Belmont Club

By Richard Fernandez

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Hard work

December 16, 2008 - 9:43 pm - by Richard Fernandez
Storm-Rider
2008-12-17 19:24:38

There is a relationship between intellectuals and statist tyranny – both Marxist and Fascist. Tyrants rely on the support of intellectuals to supply a rhetorical veneer of state legitimacy, where the intellectuals rely on the financial support of a powerful state – one capable of redistribution of income in their favor.

“The question is what kind of ideas is favoured by the intellectuals. The question is whether the intellectuals are neutral in their choice of ideas with which they are ready to deal with. Hayek argued that they are not. They do not hold or try to spread all kinds of ideas. They have very clear and, in some respect, very understandable preferences for some of them. They prefer ideas, which give them jobs and income and which enhance their power and prestige. They, therefore, look for ideas with specific characteristics. They look for ideas, which enhance the role of the state because the state is usually their main employer, sponsor or donator. That is not all. According to Hayek “the power of ideas grows in proportion to their generality, abstractness, and even vagueness”. Hence it is not surprising that the intellectuals are mostly interested in abstract, not directly implementable ideas. This is also the way of thinking, in which they have comparative advantage. They are not good at details. They do not have ambitions to solve a problem. They are not interested in dealing with the everyday’s affairs of common citizens. Hayek put it clearly: “the intellectual, by his whole disposition, is uninterested in technical details or practical difficulties.” He is interested in visions and utopias and because “socialist thought owes its appeal largely to its visionary character” (and I would add lack of realism and utopian nature), the intellectual tends to become a socialist…” President of the Czeck Republic, Václav Klaus

http://www.klaus.cz/klaus2/asp/clanek.asp?id=wFYl3mgsTzI6