In “Orientalism”, Edward Said spoke of an orientalist as an interpreter of local custom and knowledge to the foreign intellectual. A common term in neo-Marxist literature of the 1960-80, for the absence of articulation between the domestic areas that interacted with the rest of the world, and the hinterland that was cut off from it, was the comprador bourgeoisie. In the past thirty years, the world might have created a “comprador intelligentsia” too.
The problem is not that the West dominates knowledge production and, in doing so, seeks to spread it. Knowledge is knowledge, regardless of its place of birth.
The problem is that the West's alleged knowledge production is no knowledge: it is pure bullshit. It is closer to the medieval astrologers and alchemists than the renaissance mathematicians. The West is spreading darkness, not light.
As to why this is the case, I already commented about it in Michael Roberts's blog (in the post about the crisis of Democratic Capitalism, first comment) and will not repeat myself here. I will just recommend you all to read the article that lays the neoliberal concept of intellectual, the concept which is dominant in our present day: F. A. Hayek's “Intellectuals and Socialism” (the version I got states it was published in 1949).
This really gets to me as I see a thousand possible topics to research in Ecuador that would make a change and yet here I am doing consultancies to electrify public transport which is in no way a priority of the Latin American people.
Thank you. What I am wondering is whether the West realizes that what he is getting for his money from "his" local intelligentsia is sterile drivel. This is very visible on the Russian analysis that Garry Kasparov's and Masha Gessens and the like of this world produce. And, to my shock, actual decisions seems to be based on that. Was crystal clear in the Navalny affair.
Drinking one own kool aid is I think an appropriate description.
If you generously assumed African statistical agencies moved significantly forward over the last decade, the first few pages of the latest report from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics should disabuse you of that idea:
I see. Workers can't fight big corporations but they can be in a constant struggle with the comparador intelligentsia.
But I don't understand the progressives who want to open a second front directed against corporations before ending the battle against comparador intelligentsia. Progressives want to remove the rights of patents, they don't want to accept anymore investments in technology or for example replacing 2 axel CNC machines with 5 axel CNC machines because this type of improved productivity is not improving the health and wellbeing of the working community at all. It simply makes the products more complex more difficult to be replicated by startups without enough purchasing power. Progressives go against brand identity and against large capital requirements to buy a house for example. But going against brand identity has something to do with worsening of the quality of the products and low capital requirements are always associated with pyramids, cheating, misuse etc.
The seniors from Davos are very proud of the operational efficiency of the big corporations but progressive voters won't enjoy increased access to more products and services in their lifetime because of the tempo of the lifeste in Geneva. United Nations liberals are very good in speaking, promissing, blaming, excusing and expressing condolences and making rules but very unsuccessful in doing, controlling and punishing.
All this makes me think that corporations keep supply chains and workers as hostages against every effort to create new more fair world order with more progressive, more deep reaching supply chains. And even more, to keep their dominance traditional corporations keep the people low and prices low, salaries low just to keep their billion customers on board of the neoliberalism by giving them from time to time pleasures.
If the people begin to doubt in neocapitalism they will just get a year of YouTube without direct advertisements, they might even win electric car from a lottery or get some more time to enjoy the life and think about nothing.
1) The middle person called comparator intelligentsia is not needed in a perfectly sustainable and digitalised society based on cooperation and social responsibility
2) the comparator intelligentsia already diversified its sources of income and in some instances it even becomes strong aggressor against the Western values. At the same time it has its own ideology and it is selling it successfully to small paramilitary units in hinterland
If the more intelligent people of society are able to observe, comment and yet not be taken seriously. If the message doesn’t fit the preferred narrative of the time(Thomas Sowell case in point). The idea that we the people are going to have our lives improved/protected by the intelligentsia has been given over to AI which will do the work of a 100 researchers in a matter of minutes and then decide our best option is to stop eating lettuce
How amusing that the Swedish Bank gave Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) the Nobel prize while ignoring the architects of the greatest poverty relief program in world history.
I witnessed some of these dynamics while working for one UN agency in different parts of the world. Truly tragic, since I believed we could bring some new useful knowledge to different places, equip the comprador intelligentsia with knowledge that could be useful over long period of time. But this never happened. All the work was useless. I do think however that some knowledge can be accumulated also by the groups of comprador intelligentsia (for example different statistical methodologies that statistics office can learn how to use), but this knowledge without the true support and interest of the local government - is not useful and it goes to waste (because for example they decide not to care about the reports or not to repeat the survey in the long run) or because they don’t have the instruments to understand what is that survey really about.
When I think of the protestors in Myanmar, Hong Kong, Iran, etc., I do wonder in whose interests these protestors really represent. Especially when it turns out that these protest movements receive funding from wealthy domestic interests and/or foreign donors like the (CIA established?) National Endowment for Democracy.
Your comments about the "comprador intelligentsia" help illuminate the nature of the problem. Many in the protest movements undoubtedly have the best intentions. Even if there are also many who have ulterior motives.
The problem is not that the West dominates knowledge production and, in doing so, seeks to spread it. Knowledge is knowledge, regardless of its place of birth.
The problem is that the West's alleged knowledge production is no knowledge: it is pure bullshit. It is closer to the medieval astrologers and alchemists than the renaissance mathematicians. The West is spreading darkness, not light.
As to why this is the case, I already commented about it in Michael Roberts's blog (in the post about the crisis of Democratic Capitalism, first comment) and will not repeat myself here. I will just recommend you all to read the article that lays the neoliberal concept of intellectual, the concept which is dominant in our present day: F. A. Hayek's “Intellectuals and Socialism” (the version I got states it was published in 1949).
This really gets to me as I see a thousand possible topics to research in Ecuador that would make a change and yet here I am doing consultancies to electrify public transport which is in no way a priority of the Latin American people.
Thank you. What I am wondering is whether the West realizes that what he is getting for his money from "his" local intelligentsia is sterile drivel. This is very visible on the Russian analysis that Garry Kasparov's and Masha Gessens and the like of this world produce. And, to my shock, actual decisions seems to be based on that. Was crystal clear in the Navalny affair.
Drinking one own kool aid is I think an appropriate description.
If you generously assumed African statistical agencies moved significantly forward over the last decade, the first few pages of the latest report from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics should disabuse you of that idea:
https://www.knbs.or.ke/download/2022-kdhs-key-indicators-report/#
I’d love to understand why Kenya so often features in such experiments. Do we really make such excellent guinea pigs?
I see. Workers can't fight big corporations but they can be in a constant struggle with the comparador intelligentsia.
But I don't understand the progressives who want to open a second front directed against corporations before ending the battle against comparador intelligentsia. Progressives want to remove the rights of patents, they don't want to accept anymore investments in technology or for example replacing 2 axel CNC machines with 5 axel CNC machines because this type of improved productivity is not improving the health and wellbeing of the working community at all. It simply makes the products more complex more difficult to be replicated by startups without enough purchasing power. Progressives go against brand identity and against large capital requirements to buy a house for example. But going against brand identity has something to do with worsening of the quality of the products and low capital requirements are always associated with pyramids, cheating, misuse etc.
The seniors from Davos are very proud of the operational efficiency of the big corporations but progressive voters won't enjoy increased access to more products and services in their lifetime because of the tempo of the lifeste in Geneva. United Nations liberals are very good in speaking, promissing, blaming, excusing and expressing condolences and making rules but very unsuccessful in doing, controlling and punishing.
All this makes me think that corporations keep supply chains and workers as hostages against every effort to create new more fair world order with more progressive, more deep reaching supply chains. And even more, to keep their dominance traditional corporations keep the people low and prices low, salaries low just to keep their billion customers on board of the neoliberalism by giving them from time to time pleasures.
If the people begin to doubt in neocapitalism they will just get a year of YouTube without direct advertisements, they might even win electric car from a lottery or get some more time to enjoy the life and think about nothing.
1) The middle person called comparator intelligentsia is not needed in a perfectly sustainable and digitalised society based on cooperation and social responsibility
2) the comparator intelligentsia already diversified its sources of income and in some instances it even becomes strong aggressor against the Western values. At the same time it has its own ideology and it is selling it successfully to small paramilitary units in hinterland
If the more intelligent people of society are able to observe, comment and yet not be taken seriously. If the message doesn’t fit the preferred narrative of the time(Thomas Sowell case in point). The idea that we the people are going to have our lives improved/protected by the intelligentsia has been given over to AI which will do the work of a 100 researchers in a matter of minutes and then decide our best option is to stop eating lettuce
How amusing that the Swedish Bank gave Randomized Controlled Trials (RCT) the Nobel prize while ignoring the architects of the greatest poverty relief program in world history.
I witnessed some of these dynamics while working for one UN agency in different parts of the world. Truly tragic, since I believed we could bring some new useful knowledge to different places, equip the comprador intelligentsia with knowledge that could be useful over long period of time. But this never happened. All the work was useless. I do think however that some knowledge can be accumulated also by the groups of comprador intelligentsia (for example different statistical methodologies that statistics office can learn how to use), but this knowledge without the true support and interest of the local government - is not useful and it goes to waste (because for example they decide not to care about the reports or not to repeat the survey in the long run) or because they don’t have the instruments to understand what is that survey really about.
Very good points, thank you!
When I think of the protestors in Myanmar, Hong Kong, Iran, etc., I do wonder in whose interests these protestors really represent. Especially when it turns out that these protest movements receive funding from wealthy domestic interests and/or foreign donors like the (CIA established?) National Endowment for Democracy.
Your comments about the "comprador intelligentsia" help illuminate the nature of the problem. Many in the protest movements undoubtedly have the best intentions. Even if there are also many who have ulterior motives.