A famous American scientist who closely follows the processes of social transformation: involves a bad feeling

In early July, 150 famous intellectuals and writers published an open letter in Harper magazine, in which they spoke out against the growing culture of “cancellation culture” and efforts by the left to restrict freedom of opinion.

There are also a growing number of individual intellectuals who warn of the bias of the universities and the media, of trying to re-educate society and form a “new person” based on their own left shoes.

One of those bold voices is Joel Kotkin, a 67-year-old scientist at Chapman University in California who was dubbed the American super geographer by the New York Times, as well as an influential commentator for The Daily Beast and Forbes.

Kotkin has closely followed the processes of social transformation for many years, and the academic book The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class was published in May.

The book has sparked a heated debate, possibly contributed by the coronavirus pandemic, which has significantly accelerated the digital transformation of society and further consolidated the dominance of tech giants – precisely what the book’s author is analyzing.

We live in a time reminiscent of the Middle Ages

Kotkin writes about the “high-tech” version of feudalism that is taking root in the United States, China, Europe and Japan, about the alliance of the new oligarchs with the new “clerics”, the left elites, about new dogmas that cannot be questioned if they do not want to risk corruption. career.

“We really live in a time that, with its oligarchy, its clergy and its dogmas, is reminiscent of the Middle Ages. It was like a high-tech aristocracy that, united with the intellectual class, set out to implement a new vision of society. Their goal is to change the more traditional values ​​that have shaped the middle class since the post-war period, ”Kotkin said in an interview with the German daily Die Welt.

“For five companies (Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple and Microsoft – ed.) It owns most of the national wealth of the United States! A handful of high-tech executives and their financial “supervisors” control (each!) Assets with an average value of tens of billions of dollars. And they’re all in their forties, which means we’ll have to live with them and experience their influence for the rest of our lives! “, He asked himself.

Radical green ideology only benefits big business

This is dangerous because they are increasingly concentrating control of information in their hands. Mr. Kotkin addressed this issue in an article, The Age of Amnesia, in Quilette online magazine a year ago, in which he wrote about Google manipulations of algorithms that favor both the group’s commercial interests and its ideological priorities.

As an example, the researcher cited the “systematic displacement” of social media and online service providers to conservative and other groups that do not comply with the code of practice of “tech oligarchs” and their peers.

Part of that “code of habit” is the “green ideology”. According to Die Welt, he spoke in favor of the environment, but also drew attention to the social dimension, noting that “a truly radical green ideology in California mainly benefits large companies because only they can survive under drastic environmental laws, and small or medium. midsize companies are failing or moving elsewhere. “

The fact that the socio-economic aspect of the ‘ecological transition’ is being ignored, that the working class is being completely ignored is another issue that will cause considerable social tension. This is already the cause of the “yellow vests” movement in France, recalled his colleague, French socio-geographer Christophe Guilluy. As a traditional former social democrat, it is unacceptable to the “progressive” ideologues of “sustainable development” indifference to the working class.

The left elites are the custodians and diffusers of the new dogmas

“Class disparities are growing faster and the elite and managerial elites are doing very well, famous workers who can work from home, and the rest of the middle class is impoverished,” Kotkin said of the trends highlighted by the coronavirus crisis.

Left-wing intellectuals are helping spread radical utopian ideologies among wealthy tech entrepreneurs. Their alliance, now established in all Western countries, reminds Kotkin of the union of the oligarchy and the clergy on the eve of the French Revolution.

Today’s left-wing intellectuals, Kotkin, call him a “clergyman,” emphasizing “the quasi-religious nature of this orthodoxy, which they want to establish, as the Catholic Church once did. In the 13th century, no one at the University of Paris was I would have dared to question the existence of God. Today, nobody dares to question new dogmas without risking anything, and I know what I am talking about, “Kotkin told Die Welt.

In the past, the researcher has been particularly critical of universities that have become fragmented and “unanimous,” which, he said, are no longer “beacons of liberal education.” Because today’s intellectuals “narrowed the circle of questions, just like medieval Andean scientists.”

Secular “clergy” introduce “progressive” ideas into society

Mr. Kotkin deplores the loss of a healthy balance in the universities as a result of the establishment of a left-wing chair. He cites scientific studies that reveal that in the top 51 ranked US high schools, the ratio of conservative and left-wing teachers ranges from 8 to 1, in extreme cases 70 or even 120 to 1.

“While about half of British voters are politically leaning to the right, only 12 percent of university professors do. The same gap is closing in Canada and across Europe. Higher education professors who criticize the multiculturalism, mass immigration, or upholding “bourgeois values” risk losing their jobs, “Kotkin wrote in the Age of Amnesia article. Understandably, with such “unanimity”, it is difficult to speak of a free scientific debate.

The creators of the world of film and music and “opinion journalism” also align harmoniously to the left. For example, only seven percent of American journalists describe themselves as Republicans, Kotkin said. Established in the educational system, the media and cultural institutions, this new “clergyman” seeks to replace “the bourgeois values ​​of self-determination, family, community and nation with” progressive “ideas about globalism, ecological sustainability, newly defined gender roles. and expert authority. ” And for this, they, in turn, rely on the control of information technologies by the new oligarchs.

As in the Middle Ages: Dissidents are threatened by “excommunication”

“This ideological rigorism has shaped a generation of ‘progressive’ activists who today form the best-educated, whitest, and most politically intolerant part of the American community,” Kotkin told Amnesia Age. California Democrats have recently tended to treat the “progressive” bigotry of simply calling inconvenient speech “hate speech,” according to the California Democratic Party, Kotkin said.

“Over time, the adoption of all-encompassing ideologies, such as ‘intersectionality’, which combines all possible forms of gender, race, colonial and class oppression, makes a differentiated discussion of the past almost impossible. said writer James Linsa, only a “morally clean” version of history and culture became acceptable. “They are especially prone to demonizing heretics or blasphemers, or anyone who is too far removed and dangerous for this dogmatic belief structure. They often excommunicate such people, “writes J. Kotkin in his article, clearly agreeing with him.

“We are no longer entitled to another opinion, no matter what the issue is!” As if extending these thoughts, he told Die Welt newspaper. “The systematic destruction of our past and everything that binds us is dangerous. It will bring back the spirit of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, “he fears.

Tech-based tyranny is insurmountable

Kotkin warns that this alliance of oligarchy, high technology and left elites could lead to “tyranny” and recalls the idea expressed in Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel The Great New World (1931) that technology-based tyranny is not can overcome: “The increasing importance of technology will only further increase the power of today’s oligarchy and cultural elites. It will increase the degree of control over what we think, read and hear.”

And while the infinite number of blogs gives the impression of democracy and diversity, in the end, the flow of information is increasingly regulated by various concerns found in Silicon Valley. “By the way, Google, Facebook and Amazon buy the remaining traditional media that they have not yet destroyed. They control the movie production studios, Youtube… ”- J. Kotkin mentioned other threats to the daily Die Welt.

The oligarchs of the 21st century, according to Kotkino, are convinced that a technological solution can be found to all problems.

“They are great technicians, great fans of transhumanism. However, their level of ignorance in the historical or literary plane is infinite. And that makes them even more dangerous than that. Old regime aristocracy. Also, symbolic themes like gender, transsexuality and climate change allow them to avoid issues such as “social classes” that could threaten their power. “

The researcher is particularly concerned about the fragmentation of society into smaller and smaller groups of identities, which inevitably weakens the concentration of society and, therefore, the possible resistance to the new oligarchy. Kotkin urges the middle class not to give up: “Resisting the oligarchs is the most important imperative of our time.”