I recently heard the claim that the modern world prospers by innovation, not conquest. The claim was made in the context of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.
Innovation was also tied to free trade. I.e., the more we trade — and the more horizontal things become — the better.
Those are lovely thoughts, but I think they’re naive.
The modern, western, liberal mind (in the broad sense of liberal) can’t understand Putin, or anyone who would try to gain an advantage by conquest. That mindset is too foreign. That’s not cricket. We don’t do things that way anymore.
Our genius leaders have been under the impression that we will win the battle against communism by giving them access to new markets. Consumerism is going to convert them. Once they have big-screen TVs and smartphones and Netflix, they’ll forget about all that ideological stuff.
It’s not going to work, and the clearest indication is that it hasn’t worked here. Entitled brats in college, who have all the latest tech toys, and drink $5 coffee drinks every morning, are ideologically driven monsters.
Prosperity does not eliminate the human quest for meaning and purpose. The guy who sells blood, fire, suffering, and anguish — with a clear ideological vision — will beat the guy who promises a new iPhone.
The west is living under some very serious delusions. One is that war is never rational. It very clearly is, in some cases. Another is that prosperity trumps meaning and purpose.
We will not achieve or preserve freedom through commercial or technical innovation, or through trade, or with abundant prosperity. Freedom is a philosophical, theological vision that has to transcend those petty things.
Mussolini argued this way. That is why he embraced the ideology of the State as the transcendent entity that gives meaning and purpose to the individual’s life. Of course that ideology failed in the west. Not in Russia, but one must keep in mind that Putin’s fascism certainly doesn’t represent the beliefs of the Russian people as a whole because 1) there are many know that it is full of lies, and 2) there are many who would reject it if they knew better.
Moreover, I challenge the presupposition that the only choice is between an ideology of this kind and mere consumerism. In the west you can also have all kinds of intellectual or even “spiritual” stuff if you want it.
Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, as Jefferson says, is the only thing a legitimate government can rationally offer. Perhaps one of the reasons the Ukrainians are fighting so hard is that they have gotten a taste of that and refuse to give it up.
That said, I agree that there is everywhere a mindset that is willing to give up freedom for delusional meaning. These are the crude and primitive people who only see consumerism or something worse (like eating babies,) as the only competitor against their delusion.
I agree it’s not a black and white choice between ideology and consumerism. In any system, there is ideology and commerce. The concern I was trying to express is that some people seem to mistakenly believe that “having lots of cool stuff” is going to be enough to dampen the drive for meaning and purpose.
But having lots of cool stuff can enhance the drive for meaning and purpose. By having access to books online, for example, the range of available reading material expands far beyond what we previously could obtain in a local library.