This essay is part of a series of essays for ChatGPT-generated economics class titled The History of Modern Economic Thought. Read more about the project here and become a subscriber to get updates.
Most of not all of my understanding of the world is predicated on a European viewpoint. Even American thinkers are mostly of European descent.
However, Eurocentric thinking is being replaced by deconstructionists who divide the world into oppressed/POC/Global South vs. Oppressed/Global North/whites. This is basically just a reworking of Marxist/socialist class warfare which excludes whites from the working class and stereotypes them as upper-class capitalists based on a dubious, unfounded assumption of pigmentation privilege.
Even this is a reaction or rebellion against the European economic, political, and philosophical framework.
You frame it well. I've been trying to understand why socialism is problematic for the sake of having an intellectual foundation to make that case. As I was writing this essay it dawned on me how anti-American it is. Socialism arose out of conditions in Europe that did not exist in the United States. To import socialism here would be similar to importing Sharia law. That's not to say either are wrong -- they work in the context of different cultures -- but from an American perspective, these systems are incompatible. The only way to integrate Marxist/Socialist thinking would be to degrade American values. I don't think a lot of people grasp the magnitude of that trade-off, making it easier, to your point, accept post-modern/deconstructionist worldviews.
Most of not all of my understanding of the world is predicated on a European viewpoint. Even American thinkers are mostly of European descent.
However, Eurocentric thinking is being replaced by deconstructionists who divide the world into oppressed/POC/Global South vs. Oppressed/Global North/whites. This is basically just a reworking of Marxist/socialist class warfare which excludes whites from the working class and stereotypes them as upper-class capitalists based on a dubious, unfounded assumption of pigmentation privilege.
Even this is a reaction or rebellion against the European economic, political, and philosophical framework.
You frame it well. I've been trying to understand why socialism is problematic for the sake of having an intellectual foundation to make that case. As I was writing this essay it dawned on me how anti-American it is. Socialism arose out of conditions in Europe that did not exist in the United States. To import socialism here would be similar to importing Sharia law. That's not to say either are wrong -- they work in the context of different cultures -- but from an American perspective, these systems are incompatible. The only way to integrate Marxist/Socialist thinking would be to degrade American values. I don't think a lot of people grasp the magnitude of that trade-off, making it easier, to your point, accept post-modern/deconstructionist worldviews.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this!