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Chris Johns
In several recent pods, Jim and I have discussed the claim that the younger generation is looking up at us boomers, staring at ladders pulled up long ago. An interesting dialogue with several listeners ensued, some of whom suggested that if the problem is both defined and measured properly, there is no case to answer. It’s not quite that young people have never had it so good, but when we think about the question we are asking and look at the stats, the answer is more nuanced then many people seem to think. The listeners who argued in this way were, we think, older.
Younger listeners begged to disagree. For many in this group, house prices and rents are the issue and they believe they have been deliberately screwed. In one conversation with a student at one of Dublin’s Universities I tried to make the case that life, overall, in Ireland, isn’t that bad, and on many metrics is actually quite good. The student was incredulous: “that’s what my mum says” was the astonished, disbelieving response.
All of this is one example of how public discourse has been corrupted by populist politicians, lazy journalists and social media. ‘Ireland as a dystopian hell-hole’ suits agendas and provides populists with a resentment to be fostered and twisted to meet that agenda. This toxic mix leads every debate, about everything, into trench warfare between two sides who see everything in binary terms, never listen to the other side and only seem to get angry rather than enlightened. And nobody ever changes their mind because facts and evidence are marooned in no man’s land, the vast territory separating the two camps.
Examine every modern political, social and economic argument and the landscape is the same: anger, resentment and tribalism. That all this suits the desires of populist politicians, agenda laden journalists and newspaper owners is obvious. Those of us who are none of these things nevertheless bear responsibility for allowing ourselves to be manipulated into occupying and fighting in those trenches. We are the idiots.
There many different definitions of populism. For the purposes of this discussion, this is the one I think is the most appropriate: populism is the stirring up and harnessing of resentment.
Populists come to power on a wave of resentment, some of which is based on fact, most of which is bogus. Trump came to power after patient and skilful stoking of resentment - and is trying to repeat the trick. He is able to convince enough people that ‘elites’ are the cause of all your problems, he feels your pain and knows how to skewer those responsible for it. Brexit is the result of a similar appeal. The populist trick is to spot the resentments of a large enough group of people and to lie about what or who is responsible. And to then offer superficially plausible simplistic solutions - that never work.
Ireland risks following the British and American embrace of populism via the hijacking of housing by politicians who couldn’t care less about house prices or availability but care very much about pursuit of their own goals. Maybe following Britain and America is Ireland’s destiny but my message is a simple one: don’t do it.
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