfortable around all ideologies that brand themselves as “the truth” or “the way”. This not only includes most religions, but also atheism, radical bi-partisan politics or any system of thought, including “woke” culture, that finds its energy in self-righteous belief and the suppression of contrary systems of thought. Regardless of the virtuous intentions of many woke issues, it is its lack of humility and the paternalistic and doctrinal sureness of its claims that repel me.’
Daniel Greenfield, via the Gatestone Institute:
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/end-debate
‘The establishment designates experts to establish a manufactured consensus, and denounces those who disagree as pawns of some larger conspiracy whose ideas endanger us all. When everything is either a public health crisis (COVID-19, racism, transgender mutilation) or a threat to the survival of the human race (war, global warming) the threat is too serious for democratic norms. The only thing to be done is to expose the conspiracy and silence its perpetrators.’
Atticus Fox 