Saturday 27 January 2024

"We all have the one form of privilege that truly matters: first world privilege"


"In case you haven't noticed, the gloves are off.
    "2024 is the year when we stop allowing nihilistic, hateful and intolerant people divide us. 
    "All of us here in the West are extraordinarily lucky to be here. We all have the one form of privilege that truly matters: first world privilege. ... 
    "Black, white and brown, we need to work together to make our country stronger, richer and more confident in the world. 
    "And I am going to respectfully and politely destroy all the people who want to talk down our country, smear my fellow citizens as 'ists' and 'phobes' and make us hate each other. 
    "Their time is over. This is our time."
~ Konstantin Kisin, from his tweet

 

3 comments:

Peter Cresswell said...

Yes, the specific place he's defending is the UK. And generally, the West. But it seems pretty bloody specific to here.

Libertyscott said...

and it's time to make it loud and clear that "first world" success is due to some fundamentals that are absent in other countries. Rule of law, relatively low levels of corruption, capitalism, relatively high freedom of speech and property rights. It isn't due to "colonialism" or "imperialism", because the first world includes those who had no empires (Switzerland, Estonia, Slovenia, Singapore), includes those who had empires and were thoroughly and ruthlessly defeated (Japan, Germany), includes those who were <50 years ago either poverty stricken (South Korea) or subsistence based economies (Singapore). The ahistoric attempts to cast the Western world as predatory, exploitative and rich only because it has pillaged the developing world are so utterly banal - and the academics and the fellow travellers in the media who tout this selective binary nonsense need calling out.

Peter Cresswell said...

@Libertyscott: True that.

A good podcast on this very topic, last week: Russ Roberts talking with Noah Smith on Econ Talk on the topic: 'Can A Nation Plunder it's Way To Wealth?'