Intellectual Starvation and Ziegler's new
Book.
Freedom in Western society was essential for allowing a huge advance in
technology. In addition to some support by the government, technology
is driven by the pressures of competition. This allowed the achievement
of very high productivity in the modern societies and with it, a high
standard of living. However, this happened only in the Western
countries and Japan. In most other countries and also in parts of
the West, people still live in very poor circumstances.
For various reasons, practical and idealistic, the world ought to be
interested in a tolerably equitable
distribution of incomes which, given our productivity, should be
possible in the West without major problems. But to recognize the
problem, we need
undisturbed vision - whereas the struggles of the various
interest groups in
their blind drive to obtain political advantages over the rest of
society are
a great hindrance. Furthermore, we have a struggle for
influence in the intellectual domain, between the basic world views of
right and left, and the role
of the religions, all of which proceeds more from ignorance and
ego mania than from real problems.
All this, while the cultural situation has become very
critical
with the arrival of a fanatical Islam in the Western world. Now, the
problems generated go well beyond the common shortcomings of
individuals. It seems hopeless to expect a more productive style in
politics unless the general education can be improved so that the basic
facts of economics and politics become more widely known. As long as a
blind struggle for power is the main political force in a free state,
the price will be an unnecessary reduction of the social product; it
makes most social improvements very difficult, and increases the danger
to
the state itself. As always, the intelligentsia is to provide the
intellectual climate in the culture, but they are seriously weakening
their influence by exhausting their resources in partisan politics.
A major factor is also the now
endemic failure of modern intellectuals to think in
sufficiently clear terms, as Descartes has urged us to do at the dawn
of modern times. Truly independent thinkers are rare and group think
predominates. The ideological confusion on
the “Left” is perhaps deeper than a confusion on the
“Right”, because the Left by using the obsolete Marxism as their main
tool to understand the events, prides itself to be so "scientific". I
find an instructive example in
the work of the noted Swiss politician, special Rapporteur of the UN.,
professor of Sociology in Geneva and Paris-Sorbonne, and author of best
selling books, Jean Ziegler. At first sight, Prof. Ziegler seems to be without
doubt one of the best qualified social observers. However, reading his
latest book makes it clear that he is
totally blinded by his ideology. His Imperium
der Schande (L'Empire de la honte; The Empire of Shame), is a
source of important data which would be educational, but his interpretation suffers from
grave errors.
We read right at the very top on the inside flyer the astonishing claim
that the Declaration of Independence states as a universal human right
a “right to individual human happiness”! The Declaration, in
fact, says wisely that “freedom to pursue happiness” is one
of the human rights - an essential difference! Ziegler's version would put
the responsibility on the government to provide happiness, instead of
allowing its pursuit. This illuminates the confusion and explains some
of the utopian
flavor of what is being debated with much fervor in this book.
Ziegler quotes the correct wording of the Declaration later
in the book, buried
in the inside, but his book is an example
for how much intelligent thinking can still be permeated by the
typically leftist idea that the
Governments are responsible for the happiness of their people. However,
attempts to make the people happy through government action has always
made them most unhappy because happiness is an eminently personal
achievement which can be made easier or impossible by the environment,
but not produced. Another fixed ideas of the
author is that “poverty” is
caused by economic conditions, period. This misconception grounded in
superficial thinking, perhaps self
delusion, brings Ziegler to claim, that the global Capitalism prospers
because of
hunger and debt (p. 231). This ridiculous nonsense is
repeated by many writers in spite of all evidence to the contrary.
Western
medicine and food was given to many of these poor countries for
decades. More than a trillion dollars have been used in the "war
against
poverty". And what happened? It effectively helped to increase the
population of the poorest countries to numbers which seem totally
unmanageable. Now, they are even more desperately poor than before and
have become dependent. To be as clear as possible: They are
poor because they do not produce enough to sustain their growing
population. The advanced countries are rich because they produce
a wealth of goods and have stabilized their population. Unless we
examine the reasons for this, we understand nothing.
What is so frequently misunderstood is the work of Thomas
Robert Malthus (Malthus).
Ziegler must know it, but forgets to take it into
account. If helping the poor
with money
is a bad deed because it produces more poor and much more suffering in
the future, then the West can be blamed for having been stupid and used
the
wrong medicine against poverty; we should not do it again. However
now, Ziegler blames the industrialized nations with their well
working industries for the mass poverty itself. Well, in the sense just
discussed, this is a gross distortion; the
West does not profit from the poverty. It profits from its own high
productivity.
People are poor because for various reasons, they are not productive.
Raw muscle power is all that they have to offer, and muscle power has been
largely replaced by machines. Other problems, especially cultural limitations must also be taken up in
some detail if we really want to understand poverty. But Ziegler
confuses the important points which are the basis of his book. It is
interesting in details and the data certainly salutary to read, but the book as a whole
is
pure Marxist propaganda. Of course, we should know by now that
this thinking is a terrible medicine for poverty. It has been
demonstrated at
extremely high cost of lives in dozens of countries in the 20th century. It makes
the people so unhappy that they try to flee if they can, and they must
be kept behind walls. The result is completely contrary to Ziegler's
noble goal, which all of us ought to share: A fundamental
improvement of the human life.
Poverty can only be attacked by producing more in the society and for
this we need a
change in some habits. It will not be cured by damaging those
who produce most of the modern wealth because if we do, we will end by
having everybody poor. People have never achieved happiness by revolting, or with new
administrative structures staffed with politically selected
incompetents. For real social
advance, the only effective way to combat poverty is to support early
education with substantial and deep conditioning for a life in
freedom (e.g., in training centers under well selected leadership
to get the youngsters out from their environment and break bad habits).
Of course, stimulation of the social production (including services)
with incentives to counteract an excessive distortion of the income
scales must be a social goal. Of course, resistance to an excessive
concentration of power is also necessary and has, even before Barry
Goldwater (who argued strongly against it), been recognized as an essential idea. To take up all of these problems requires a
tremendous program with educated leadership at
all levels which presently does not exist but must be developed. As
members of the intelligentsia we, the intellectuals, must do the easy
part first, develop ourselves and drop this obsolete reliance on
Marxism as the only source of social thought!
Superior leaders who want to reduce poverty must do more than
dole out welfare which can only distribute what others have produced.
Ken Auletter (The Underclass), who has studied the
problem extensively,
makes the point that poverty even in America involves much more than an
income shortfall. The group he considers primarily (the underclass)
does not coincide with the Working Poor, even though, there is some
overlap. His group needs individual attention because they have a
variety of different needs. But most of all, they need to learn
discipline and acquire better habits. As an example, in poorer areas in
our own country, many young people (white and black) take opportunities
for work, but work only until they get some money. When they are out of
money, they look again for work. We can only conclude that it is a
great injustice to use earnings of productively working people to
subsidize those who seem perfectly happy with their less productive
life because they are putting more children into their world of poverty
without
the least compunction. The last word is, again, that a radical change
in the education policies and culture is needed for human advance. We
can believe, it is even necessary for survival.
What people need very much I have not found discussed in writings of
the Left such as Ziegler's. People need instruction and
incentives to learn and work. Gifts, even loans, after short transient
benefits, have in the long run the opposite effect. Ziegler, a
professor of Sociology, does not seem to know the real cause of
widespread and increasing poverty on our globe: it is the
overpopulation in a culture that is totally inadequate for modern
times. A population will become poorer if its productivity growth is
left behind its population increase. Of course, severe cultural
problems
can oppose effective cures of poverty and nations are free to remain in
their state of natural subsistence if they so wish in order to keep
their traditional ways. Nobody is forced to
come into the modern world. But if they decide not to participate, they
cannot expect that the rest of the world can give them a free ride
indefinitely to allow them to increase ever more their numbers - which
is what
debt cancellation and more credits really
mean.
Following his mentor Karl Marx, Ziegler fills his book with
hundreds of derogatory
party slogans and names: Kosmokrats, Princes, myrmidons in the White
House, in the CIA, the Pentagon, etc., — and he creates an
alarmist litany which contributes nothing to the problem except that it
generates hate - and sells his books. He complains about the
profits of the large companies, which he finds shameful in respect to
the sufferings of millions of poor people. Well, looking only on this
single aspect and ignoring the important rest, one has to agree. They
are not as such equitable. However, the question is what can be done
about it. While the world is full with real misdeeds of some in the
influential circles, “elites”, “princes”, and "myrmidons",
have been arbitrary
and have committed misdeeds more extensively in the socialist countries
with their nationalized industries. It was much worse and created a
near slavery of whole populations (Solzhenitsyn's Gulag) because of the
absence of competition, the dogmatic blindness, and the greater centralization in the socialized
industries. Most sobering for Ziegler, of course, would be the
realization that any system he would want, after he nationalizes Nestlé
and the other large companies, would still have to be
peopled by the Kosmokrats, Princes, myrmidons from the
White
House, the CIA, the Pentagon, because these have come from the general
population and Ziegler does not understand that it is there where we
have a problem.
The problem is universal and primarily an ethical one because I believe
that man has not advanced in his ethics, while he advanced tremendously
in his material power.
Moreover, as Ziegler describes industrial misdeeds, these have been
made easier by an excessive concentration of everything, and it would
be
made worse by more centralization. Relief through diversification is
difficult because of existing structures, laws, licenses, and
frames of thinking. Many of these have been adopted in the futile
attempt to avoid industrial exploitation. But more centralization or
nationalization would
make things worse, not better. Then how can we obtain real
improvements? Nationalization has failed, in Communism and in the cases
of over bureaucratization. The present state is clearly
also unsatisfactory, although it is vastly better, more civilized and
much more productive than anything that the fully socialized countries
have achieved. The modern industrialized nations enjoy a wealth that is
breathtaking for anyone who can compare it with the 19th century.
Any corrective measures to be considered must not endanger modern
productivity,
otherwise we impoverish everybody. It could even lead to a global
starvation. What is needed to increase the income of the working
poor are a climate and incentives to create more jobs. This will
increase automtically the wages of those who toil for low wages because
their work is not very much needed. If the governments collect
too much taxes for their mega projects, they reduce the money that is
available for low wage jobs.
Ziegler wants to go after the profits, but without maximizing
productivity, we would have no medicines, no enlarged global food
production, no labor saving devices such as the computer. In 1900, the
world had little more than 1 billion people, and it could barely feed
them. Today, with 6.5 billion, we have the potential to feed twice as
many (as suggested in Ziegler's book, but I doubt this) and we have
still poverty in vast areas of the globe. It is unclear why the Left
and Ziegler are so opposed to the new development of bio generated
foods if they can produce more food than the original varieties. We
have more and more people who would not even be here without the
advance of agricultural technology. Beyond arguing against the profits,
the author mentions nothing (except an implied avoidance of monopolies)
about what to do for a real improvement in our societies, given the
weak character of man in the face of great temptations.
It is here, of course, where the real problem is and it is not limited
to the chief executives, the “princes” of the large companies. Every
poor person who puts additional people into his world of poverty
without the means to educate this new person acts
irresponsibly - and they do it by the billions. The culprits for the
mass suffering in our world are everywhere. Most people suffer from the
blind belief that, in spite of all experience, one can improve things
radically with organizational, or political means. It is easy to
forget that even the best system must deal with the population growth
and must still be staffed by the same weak persons who make these
irresponsible decisions today, and they would have even more power
(without competition) in what Ziegler seems to envision as a
better arrangement. Of course, with absolute power in the hands
of government, very effective measures can be taken, as demonstrated by
modern China which stopped by draconic means the disastrous population
growth of the early 20th century. But again, the price is loss of
freedom.
We have forgotten that the world is a struggle for survival with pain,
hunger, and death as the natural consequence. Only a well working
society can lessen the strain on the individual. The West made the
fatal "mistake" to reduce mortality while it could not advance the poor
nations culturally. Now they are poorer than before. In nature, we have
no
rights, not even a right to survive. These are ideas that could arise
only in productive free societies. Only a well working community can
support us, but
of course, it can do it only if we as individuals support society first
because without its people, “Society” is nothing. Civic duties are the
condition for, and must come before, any rights that go beyond the
right to be free. It follows from all this that mankind has no hope to
change its fate in any substantial manner, unless we condition the
young more effectively for life in freedom than it is being done up to
now. Civilization has arrived too fast and we all are biologically
still cave men. But we have the choice: either forcing and
porhibiting under penalty of law, or real education of the yound.
Man is a brute, but he can learn and develop good habits.
We are not naturally good, as J. J. Rousseau and his romantic followers
want us to believe. This
belief is a mistake with serious consequences. Hsün-tzu (ca
250 BC), the great follower of Confucius, had a realistic concept of
man and understood the situation clearly; but unfortunately, modern
times followed Rousseau; his message sounded so much better, but this
folly has cost humanity most dearly during the two centuries since
his time. It is one reason why so many people cannot see that the
major
social problem is really with the people, with ourselves, and not with the organization
or in the state. We are naturally raw, and according to Ortega and
others, in our true nature we are but wild beasts who come out from
a thin cover of civilization as soon as the opportunity arises and our civilization has been too superficial.
We must say this because we are only the lucky survivors of the most
brutal selection in a very long past and we are not naturally prepared
for a life other than the life of a beast (which we actually have
forgotten how to do it and need “survival” training). Therefore, we
need a basic and deep conditioning before we can fit as free persons in
a highly organized free modern society that requires good habits to
bring high productivity, and standards of behavior from its members. Of
course, we try to have a free society with
laws and the police. But this is not sufficient; the police cannot
improve true morality with laws. I.e., one cannot
with laws make people generous, tolerant, productive, forgiving and
disciplined.
However, a conditioning is entirely possible, it has been understood as
necessary and was proposed already by Plato. Of course, such a
preparation cannot be expected to remove all bestial instincts in
everybody, but it can instill habits to lead to a more productive live, and
help us to
recognize more clearly the need to control the bad instincts. This
would be the most important goal to understand
and to work out the social consequences for a general implementation.
Therefore, it would be a tremendous advance if Professor Ziegler and
colleagues [1] would stop trying to sell us a discredited Marxism as the cure
for the ills of the world. We have abundant evidence that Marxism is
harmful. One has only to look around: people are trying to flee their
socialist heavens to come to the bad “capitalist”
countries. One does
not address the problem of large scale poverty, i.e., a deficiency of
goods, by concentrating on excessive profits of companies such as
Nestle as the
major problem in our world. With today's inadequate education, not only
poor productivity, but a great
number of troubles is almost to be expected everywhere. On the other
hand, if profits are excessive, they exist
because of the absence of competition. To change this requires laws
against Monopolies that must be implemented with understanding, energy
and consequence, but the main task will still have to be with
ourselves: that we must prepare the people for the modern civilization.
Training and conditioning must accelerate the natural process of
maturation that is much too slow. The fact is that for our very new and
fast world, people do not think enough about their work and its
consequences, especially the leaders who get into their positions under
criteria that have nothing to do with their later most critical
decisions (see Political Criteria . .). It is extremely important that our
intellectual leaders, such as Prof. Ziegler, would understand the
problems.
The situation is aggravated by the action of the mass media. Under the
pressure of their competition they fill their programs
with a flood of trifles over and over again and hereby saturate the
minds with intellectual garbage. This produces the equivalent of
deficient nutrition because of junk food. They also create hate and
fear with their alarming stories. We meet insufficient thought in our
public
discussions when the people need
instruction. Most of all, we must improve the conditioning of the young
as by far
the most urgent and important problem after limiting the relentless
population increase. Without doing this, our free
civilization will not last.
Note:
[1] On page 34, Ziegler claims that Microsoft keeps in its safes
a
treasure of 60 billion Dollars. Well, he does not understand
this: While they certainly have large reserves, it is not 60
billion dollars in a safe. They would be crazy if they did. Such
confusion and ignorance in important facts makes his views totally
unrealistic, and
his book
into
a pure Marxist propaganda piece. It is not helpful for the
finding of solutions to the real problem of the poor. Even worse,
and actually revolting is it to see this official
UN Special Reporter implicitly condoning the mass murder of people by
terrorists as a justified defense against the Western Capitalism!
This is an eclipse of reason caused by clinging to an ideology that has
long shown its nefarious effects.
Copyright © 2007, Gernot M. R.
Winkler Last Correction 08/24/2009