36003¥312Electricity, Genetics & Radical Islamisms
Q
AS OF
2016 THERE IS
NO SERIOUS ALTERNATIVE TO
THE LIBERAL PACKAGE OF INDIVIDUALISM,
HUMAN RIGHTS, DEMOCRACY AND A FREE MARKET?
The social protests that swept the Western world in 2011 -
such as Occupy Wall Street & the Spanish 15-M movement -
have absolutely nothing against democracy, individualism & human rights,
or even against the basic principles of free-market economics! Just the opposite -
they take governments to task for nòt living ùp to these liberal general ideals?! They demand
that the market be really free, instead of being controlled & manipulated by corporations & banks 'too big
to fail'!? They call for truly representative democratic institutions that will serve the interests of ordinary
citizens rather than of moneyed lobbyists & powerful interest groups! Even those blasting stock exchanges
& parliaments with the harshest criticism don't have a viable alternative model for running the world? While
it is a favourite pastime of Western academics & activists to find fault with the liberal package, they have so
far failed to come up with anything better! China seems to offer a much more serious challenge than Western
social partners? Despite liberalizing its politics & economics, China is neither a democracy nor a truly free-
market economy, which does not prevent it from becoming thé economic giant of the 21st century. Yet this
economic giant casts a very small ideological shadow. Nobody seems to know what the Chinese believe these
days - including the Chinese thèmsèlves?! In theory China is still communist, but in practice it is nothing of
the kind! Some Chinese thinkers & leaders toy with a return to Confucianism, but that's hardly more than a
convenient facade. This ideological vacuum makes China the most promising breeding ground for the new
techno-religions emerging from Silicon Valley? But these techno-religions, with their belief in immortality &
virtual paradises, will take at least a decade of two to establish themselves. Hence at present China doesn't
pose a real alternative to liberalism. For bankrupt Greeks despairing of the liberal model and searching for a
substitution, 'imitating the Chinese' isn't a viable option! How about radical Islam, then?
Or fundamentalist Christianity, messianic Judaism or revivalist Hinduism?
Whereas the Chinese don't know what they believe,
religious fundamentalists know
only too
well.
2016 THERE IS
NO SERIOUS ALTERNATIVE TO
THE LIBERAL PACKAGE OF INDIVIDUALISM,
HUMAN RIGHTS, DEMOCRACY AND A FREE MARKET?
The social protests that swept the Western world in 2011 -
such as Occupy Wall Street & the Spanish 15-M movement -
have absolutely nothing against democracy, individualism & human rights,
or even against the basic principles of free-market economics! Just the opposite -
they take governments to task for nòt living ùp to these liberal general ideals?! They demand
that the market be really free, instead of being controlled & manipulated by corporations & banks 'too big
to fail'!? They call for truly representative democratic institutions that will serve the interests of ordinary
citizens rather than of moneyed lobbyists & powerful interest groups! Even those blasting stock exchanges
& parliaments with the harshest criticism don't have a viable alternative model for running the world? While
it is a favourite pastime of Western academics & activists to find fault with the liberal package, they have so
far failed to come up with anything better! China seems to offer a much more serious challenge than Western
social partners? Despite liberalizing its politics & economics, China is neither a democracy nor a truly free-
market economy, which does not prevent it from becoming thé economic giant of the 21st century. Yet this
economic giant casts a very small ideological shadow. Nobody seems to know what the Chinese believe these
days - including the Chinese thèmsèlves?! In theory China is still communist, but in practice it is nothing of
the kind! Some Chinese thinkers & leaders toy with a return to Confucianism, but that's hardly more than a
convenient facade. This ideological vacuum makes China the most promising breeding ground for the new
techno-religions emerging from Silicon Valley? But these techno-religions, with their belief in immortality &
virtual paradises, will take at least a decade of two to establish themselves. Hence at present China doesn't
pose a real alternative to liberalism. For bankrupt Greeks despairing of the liberal model and searching for a
substitution, 'imitating the Chinese' isn't a viable option! How about radical Islam, then?
Or fundamentalist Christianity, messianic Judaism or revivalist Hinduism?
Whereas the Chinese don't know what they believe,
religious fundamentalists know
only too
well.
24 sep 2019 - bewerkt op 27 sep 2019
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