Interview · moment 19 of 30
Chris Hedges, Shutting Down the Empire, and the Definition of Democracy
from The Acid Story with Curtis Yarvin | The Tim Dillon Show #310 · #310
8 min
Guest
Curtis compares his critique of institutions to Chris Hedges' from the left, argues for unwinding the American empire (closing bases/embassies), and unpacks how 'democratic' and 'civil society' function as euphemisms for oligarchy, citing North Korea and the EU.
- Three kinds of government: monarchy, oligarchy, and democracy—the government of the one, the few, and the many.
- Current system functions as an oligarchy of prestigious institutions that all agree with each other completely.
- Tim's thought experiment: if a Nazi from outer space wanted to take over the world, which institution would they infiltrate—Harvard or the New York Times?
- Harvard, the State Department, and the New York Times are like peas in a pod—they never fight with each other.
- These institutions reach the same conclusions because those conclusions function as political formulas that make people think experts should be in charge.
- Nobody's actually in charge of the system overall, which is what makes it an oligarchy with little emperors like Peter Daszak.
- There's no way to cut off or amputate a poisonous arm in the system because the whole institutional web keeps functioning.
- Tim's foreign policy take: just shut it all down—close all the bases and embassies, deal with other governments by email or Zoom.
- Democracy in practice: Athens executed Socrates, the greatest philosopher, based on what amounts to an internet poll.
- North Korea's official name is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea—three synonyms for democracy in one title.
- Civil society and respected institutions are euphemisms for oligarchy, and Wikipedia's reliable sources policy just means prestigious institutions citing each other.
- In the 1890s Gilded Age, the U.S. had relatively decentralized power held by corrupt politicians easily bribed by large companies, yet they built things quickly.
- Empire State Building was constructed faster than some modern vacation houses, suggesting that society once had a capacity that has now vanished.
oligarchyNorth KoreaKim Jong UnEmpirePeter DaszakEuropean CommissionState DepartmentSocratesWikipediaChris HedgesHarvardNew York Times