21 September

Populism is the political system we now live under. It’s not Labor, Liberal, National or Green. It’s not Left or Right. It’s much simpler than that. It’s a politics that says what is most popular, is right. It replaces every objective measure of what is correct, with what is the most popular thing. For example, Covid. What’s scientifically correct is that we’re in an uncontrolled pandemic. But that’s unpopular. So instead we’re pretending it’s over. Because that’s popular. But as this famous 1936 photo of August Landmesser refusing to do the Nazi salute shows, what’s popular is no guide as to what’s right. Or petrol and diesel cars are popular, and flying overseas whenever we feel like it. If you challenge these things, you’ll be told to get a life. Everybody is doing it, you see, it’s popular. So it must be right. ‘Majority rules.’ High school, schoolyard bullshit. What is popular is NEVER right. Because popularity isn’t a thinking thing, it’s a social confomity thing. To ‘fit in’. Also why doing the opposite to what everybody else is doing will be just as wrong. Because that’s still all about social conformity, about defining your place in the group, this time as a contrarian. Not about the actual truth of the situation.