The problem of virtue on the left AND THE RIGHT.

it's become impossible to ignore in the
last ten years that both the left and the right make a lot of claims to virtue and each side throws the complaint at the other that what they're practicing or preaching is a kind of phony virtue so you know there's this whole discourse for think about ten years now about so-called virtue signalling what I don't see are analyses or reflections on how the left and the right respectively really think about virtue you know in earnest when they're not just complaining or mocking the other side what is virtue to them and what is virtue to us so the remarks I have this video I think are very true of the northern United States and Canada I think they would be less true of the southern United States and then less true of Mexico and less true of France and Germany but by degrees I think what I was saying here is true to some extent of many Western democracies I would not assume that what I'm saying in this video would be true in Sweden or Japan this is a little bit of a Canadian centric video and it's definitely going to be true in Detroit New York City and so on those those northern states the most striking thing about the right wing concept of virtue right now 2019 is that it's based on a notion of sufficient virtue all right clarify what I mean there's a point at which you have enough virtue for them their perspective of the world you've satisfied the requirement and then you were accepted as a member of their team and it's not that you can do no wrong but your various sins and shortcomings are basically kind of overlooked right so the left complains about this and they can't comprehend it and you don't look how would you feel you whoever you are watching this video if your employer at work had the type of sex life that Donald Trump has all right I wouldn't be comfortable with that now a new book has just been published detailing a whole lot of more allegations against the long Trump but one feature of his sex life that's been attested to and brought to court by various women is just his involvement in prostitution so there are allegations of criminal activity of various kinds but even setting that aside if you even just look at the various forms of prostitution and womanizing this guy has engaged in his whole life including when he's married to other women and stuff how would you feel and I'm talking about feeling here I'm not talking about some kind of you know detached intellectual exercise if you went to work every day and your boss was a multi-millionaire who had a sex life like the only Trump I would be looking to quit my job I'd be looking to get employment elsewhere just for that reason it's because to you I would not be comfortable working for someone who had a sex life like Donald Trump you know I you know what it's true it's not any of my business you know what I mean if I had an employer was a millionaire who was living that kind of life I would not be looking for my opportunity to report in to the police or something like as an employee I wouldn't have that kind of knowledge but be aware whoa this is how this guy plays the game I don't want to be associated with that I want to be near that I don't want to take orders that guy I don't want to find myself in a situation or I'm covering up for him or making excuse for where I'm being ordered to do things I've got to get out of this company I've got to get out of this business whatever it is right that's how I would feel in that situation here's the puzzling thing does that make me left-wing or does that make me conservative right I think traditionally you would think conservatism is associated with demanding that people live up to a Christian frankly in this culture planner time but a Christian standard of sexual decency and then that if people don't live up to that standard they'll be punished but in the contrary the pattern we have right now is on the Left there's virtue but there's no criterion for sufficient virtue there's never a point you get to where it's enough so everyone comments in this including stand-up comedians but it also comes up in formal you know political science context all right years ago I got a complaint sent to my channel so I was having this conversation relayed through another youtuber somebody complained that they don't watch my channel because I don't have enough videos about black slavery I did not just shut this person down and dismiss them or something I actually gave what do you mean this years ago but at that time I said you know I have that I had like two videos up talking about history of slavery in Haiti in the Caribbean where I was like wow I actually did some research and so I have two different videos talking about Haiti and the Caribbean and slavery there and I sent those links and let's say I had like one other video at the time that was talking about slavery I really should add from Americans like I didn't have a million so no I actually have a couple of videos talking with that but sit back I said look you know why why are you demanding this at me like that's not my area of expertise and you know what came back was an accusation that I was racist thank you my my my youtube channel because I only had three videos at that time talking about the topic now I have more but people that because this wasn't my top priority there was racist and I really tried to stay on the page of this person for long enough desk I'm just trying to figure this out this is a 21st century stereotypical left-wing perspective that no matter how much you do it's never enough so well wait a minute wait a minute do you know this stuff about me you know I did humanitarian work in Cambodia and Laos so I have videos talking about racism in that part of the world I have videos talking about slavery in Thailand did you know Thailand as a history of slavery that's something I've done research on that I have expertise in so you know like if you're presuming that I'm racist because that's not my top priority why can't you look at the things that are my priority and then judge my politics sir judge might judge my races 'm accordingly so that conversation went on for a little while with him you know weighing my soul about whether or not I'm committed after that issue and of course the other thing that came up was well look you know I have a lot of videos talking about racism in relation to Native people the indigenous people in Canada the Cree their chip Wade that's something else I studied and care about you know and I've got to tell you something everyone everyone says this is what the left in 2019 everyone jokes about this it's never enough there is no way you can ever care enough about racism there's no way you could ever care enough about slavery there's no way you can ever be left-wing enough for the left wingers never nothing will satisfy and the contrast is coming out of the Christian culture of forgiveness coming out of the Christian culture of unconditional love and acceptance coming out of the Christian culture of hating the sin but not the sinner for the Conservatives their idea of virtue you could have sufficient virtue you can be good enough so you know Rush Limbaugh these are right-wing commentator he can be a drug addict and go to rehab but they can still love him and support him Jordan Peterson becomes a drug addict and goes to rehab they still love him and support Donald Trump gets caught paying women for sex being connected to prostitution in various ways but very sweetnesses they still love him and they support him once someone has enough virtue they accept that person and say okay you're on our team you're working towards our goals we're all working the same objective so even though you have sins and shortcomings we're gonna still love the sinner I hate the sim there's enough virtue for us to accept you and guarantee so there's a kind of strength to that there's a kind of ecumenical ism to the head right like they're willing to bridge the gap between multiple churches thus I'm saying humanik ilysm even though paradoxically that comes out of a more narrow minded judgmental Christian tradition the supposedly broad open secular rational left-wing tradition seems to leave people without the kind of road signs that lets you know this is the minimum speed this is the maximum speed and as long as you're within that range you're virtuous enough to plan our team to work with us right it's like these guys on the Left are playing where no matter how fast you drive your car it's never fast enough right no matter how committed you are to one virtuous cause or another you could never be virtuous enough and there's this perpetual game of each person's snubbing the other for who's who's more left-wing who's more woke what-have-you and it's it's unbelievably self-defeating right that's that's my observation about virtue and the kind of peculiar advantage that the right has despite despite this horrible you know Christian political legacy they're they're working from there the advantage the left has and this is a profound deep advantage that people on the right aren't even aware of is that the left presumes government exists to help those in need government exists to provide social services to the poor now that may sound obvious to you no it's not the conservatives who are alive today conservatives under 50 years old it's different if 10 people 80 years old you know I admit there's some elderly conservative lady but conservatives 150 years old who've really been living in the neoconservative neoliberal you know world that the decades that the that have led up to the present one okay they see the function of government as being by and for the rich they actually see the government as serving the captains of industry sitting down and negotiating with the oil companies like how can taxpayers dollars be used to help the oil companies get richer who they're they're not even aware of that vias like it's kind of unbelievable and mind-blowing that they see it as virtuous for the government to destroy publicly provided health insurance in order to make more money and more profits by the private for-profit insurance industry that's a very interesting part of george w bush's presidency that ended in failure it failed and failed repeatedly he tried to privatize more of health care more of health insurance and you know the theory was that it would be more efficient now about these positive effects and that didn't happen and he took a series of steps and then eventually had to give up on it no it doesn't work okay um that they actually think of it as virtuous and positive for government including Donald Trump himself to sit down with industry and have a meeting and say how can we cut back Environmental Protection so that you can make more money that they see it is virtuous for government to sit down with the captains of industry and help the rich get richer and not just through tax cuts not just through corporate welfare not just through bailout packages but through taking taxpayers money and spending it to you know to help corporations become more profitable more competitive and so on and of course what's sick about that is that they've reinvented socialism under the aegis of crony capitalism it's a socialism kind of diverted from its purpose that was very clear to everyone back in during the Great Depression or before that even in what's called the pressive era of politics in states america you know where the same justification that exists for government and intervention in the free market to help the poor as extreme poverty is now being used to justify the rich getting richer you know and again it's worth just mentioning they see no shame in the trappings of power being used that way because like very often you even see the meetings like you okay example george w bush inviting in the head of Enron Corporation some of you will know it was a notorious corrupt corporation that broke the laws many ways george w bush giving the head of Enron a special desk inside the White House george w bush actively courting the support of and him supporting the Enron company and the particular executive who's at the top of that company right so this is this is like the libertarian and conservative tradition being perverted to the point where it starts to resemble socialist syndicalism but it's a socialist syndicalism that's buying and for the rich were that was so again that notion of virtue on the left the notion of virtue on the left that government exists for the poor we exist to help those in need period ironically that much more closely resembles a Christian tradition of humble service to the needy of soup kitchens and so on and so forth right well that's the right-wing the current right-wing notion of virtue is antithetical people don't change unless or until they want to change and I feel I'm living in a period of time when there have been remarkably few new ideas in the last 100 years I really do feel I know we're sitting here this is the internet we have all these you know technologies that surround us ok real quick example philosophy of Education since Montessori in the last hundred years have there been any new ideas in philosophy of education there was the Montessori system there were the libertarians calling for and free market reforms there have been incredibly few new ideas in education there have been incredibly few new ideas in politics from my biased perspective okay individual people change when they want to change and no sooner all right culture when does a culture change all right I think a culture only changes when it has to change and I'm really sitting here waiting and eager for the ideas that are gonna challenge and overturn the neoliberal paradigm more than 10 years we've been talking with this the OU liberalism could fell apart really even before 2008 neoliberalism is over the days of neoliberalism Horovitz economic and political paradigm has fallen apart alright and there has been an unbelievable ideological silence that even someone like Bernie Sanders really represents a hodgepodge of ideas from at least 25 years ago it's not 50 years ago they're not a lot not a lot of new ideas in that package Bernie Sanders is mostly running on the promise that the United States can catch up with Canada or the United States can catch up with Scotland in providing basic services like health care to the poor all right I've got to tell you something guys I'm waiting I'm waiting for that change for those new ideas to come and maybe what's holding us back despite these new technologies the Internet it's precisely that we're locked in the unchallenged and unchanged assumptions of what is virtue and so much of political discourse has just become an expression of why it is we think we're virtuous why it is I think I'm better than you you think you're better than me politics ceases to become an exchange of ideas in the pursuit of a positive outcome a goal or reform and improvement and it becomes instead just the next change of egos