 every few years those people in the culture and it's not always the same people it kind of shifts and moves around and it's new generation there's a new generation of people constantly who actually believe that in the evil of capitalism who hate capitalism despise capitalism who despise and hate individualism who can only think in terms of collectivism and you know it seems like every few years every few decades every generation they come up with a new idea and how to make it right how to how to how to do it how to get rid of capitalism how to provide a real viable alternative this time we've got it and the goals seemingly change their ideas seemingly change the name they call their ideology is constantly changing but the one thing that is always there is really a nihilistic hatred of individualism of individuals making choices for themselves and of individual succeeding in the world around them the degrowth movement is just the latest variation of a pattern that really to some extent goes back hundreds thousands of years but you know it's been quite prevalent in in in the West since the birth of capitalism since the beginning of the 19th century it's interesting I was listening to a an interview with Iron Man about the anti-capitalist mentality of course when Mises had a book I think titled the anti-capitalist mentality anyway there was a Q&A about the anti-capitalist mentality I mean what motivates people to be anti-capitalist what is it about capitalism that they hate so much and and she made the following observation which I think is consistent with what I've said when asked about this in the Q&A's in the past but it's it's interesting the way Iron Man always formulates these things fundamentally psychologically what the anti-capitalist fear more than anything else is independence and what is meant by independence is what they really fear more than anything else is that they will have to rely on their own rational mind deep down what they are really rejecting what they really reject at the deepest level what they really reject is reason it's rationality it's relying in their own mind and at the end of that is the rejecting reality I mean to a logic stand they were placing reality with their own whims with their own desires with their own wishes the substituting reason with emotion and they're rejecting the primacy of existence and embracing a primacy of consciousness if they wish hard enough if they wanted hard enough if they then whatever they wish they desire will happen if they pray hard enough I mean think about think about all the praying that's done isn't that a great example of exactly the same thing a primacy of consciousness there's a consciousness your consciousness a global consciousness a communal consciousness a God consciousness a nature consciousness mother with I don't know whatever it is if you just pray wish beg desire hard enough then that consciousness would make it real reality doesn't matter reality is mullible you just have to wish hard so they want to escape from reality they want to escape from reason they want to escape them thought they want to escape from effort what they really just want is the desires to somehow be fulfilled and to somehow try for reality in that way that'll basically confirm for them that their desires are superior to reality and therefore legitimize those desires I mean this is over and over and over again we see this people don't want to think for themselves they don't want the virtue of independence maybe the virtue of independence of all the virtues is the hardest for people we are so taught trained conditioned to rely on others to to basically follow orders commandments to be told what to do and they're terrified of living by their own judgment their own mind their own thoughts their own reason and to be constrained not exactly the right word here by reality God that's frustrating it has to be a I don't want it to be a I want it to be be I want it to be not a just for today please right now can't get away with it and and I'd say particularly today well now we're just particularly today but today in its secular form this mentality is really how our kids are raised in school to feel to emote to share their feelings to participate to engage with other people to share to consider other people's emotions to everything everything really geared towards this idea of the primacy of emotion the primacy of when the primacy the subjective nature of their beliefs the primacy of their own consciousness and they're not taught to reason to think to facts facts facts reality now of course altruism plays a huge role here as well altruism is a ideal moral system for non-independent people it places the entire focal focus on others you are not important you are insignificant that gives you in a sense moral justification for not being independent who am I who am I to think for myself and by the way the modern version is this emotion through our educational system but think about religion is exactly the same thing religion is emoting for God it's all about faith it's all about rejection of your own reason your own independence and it's about following commandments it's about praying it's about wishing it's about desiring it's not about reason ever they can pretend but it's not about reason so altruism both for the Christian and for the secularist altruism is perfect was altruism says who the hell are you to think for yourself you are not the focal of attention you are not more morally important they are or it is and indeed if you're a Christian you are sinful from birth you are nothing and therefore how can you be independent how can you be independent independence is is impossible really to an altruist it's impossible really to an altruist the whole focal focus of attention the whole focal point the whole orientation it's towards other it's otherism altruism otherism what do they want what do they think what do they need and me reality just who cares I just need a sacrifice for them so you immediately see altruism and a lack of independence as going together and of course we know that altruism crashes with capitalism so and capitalism requires independence it requires rational thinking and it's non altruistic we can debate what it is but it's certainly not altruistic they have to hate capitalism they have to despise it and then it's just a matter of in various forms in various areas in various places they find the right excuse they find the right system they find the right you know theory to justify the hatred or to justify why we should move away from capitalism why we must end capitalism and a deep growth agenda which is an agenda today of much of I'd say the left much of the radical left but but not radical left necessarily in a woke sense but the radical left in a political sense radical left in Europe the radical left in a world economic forum the radical left across the board but put aside work for a second because I don't I think we'll call support this but this is much more international woke is very much American it's got big European influences and it's influenced Europe significantly but it's very American whereas this is global so what is the reasoning behind the growth and and no mistake about it the primary focus of the growth is the destruction of capitalism the destruction of freedom and I would argue really deep down the destruction of individualism the destruction of reason right the destruction of the ability of individuals to use their mind to pursue their values and and and really a negation of the idea a negation of the idea that your values really matter at all they don't don't care your values don't matter that's super egoistic that's super individualistic that's super you know selfish the real question is I don't know humanity mother earth species the planet the globe the world and one of the things the degrowth movement just like many in the environmentalist movement do is that they realize that they're at the disadvantage because of the anti-reason perspective mentality so they kind of embrace pseudoscience or they pretend to embrace science they pretend to what drives them is scientific whether it's scientific with regard to we'll talk about in a minute climate change or whether it's scientific with regard to their view of economics they hide behind science to pretend that what they are offering is somehow consistent with reality and consistent with science and indeed when you tell them they're wrong they will call you anti-reason anti-reality anti-science