The Triumph and Terror of Wang Huning
letter.palladiummag.com
letter.palladiummag.com
[1]: https://www.astralcodexten.com/p/assistant-dictator-book-clu...
Commentaries on the book hold up Wang as some kind of incisive critic of US society. This was not my impression. My impression was that he opened a newspaper, read the criticisms Americans were making about themselves, and relayed them back to the Chinese.
Any discrepancies are more likely to arise from drift over time and Wang's lack of affiliation with any American political tribe, so he freely mixes Democrat and Republican narratives. Republican media stress how Democrats suck, Democrat media stress how Republicans suck, outsiders consuming American media get the impression that Americans suck.
Seems like a loss to them (I don't think American self-conceptions are accurate enough to be worth studying) and to us (it would be nice to have better information out there).
On the other hand, if all it takes to be an expert on America in China is reading some American newspapers, that does say some things about general Chinese cultural insulation from America.
... anyone who read one of my pieces was separated from the original sources by at least two intermediate layers of analysis: my writing was a gloss of other people’s research, which itself was a summary of multiple sources in Chinese. This way of doing things is no longer sufficient. To resolve debates over China policy, all participants need to read what the Chinese are saying in their own words. Wise China policy will not be made until the generalists are able to access the same sources as the specialists.
There is no American media. There’s leftist American media and rightest American media. I’m guessing Chinese experts (who are leftists) cite leftist American media, not the Epoch Times.
[1] "Cultural Biases in Economic Exchange" https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w11005/w110...
Qutb argues that the American way of life, with its focus on hedonism and consumerism, corrupts the moral self and reduces human relationships to short-lived pursuits of pleasure. Qutb sees the American focus on individual pleasure as primitive and animalistic, erasing the gravity of death and the sanctity of life
He's the intellectual behind the modern jihad, distance 2 to a young Bin Landen.
> “what do you unify your thoughts based on?” would be a good icebreaker question on dates.
I have no idea who N S Lyons is other than a substack author. There are many other small factual errors and romanticisms of writing in the piece, as well as avenues left unexplored not least if Confucianism is but an excuse for authoritarianism as it has been used by past dynasties who've tended to flip from Confucianism to Taoism, and sometimes other, to justify themselves.
But that shouldn't shadow the subject at hand, which is casting some light on the limelight avoiding figure of Wang.
>This article by N.S. Lyons was originally published on Palladium Magazine on October 11, 2021. It was featured in PALLADIUM 09: Political Outcomes.
The original article largely responsible for Huning wank in western PRC watching circles, IMO very over indexed now.
Why show how things can work in capitalism if population is smart, hard working, moral, and government is small and effective? With parts having tons of independence? Thats literally the opposite of their system.
You can't bring the proverbial evils of capitalism when talking about happiest societies in the world, which both are based on capitalism and personal freedom.
Palladium skews towards genteel neoreactionarism. It won't be as overtly racist as moldbug's website. Its authors will use big words, write fine sentences, and have some academic credentials (though tend to be outside the mainstream). There's an obsession with planned economies and China, a mixture of anxiety that the US remain dominant with a certain longing for China's policies, and an inability to see those two things can never be consistent.
Underrated comment. Always follow the money. If Thiel is funding it, it's to further his feudalism agenda. Not that it isn't worth a read, but with truck load of salt.
Other articles give the impression that they're more into the 'nuclear lifeboat'/'galt's gulch' strategy and give off sinister vibes. I personally wouldn't use the word 'cryptofascist' but others might.
Like you I have the same conclusion... interesting at first, gets alarming & repetitive.
- Academic books (generally HUP, OUP, UCUP though the occasion PUP is alright)
- White Papers from top tier think tanks (use the UPenn Rankings [0])
- Axios and Politico - their target readership is aimed directly at those working on the Hill or Hill adjacent
Also, IGNORE anything on Twitter, Reddit, or HN. The lesswrong/r\credibledefense types are all idiots ime. Using an "objective" tone doesn't make rubbish "objective"
[0] - https://www.bruegel.org/sites/default/files/wp-content/uploa...
Both of these, in my experience, are dreck-tier sources and Politico was bought vaguely recently by Axel Springer which emits Business Insider, which is also a reddit-tier publication.
Don't tell me about the resources I read to do my daily job.
Axel Springer hasn't touched the Politico operation (if it did, I would be the first to have heard).
And Axios is heavily used in the dealmaking community. They hired most of the ex-Protocol, Reuters, Bloomberg, NYT, TechCrunch, and Politico reporters who's beat was the intersection of dealmaking and policy.
> Their article 'Complex systems won't survive the competence crisis' was an interesting read and made some good points, it appeared that they were approaching the issue from a perspective of troubleshooting and rectification, i.e. genuine governance.
For slightly less commentary and more facts The Economist is good, that's from a UK perspective.
If you're Australian, Quillette is the only one I know
I'm reminded of that aspect of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy where a civilisation decides that a third of it's population isn't necessary and sticks them on a 'colony ship' telling them that the other two ships are 'still being built' then promptly dies out because they were, in reality, quite necessary. Who'd they ship off, I think it was pest controllers and hairdressers? I forget.
The telephone sanitizers.
We're heading toward an inability to replicate our own essential cultural DNA, whether in institutions or in common values. We've become anti-intellectual, iconoclastic, lazy and idolatrous - and sadly one cause of this is technology and our misplaced belief in systems rather than human values - in certainty rather than toil.
"Competence" is a jolly complex thing. It's more than the ability to pull levers and operate systems that someone else put in place. It involves transcendent thinking, leadership and confidence, but also duty, patience, loyalty, love and dozens of other qualities we now think we "are better than".
Perfect example of the crisis in education. (We've always been this way.)
That makes it fine then.
Maybe, just maybe, the problem won't be solved by throwing more money at administration, but the administratorial class in the US hates hearing that they aren't god's gift to the world.
There are many more weak points in a complex system such as education than just money. Some weaknesses can indeed be exacerbated by extra money.
Giving, say, Acme University more money may well result in hiring of additional vice-provosts for lawn management, to the detriment of the students and faculty themselves.
The Atlantic
Harper’s Bazaar
The Economist
Foreign Policy
Foreign Affairs
The New Republic
The Paris Review
The New Criterion
Supposed "humanists" justify themselves with talk about there being unlimited "economies of scale" with more people but I am skeptical.