America’s in the middle of another of spasmodic crackdown on the free speech like McCarythism or the Red Scare. In this case so that Israel can commit genocide because a controlling number of American elites are scared of Israel, in many cases most likely because Israel has proof they’re baby-fuckers. (Can you say “Epstein”?)
The slightly less depraved ones are just scared of AIPAC funding their opponents. Others genuinely love the idea of mass murder, and probably have screenshots of dead Palestinians and Israeli soldiers wearing Palestinian women’s underwear saved for times when their palms get sweaty and they started breathing fast.
But, let’s bring this back to the more usual themes of this blog. There’s another interesting news story: it seems there’s a bill proposed to ban all Chinese students from studying in America.
Sweeeeet.
You know one of the main reasons why the US took the tech lead so decisively before and after World War II? A massive influx of European scientists and intelligentista, many Jewish, but plenty not. The smartest people in the world disproportionately wanted to live in America.
This continued for generations: you’d be some other nation, you’d train up smart people, educate them, and the ungrateful fucks would go to the US to finish their education, then stay in America. Endlessly frustrating for everyone but America.
So, of course, current American elites, scratching under their armpits, hooting about foreigners, grunting out “Uhmerika, grate” have decided to add to their broad attack on research, brains, intelligence, universities, teachers and books by banning even more smart people coming from other countries.
They will glare at you and tell you it’s “so them Chinese fellers can’t learn our secrets.”
Weird thing, last survey I saw had the Chinese leading in 89% of tech fields, up from 80% and there are more top Chinese AI researchers working in America than American AI researchers.
So, if you go to America you can’t say “mass murder is bad”, and no one can protect you from the government’s thugs if you do, but, fortunately for some, soon you won’t be able to study in the US, so hey, it’ll be a moot point if you’re lucky enough to be Chinese.
American universities are only massively dependent on foreign students and Americans, scared of catastrophic, life long student loan debt increasingly don’t want to to go to university, so I’m sure this won’t hurt America at all. Who needs scientists, engineers, professors, intellectuals, and all them fancy folks who think they’re better than MAGA chuds? I hear some of them academic types say evil worlds like sexism and racism and nasty phrases like settler colonialism, CIS, justice, fairness, genocide and so on.
Yup. Ban ’em or make ’em terrified. Don’t give academics any freedom, they think bad thoughts about how killing brown people might be wrong or that women might be worth something when they aren’t cooking or spreading their legs. They might say “abortion isn’t always evil” or suggest that God isn’t real or something.
Anyway, I’m pleased to notice that America is 110% (as an American manager or coach would say) dedicated to driving itself into the dirt and ensuring China buries it there.
Jefferson Hamilton
I can understand the glee to a point, but should you really be celebrating? If your neighbor is seemingly hell-bent on turning his property into a total shithole and own a ton of guns, is this good news for you?
someofparts
So I have a silly question this morning for anyone lucky enough to live outside of this armpit of a country. Can you comfortably talk to the people you meet going about your ordinary business day to day?
I ask this because I cannot. I have had to train myself to always be afraid to speak naturally to people I meet IRL. If I still had to go to a job site anywhere I would probably be addicted to sedatives by now. If you can still speak to the people around you without fear, congratulations. Compared to this, living in a place where the language is unfamiliar would be comfortable
Ian Welsh
Which is why, in most cases, I write something like “if we can avoid a war/if the US doesn’t invade.”
The problem is that to me and most other foreigners, the US looks like it’s gone from “barely trained pit bull” to “rabies”
And that means the faster it crashes, the safer. Assuming you can avoid being bitten during the decline, of course.
The other issue is that I consider the decline inevitable, so the faster, the better. (I have since about 2009. Before then I actually worked to try and stop the decline and turn the US to a better path. But Obama decided he’d rather be part of the club than the next FDR, so…)
Ian Welsh
I note, also, that I’ll probably never visit the US again. Even if I wanted to, which I might as I have friends who live there, it wouldn’t be safe for me given my anti-genocide writing. And given my health, well, I dunno if I’d survive being stuck in some immigration holding pen for a few months.
edwin
When the Toronto BlueJays won the world cup in 1992 the comments in Toronto was “Our Americans are better than your Americans.” The more things change the more they remain the same – often with a twist.
You would think that Chinese dominance in almost all areas of science, and Russian dominance in all things missiles would trigger another Sputnik like crisis in American education.
You’d be wrong. Donald Trump looks carefully at the situation and says “Hold my beer.”
Ian Welsh
I was in Toronto during the 93 Blue Jays World Cup. Torontonians went crazy. Haven’t seen that big a party since then.
bruce wilder
Ian caricatures this as if powerful, globalist elites are driving these America First impulses because they are philistines with working-class racial prejudices. It is a very confused take.
There are cross-currents, but fundamentally the kind of people who feel patriotic solidarity with the mass of the American people are barely participants. The preferences of the 90% in any direction are of no account in this process.
The middling elites — the credentialed parasites of the PMC that make up the impotent resistance like that Columbia U professor — do not resemble Ian’s troglodytes, but they have been morally worthless politically for a long time, their cosmopolitan veneers of no redeeming value. These termites caused the dry rot that is being exposed by demolition. They are diverse and earnest.
Jan Wiklund
Obscurantism is said to have hit the Muslim countries at the time their primacy ended about 1200-1300. Perhaps there is a psychological need to convince oneself that being the smartest is not good at all, if one isn’t.
George Orwell wrote somewhere that the Brits in the 1930s – well, many of the influential at least – thought that intelligence was Bad and the only thing that counted was character (which was left undefined). Probably a consequence of lost technical lead, that too. One doesn’t like to feel inferior.
Astrid
@ someofparts
A couple years back now we talked about finding safe shelters in the storm and my offer then still stands for you. If you find yourself in trouble and can’t get local help, ask Ian for my email address and phone number and I’ll do what I can to help.
It may not be very much (I’m seriously at the “should I put a big chunk of my savings into physical gold in several bank deposit boxes?” stage) but I think at the very least, I could provide some bridge funding and a safe and free place to stay of you need it.
GrimJim
The Rise and Fall of Civilizations
cf. Ibn Khaldun and Others
Savagery
Barbarism
Civilization
Golden Age
Decline
Decadence
Depravity
<<WE ARE HERE — GOOD LUCK!
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