Good job calling out Noah Smith. America is a set of ideas and principles, not a utility function. And once you start saying that you have to watch certain shows or listen to certain kinds of music in order qualify as truly "American," you're not that far away from designating non-conforming artistic expression as Entartete Kunst. I give Smith credit for some insightful posts from years ago on the state of economics, and the silliness of some strands of economic research. He should have stuck to that set of topics, rather than wade into political/philosophical commentary.
I don't need to even finish this piece to comment. Noah Smith is a lot like Frost and Sullivan, he's an economist for hire and a darling of the Never Trump former Republicans. He codes enough "liberal" that these "center" right folks love to flog his mediocre, at time piss-poor takes that make them feel good about their disdain for anything even a picometer left of center.
I paid for his stack for a year, but it (like Chris Cilizza) is one that I canceled and walked away from 6 or so months.
When he first joined, he was almost rational. I think I paid like a couple weeks after he joined SS, but within about 4 months, he went completely bonkers. It got so bad I just shut it down without using all of the time on my sub.
I love your clarity of thought. I was fortunate to be drawn to studying Spanish and as the greatest benefit to get to know the inside of the many cultures of the Spanish-speaking world. "Culture" can be superficial--the food you eat, your music and holidays--and it can also be deep--the roll of family members, rules for sharing, and degrees of dependency, for example. After college I taught English to high school students from all over the world. One revelation of my experiences was that when we call ourselves "American" we are using a word that we have loaded with whatever patriotic and other value judgments we want to add to this imagined concept. People from all over the north and south American continents are also Americans, and in fact Spanish speakers have a word for our nationality: "estadounidense" from Estados Unidos. And then we have the term "native American" to describe the indigenous peoples who were on the continent before explorers from other lands arrived. So what would be reasonable expectations that those who have been here for a while might expect of newcomers who want to call themselves Americans? Look to our constitution, look to the Bill of Rights, observe the years of fighting for a better country. One clear value we have is choice and respect for others' choices, which would argue against forced assimilation to anyone else's "culture." People have joked that the ones to be deported right now are the religious and racial bigots trying to make us into an authoritarian patriarchal white Christian nationalist society. If that faction does in fact totally take over, I don't want them to force me to assimilate!
I mean, there are quite serious issues with alot of these concepts. Rightists are Rightists. Evangelicals align themselves with fascism and feel compelled to hurt innocent queer folk and subjugate women, all the while demanding that the whole world accommodate their ignorance or be subjected to their Theocracy. And we both know the issues with libertarian economics. These aren’t just points of disagreement, these are serious moral failures that the people who hold are absolutely trying to enforce on others. There are in fact lots of people, if not an outright majority in Texas, who demand that “Marin assimilate into Dallas”. They want my whole country to look like the billionaire friendly, Neo-confederate, Theocratic shithole that is Texas. It’s a foundational aspect of there beliefs to not accommodate and to enforce upon others, even when those beliefs are treacherous to my country. The concept of immigrants doing something like this is laughable, but we should be cautious around faith. The natural state of faith is to torment and subjugate. Fair limitations applied to all faiths are fair and for the good of my nation.
Smith is a hack. I tried following his Substack but he is so high on his own supply he refuses to even acknowledge holes in his "brilliance". Completely insufferable.
For a more complex analysis, look at the experience in the Netherlands. For decades, the Dutch tradition of tolerance for individual difference resulted in immigrant communities which isolated themselves from the larger civic life. This proved a problem not just in the larger scope, but for those very communities. This is an issue which may require more of a 'middle way' to resolve. The experiences of Sweden and Denmark are also worth analysis.
Good job calling out Noah Smith. America is a set of ideas and principles, not a utility function. And once you start saying that you have to watch certain shows or listen to certain kinds of music in order qualify as truly "American," you're not that far away from designating non-conforming artistic expression as Entartete Kunst. I give Smith credit for some insightful posts from years ago on the state of economics, and the silliness of some strands of economic research. He should have stuck to that set of topics, rather than wade into political/philosophical commentary.
I don't need to even finish this piece to comment. Noah Smith is a lot like Frost and Sullivan, he's an economist for hire and a darling of the Never Trump former Republicans. He codes enough "liberal" that these "center" right folks love to flog his mediocre, at time piss-poor takes that make them feel good about their disdain for anything even a picometer left of center.
I paid for his stack for a year, but it (like Chris Cilizza) is one that I canceled and walked away from 6 or so months.
His takes are **that** bad.
Now, I will finish the full newsletter
You paid for Cilizza?!? Anybody can make a mistake. I find him random but perhaps you detected an unfortunate pattern in what I found random.
When he first joined, he was almost rational. I think I paid like a couple weeks after he joined SS, but within about 4 months, he went completely bonkers. It got so bad I just shut it down without using all of the time on my sub.
He is truly the king of bad takes
I love your clarity of thought. I was fortunate to be drawn to studying Spanish and as the greatest benefit to get to know the inside of the many cultures of the Spanish-speaking world. "Culture" can be superficial--the food you eat, your music and holidays--and it can also be deep--the roll of family members, rules for sharing, and degrees of dependency, for example. After college I taught English to high school students from all over the world. One revelation of my experiences was that when we call ourselves "American" we are using a word that we have loaded with whatever patriotic and other value judgments we want to add to this imagined concept. People from all over the north and south American continents are also Americans, and in fact Spanish speakers have a word for our nationality: "estadounidense" from Estados Unidos. And then we have the term "native American" to describe the indigenous peoples who were on the continent before explorers from other lands arrived. So what would be reasonable expectations that those who have been here for a while might expect of newcomers who want to call themselves Americans? Look to our constitution, look to the Bill of Rights, observe the years of fighting for a better country. One clear value we have is choice and respect for others' choices, which would argue against forced assimilation to anyone else's "culture." People have joked that the ones to be deported right now are the religious and racial bigots trying to make us into an authoritarian patriarchal white Christian nationalist society. If that faction does in fact totally take over, I don't want them to force me to assimilate!
I appreciated the common sense way you approached this subject.
“Dallas: evangelical, conservative,…, libertarian economics”
I mean, there are quite serious issues with alot of these concepts. Rightists are Rightists. Evangelicals align themselves with fascism and feel compelled to hurt innocent queer folk and subjugate women, all the while demanding that the whole world accommodate their ignorance or be subjected to their Theocracy. And we both know the issues with libertarian economics. These aren’t just points of disagreement, these are serious moral failures that the people who hold are absolutely trying to enforce on others. There are in fact lots of people, if not an outright majority in Texas, who demand that “Marin assimilate into Dallas”. They want my whole country to look like the billionaire friendly, Neo-confederate, Theocratic shithole that is Texas. It’s a foundational aspect of there beliefs to not accommodate and to enforce upon others, even when those beliefs are treacherous to my country. The concept of immigrants doing something like this is laughable, but we should be cautious around faith. The natural state of faith is to torment and subjugate. Fair limitations applied to all faiths are fair and for the good of my nation.
Smith is a hack. I tried following his Substack but he is so high on his own supply he refuses to even acknowledge holes in his "brilliance". Completely insufferable.
Good writeup, for a discussion of this brevity.
For a more complex analysis, look at the experience in the Netherlands. For decades, the Dutch tradition of tolerance for individual difference resulted in immigrant communities which isolated themselves from the larger civic life. This proved a problem not just in the larger scope, but for those very communities. This is an issue which may require more of a 'middle way' to resolve. The experiences of Sweden and Denmark are also worth analysis.