Ukraine, Tariffs, and Europe
Prof. Glenn Diesen with Judge Napolitano on Judging Freedom
I had the great pleasure of being back on my favourite podcast, Judging Freedom with Judge Napolitano. We discussed how the Manichaean portrayal of international security as a struggle between good and evil legitimised censorship and cancellation. Criticism of Israel in the US is now portrayed as being “pro-Hamas” and supportive of terrorism, which allows for the government to take action. However, this is not a new development as criticism of Western wars has always been dishonestly condemned as taking the side of Slobodan Milosevic, Saddam Hussein, Muammar Gaddafi, Vladimir Putin, etc. The public is offered the option of either supporting “us” or “them”, which entails criminalising any dissent as treason.
Tariffs are not inherently good or bad, but their successful use to mitigate some of the destructiveness of unfettered market forces requires them to be combined with industrial policies. Moderation is also important to not disrupting supply chains and create uncertainties. Trump’s bombastic personality and foreign policy have not provided a good foundation for deindustrialization with tariffs.
Last, we discussed the efforts by the Europeans to sabotage Trump’s peace negotiations in Ukraine. Europe does not have any alternatives and recognises that the situation is getting worse by the day. Yet, the Europeans have painted themselves into a corner with false narratives and an ideology that prevents course correction.
I hope we can delve more into the specifics of propaganda in general, as that is what people need to understand to even be open to Diesen’s knowledge as anything else than «Russian propaganda».
It reminds me of how I prevented myself from reading Steigan because I had been told it wasn’t trustworthy. Then I was called a Steigan-reader for stating obvious discrepancies between things I myself saw and had read earlier, and what the media was writing now. Turned out Steigan was much more trustworthy. Than many other news-outlets.
People don’t listen to dissenters because they’re told to, and afraid to be cut off of society if they do. Straight up propaganda-based fear, speckled with social rules and conformity.
The same goes with conspiracy-theorist-name-calling. It’s a kind of tactic used to smear someone from asking difficult questions, reminiscent of being called a heretic during the inquisition.
Manipulation and propaganda is perhaps the most important thing to uncover and teach these days.
What good does it do to keep rehashing a laundry list of what's wrong? This is the extent of Napolitano's thinking. But nothing will change without getting to the heart of what motivates those who are doing wrong, and why they make their destructive decisions.