[FRIAM] “Don’t they have grandchildren?” was The case for universal basic income UBI

[Pieter Steenekamp]

I downloaded a free Kindle sample of Psychological Roots of the Climate
Crisis and scanned through it. I consider it to be a valid view of the
world.
But there are other valid views of the world too, for example The Moral
Case for Fossil Fuels by Alex Epstein.
Neither is right or wrong, it simply represents different valid views.

On Thu, 20 May 2021 at 20:08, Russ Abbott <russ.abbott at gmail.com> wrote:

> Bill McKibbon writes a regular email sponsored by *The New Yorker* about
> climate change. His latest (no link since it's apparently not on the New
> Yorker website) how people (or corporations, e.g., oil company executives)
> knowingly continue to exacerbate the damage caused by climate change. He
> goes on to talk about "an interesting explanation in a new book from the
> British psychoanalyst Sally Weintrobe. “Psychological Roots of the
> Climate Crisis
> <https://smile.amazon.com/Psychological-Roots-Climate-Crisis-Exceptionalism/dp/1501372866/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Psychological+Roots+of+the+Climate+Crisis%3A&qid=1621533777&s=specialty-aps-sns&sr=8-1>”.
> The answer, he says, in the book's subtitle: Neoliberal Exceptionalism
> and the Culture of Uncare.
>
> McKibbon goes on, "Weintrobe writes that people’s psyches are divided
> into caring and uncaring parts, and the conflict between them “is at the
> heart of great literature down the ages, and all major religions.” The
> uncaring part wants to put ourselves first; it’s the narcissistic corners
> of the brain that persuade each of us that we are uniquely important and
> deserving, and make us want to except ourselves from the rules that society
> or morality set so that we can have what we want. “Most people’s caring
> self is strong enough to hold their inner exception in check,” she notes,
> but, troublingly, “ours is the Golden Age of Exceptionalism.”
> Neoliberalism—especially the ideas of people such as Ayn Rand, enshrined in
> public policy by Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher—“crossed a Rubicon in
> the 1980s,” and neoliberals “have been steadily consolidating their power
> ever since.” Weintrobe calls leaders who exempt themselves in these ways
> “exceptions” and says that, as they “drove globalization forwards in the
> 1980s,” they were captivated by an ideology that whispered, “Cut
> regulation, cut ties to reality and cut concern.” Donald Trump
> <https://link.newyorker.com/click/23897423.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> was
> the logical end of this way of thinking, a man so self-centered that he
> interpreted all problems, even a global pandemic
> <https://link.newyorker.com/click/23897423.4743/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubmV3eW9ya2VyLmNvbS90YWcvY29yb25hdmlydXM_bWJpZD0mdXRtX3NvdXJjZT1ubCZ1dG1fYnJhbmQ9dG55JnV0bV9tYWlsaW5nPVROWV9DbGltYXRlXzA1MTkyMSZ1dG1fY2FtcGFpZ249YXVkLWRldiZ1dG1fbWVkaXVtPWVtYWlsJmJ4aWQ9NWJlYTA5ZGYyZGRmOWM3MmRjOGI3MjIxJmNuZGlkPTEyOTcyMzI2Jmhhc2hhPWFiZDU1N2QyNTkzYThmYTgxNTExYTgxN2I4M2M4ZjRiJmhhc2hiPTkyNDYxZGQyYWM1ZGMwMzA0OGU3MzFjOTdiZTZkZGIzNjZiZmRlZmUmaGFzaGM9NWEzYTIyNWYxZWE3ZTkyODAxMmE3MzM0ZGIzOWZhNzZiMTYyZTU0OTUwZWRjYTYzZmZiN2MzYzEyN2VkMDY5ZiZlc3JjPQ/5bea09df2ddf9c72dc8b7221Bd7279690>,
> as attempts to undo him. “The self-assured neoliberal imagination has
> increasingly revealed itself to be not equipped to deal with problems it
> causes,” she writes."
>
> This is all related to the discussion we were having about whether a
> society of  reciprocity is possible.
>
> -- Russ Abbott
> Professor, Computer Science
> California State University, Los Angeles
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