18 August

How do we reconcile that supposedly authoritarian cultures are so much better at doing the things democratic societies need to do? All societies function in the same way, the democracy vs authoritarianism thing is a fake fight from the Cold War. They’re all hierarchical. China runs its hierarchies using its ancient social structure, based on family and tradition. That can only look authoritarian to the free speech and free love West, which instead surrenders its hierarchies to oligarchs and social media influencers. (Increasingly those are the same people.)