What is Objective Propaganda?
One of the greatest delusions of our day and age is the idea that you can detach yourself from ideology. Many people view the openly ideological with suspicion, perhaps confusing a strong commitment to principles with a weak commitment to truth. Yet these same people are, without exception, themselves influenced by ideology. As George Orwell once wrote, “Every writer, especially every novelist, has a ‘message’, whether he admits it or not, and the minutest details of his work are influenced by it. All art is propaganda.” And as the great liberal economist John Maynard Keynes observed, “Practical men who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influence, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist.”
The reality is we all bring our own personal conceptions of justice and morality, however hazy and contradictory these conceptions might be, to bear on the subjects that confront us. An openly ideological person is someone who has thought through their values sufficiently to be able to express them, at least to some degree, in a coherent way.
Rather than precluding a fair treatment of the facts, being aware of and honest about your values is what allows you to analyze reality with clarity.
This newsletter is my attempt to, as Orwell put it, face “unpleasant facts” and point towards a better future. My commitment is to promoting both the truth and my values.
What to Expect
I plan to focus mainly on economics in this newsletter, though politics and history will be ever-present. My goal is to approach arguments over economics in a way that can make them understandable and more easily navigable for people, whether they have a strong background in economics or not. This newsletter will reflect my own learning journey as I continue to immerse myself in research on all sorts of topics. Hopefully you will join me for the ride!
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