“Our goal is to empower local people to deal with their own problems, assist the disadvantaged and reduce human suffering to the greatest extent possible…” George Soros, 2018, Davos Switzerland
The news of the United States participation absorbed the commentators. One chose to air parts of Soros’ speech delivered at the world economic forum at Davos, Switzerland. It struck me as a new chord which stood out from the sound bites that assault us every day. As soon as I could I googled the speech and read it but not before I googled the author.
Short Bio
George Soros, born in Budapest in 1930, is chair of Soros Fund Management LLC. As one of history’s most successful financiers, his views on investing and economic issues are widely followed. His foundations support progressive causes all over the globe, which does not sit well with his distractors. He is pro-democracy and open societies, and he supports social justice reforms.
Globalism
Living in America today, the news is primarily centered on Washington, D.C. The government’s new policies are influenced by the oligarchy and red states who put them in power. That’s a very narrow view and it is normalizing the ethnocentrism and isolationism that characterizes the administration.
Soros’ speech takes a global view of world economic events that presents a new context to evaluate the stream of information in all media. His main message, “…we must also safeguard the values of open society so that they will better withstand future onslaughts. Open societies will always have its enemies, and each generation has to reaffirm its commitment to open society for it to survive.”
Threat to Open Societies
Open societies around the world are in a constant state of threat from “various forms of dictatorships and mafia states,” as is the current state of affairs in the United States – our protections, for now, are our Constitution and vibrant society. This means if we are to protect our country from all the “isms” that hold us back –- racism, sexism, anti-everybody-not white-not-Christian-not-born-in-this-country-ism –- we face a bleak future. Factions, determined by the oligarchy and maintained by white privilege and patriarchy social constructs, will tear each other apart, destroy what’s left of our humanity, and leave Americans under siege, without a voice, without rights, without freedom.
Fight Back
“Counterattack.” Even if we disagree on how, if we can agree that “normalizing” aberrant behavior, regardless of immediate evidence of prosperity, has long-term effects from which we will not so easily recover. A one-party government is a one idea state. It takes discussion and collaboration to ensure that Americans, from every corner of the country, of every color of the rainbow, are represented in government decision making. Think: Proportional Representation. Think: Ranked Choice Voting. Taking a back seat to civic engagement is no longer an option -– as long as we’re alive and free to do so.
Nuclear War
“The threat of nuclear war is so horrendous that we are inclined to ignore it. But it is real….The sooner a so-called freeze-for-freeze agreement can be reached, the more successful the policy will be.” His point is that starting a nuclear war to stop a nuclear war is self-destructive. Child-like threats and tit-for-tat behavior over “red buttons” of destruction are not to be dismissed.
Climate Change
“The other major threat to the survival of our civilization is climate change, which is also a growing cause of forced migration.” I’ll clarify that statement to include people, coastlines, weather, land and water species, and crops. It will not be successful for all. Migration issues in Africa have invigorated a growing slave trade. Regressive human rights policies serve no one but the money-makers.
IT control
Soros sees the newest global problem as “…the rise and monopolistic behavior of the giant IT platform companies. … Companies earn their profits by exploiting their environment. Mining and oil companies exploit the physical environment; social media companies exploit the social environment. This is particularly nefarious because social media companies influence how people think and behave without them even being aware of it. This has far-reaching adverse consequences on the functioning of democracy, particularly on the integrity of elections.”
We’re aware. We know our elections were hacked. But, Soros takes this ability to influence our minds and behaviors even further. Like any resource, IT companies, particularly Facebook and Google, will run out of subscribers and thus growth numbers will stagnate. Content providers will find themselves in the position of negotiating increasing fees and bearing the cost of the platforms.
IT income strategies
However, there is a limit the advertisers, the IT companies’ main source of income, will spend. So, “… gradually a new business model is emerging, based not only on advertising but on selling products and services directly to users. They exploit the data they control, bundle the services they offer and use discriminatory pricing to keep for themselves more of the benefits that otherwise they would have to share with consumers.” Welcome to the world of Facebook-Google-Amazon. Talk about a monopoly and price fixing and the big losers – the consumer.
“The exceptional profitability of these companies is largely a function of their avoiding responsibility for– and avoiding paying for– the content on their platforms.
The freedom of mind
“Something very harmful and maybe irreversible is happening to human attention in our digital age. Not just distraction or addiction; social media companies are inducing people to give up their autonomy. The power to shape people’s attention is increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few companies. It takes a real effort to assert and defend what John Stuart Mill called “the freedom of mind.” There is a possibility that once lost, people who grow up in the digital age will have difficulty in regaining it. This may have far-reaching political consequences. People without the freedom of mind can be easily manipulated. This danger does not loom only in the future; it already played an important role in the 2016 US presidential elections.”
“The exceptional profitability of these companies is largely a function of their avoiding responsibility for– and avoiding paying for– the content on their platforms.” Soros goes on to say, while this is dangerous on so many levels, the worst comes into play if and or when the IT companies become an arm of the state. “This may well result in a web of totalitarian control the likes of which not even Aldous Huxley or George Orwell could have imagined.”
“The internet monopolies have neither the will nor the inclination to protect society against the consequences of their actions.”
World economy issues
From this point, Soros expands his observations to the European and Asian countries. It is a fascinating read as each area, and the countries within it, will deal with these issues in unique ways. The fix will not happen overnight. He predicts it will take the next twenty years to figure it out.
This overview of the economic and political intersection of the major global players and the future of humankind was, for me, a riveting game of Connect-the-Dots. It places new players on the board and identifies trends to follow in order to encourage better decision-making in our lives and for our country.
It is better to know
In parts, it’s very scary, but better to have an understanding of the future possibilities than to feel blindsided with every new revelation. The state of affairs in the US is such that we are constantly being bombarded with distracting news to divert our attention from the real less obvious threats to our well-being. We can’t let that happen.
If you’d like to read the speech, and I assure you it is worth it, here is the link: https://www.georgesoros.com/2018/01/25/remarks
Forewarned enables us to be forearmed.
Pay attention and be proactive.
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