Watch Jordan Peterson and Niall Ferguson’s Insightful Conversation;
Here’s what they overlooked.
In this insightful conversation , Jordan Peterson and Niall Ferguson address “The German Problem” – how did such an advanced society as Wiemar Germany give rise to its primitive and brutal opposite, Hitler’s Third Reich?
Insightful as they both are, they miss one consequence of a change in Germany’s culture that came with its change to a a constitutional federal republic. As part of that, Ferguson notes, technocrats had ascended to Germany’s leadership.
At any time, the least intelligent one-third of any population feels a bit ostracized by the other two thirds, using as they do words and concepts that are simply beyond the understanding of that lower third. They tend to be a bit uneasy when among more intelligent groups.
That feeling of ostracism goes from barely tolerable to collective paranoia when the technocrats take over the public discourse. Now all of a sudden they’re rubbing intelligence in the face of those who lack it.
In their hyper-ostracized state they seek a strong boss who speaks as one of them, and who will make things right by re-making for them a world that is simple and understandable. (In the process the big boss will sell them some costly miracle diet supplements and doomsday-driven investment opportunities.)
Thinkers miss the point when they try to fit the positions of the demagogues’ programs into an ideological framework (“far right,” “conservative,” etc.) These thugs have no ideology at all. If you had to assign something resembling an ideological label to their “positions,” it would be “mafiocracy.” They are mafiosos.
Bertrand Russell figured it out with this...
It’s easy to get the the stupid and cocksure to rally around some demagogue who uses the language of a seven year old to sell them simple solutions to their plight.
But here’s an important corollary which Russell and others often overlook:
Thinkers tend not to be joiners.
Those whose minds are capable of, and are inclined to, embrace complexity as well as the difficulty of assessing causality, are averse to simple solutions. The multitude of points of view and interpretations of reality mean that it’s difficult to get thinkers to embrace a thought leader, let alone a leader-leader.
But we must try. With mafiocracies gaining ground everywhere, thinkers can’t afford the luxury of inaction. We need to do something. We can’t continue to let the world be taken over by Trumps, Bankses, Putins and Orbans.
And yet we can’t go around administering IQ tests to establish the right to vote. We must preserve democracy. We must preserve the right of everyone to participate in the governance of their world.
Optimocracy is inspired by the municipal model of governance. That’s because the governance of cities tends to be driven by activists, who tend to be informed about the issues affecting their agenda, bringing that informed background dirctly to meetings of commissions. It’s possible because city hall is nearby; there’s no need for legislatures insulating and isolating the center of government from the governed.
Optimocracy brings “city hall” to anyone anywhere in the world where a smartphone or laptop can connect, accomplished by means of digital identity certificates. Through the Authenticity Infrastructure, identity certificates can either include the names of participants or they may use the license plate model, which makes the participant accountable while not disclosing their name.
Please take a look at Optimocracy as a way to achieve this goal of preserving democracy while letting those who are incapable of handling complexity opt out of participation.