What Was Liberalism? #4 Three Problems with Liberalism | Philosophy Tube

A 4-part series about liberalism. In this episode, 3 big problems with liberalism: it slides to the right; it's wrong about how humans make decisions; and it supports capitalism.

Twitter: @PhilosophyTube

Recommended Reading for this Series:

Bart Schultz, “Mill and Sidgwick, Imperialism and Racism”
David Goldman – “Liberalism’s Limits”
James Tully – “Rediscovering America”
Mark Tunick, “Tolerant Imperialism,” in The Review of Politics

If you or your organisation would like to financially support Philosophy Tube in distributing philosophical knowledge to those who might not otherwise have access to it in exchange for credits on the show, please get in touch!

Any copyrighted material should fall under fair use for educational purposes or commentary, but if you are a copyright holder and believe your material has been used unfairly please get in touch with us and we will be happy to discuss it.

[TheNbmonster]

I know this video series is like 2 years old but I only found your channel a few months ago so I'm catching up.

This series really made me think about the education I received growing up in Texas. Capitalism was always shown to be inherently good and right and I always took issue with the fact that it assumed people make decisions based on their own self interest. I remember being younger and thinking that lots of people do nice things because they're nice, but I didn't realize this was in contrast with the assumptions of our economy. As I got older I realized that even if that assumption were true, individuals would have to have as much information as was necessary to make informed decisions under capitalism. Knowing even just a little bit about our healthcare system, for example, led me to believe that not only the system fall short of informing consumers of the risks and benefits of making certain purchases within the system (price transparency is a big problem in healthcare in the US), but it seemed likely that that was a deliberate misdirection by those who benefit from capitalism.

Over the past few years, I have been slowly coming to have more leftist and socialist opinions. It's been really great to find that there's this whole section of YouTube that makes me think about ideas critically and encourages me to reflect on my own values. I appreciate all you guys do, especially providing historical context, new information, and hooking a girl up with downright sexy aesthetics (ContraPoints is my favorite in this regard, but I like Olly's aesthetic as well). Thank you for the entertainment and analysis! I hope to be about to support the work of more creators in the future!

[ariel]

Wow I never realised Shaggy was so well versed in political issues

[TheAnimeguy]

when he dropped the "comrade" i lost my shit. love this guy

[queenfreija]

When you coyly said comrade to the camera I fell in love. Thanks Olly ;)

[puddingball]

You know that feeling when you drink tea watching videos on the couch and realise that the fall of capitalism is inevitable and sustainable socialism must rise or the world and humanity with it will see its end? Yeah me too.

[gentlemandemon]

I really appreciate you mentioning Guatemala. I have a personal stake because that's where my family is from, but it's a genocidal conflict that goes nearly undiscussed.

[KManAbout]

Ollie finally came out! Welcome comrade! Damn I had a feeling since that anarchist video lol.

[EquestriaExploration]

I have to admit, I honestly thought Liberalism **was** actually what it pretended to be. Yikes! This is a pretty important message to spread. Thank you.

[Aleph_Null_Audio]

Band names: Actual Fascists, Big Corn

[puglosipher]

So (if I'm getting this right) Liberalism establishes capitalism and enables fascist thought to be normalized. And then, when a major economic crisis (caused by capitalism) hits and capitalism becomes threathened and put into decay, fascism emerges as a last effort to preserv capitalism and prevent the working class from taking power by missleading it. Therefore Liberalism is (uncounsiously) helping fascists and fascism.

[ShadaOfAllThings]

You aren't gonna name names? Fine, I will.

Sargon of Acuck

[Fingo-gerg]

tragically hilarious that I'm paying 9 grand a year at uni and yet get much better education for free here, really need to start using patreon :/ anyways thank you this series was a masterpiece x

[culturefukd]

I especially appreciate that Ollie links these issues with liberalism back to capitalism. It's important because those systems are so linked that to talk about one is to talk about the other.

One thing that I've sort of been mulling over in my head as of late is that, while individual freedom is important, is it the best thing to have ideologically enforced? Seeing as how liberalism/capitalism works, as well as what Durkheim said that the individualism born from capitalism does, perhaps rapid 'progress' actually works against the individual insofar as it destroys spaces in which they can be part of a group, be that church, family, or even work. After all, a system that values the exploration of others and individual liberty above all else is a bit incompatible with any sort of traditional, community based ritual. Just some thoughts anyway.

[adamzandarski]

Hey bro, just watching your video for like the 10th time again. Wanted to let you know that between this series and the "alt right playbook" my militantly centrist friend is sliding hard left and even starting to question me less when I freak out over someone's dogwhistles. Keep up the good fight, comrade.

[SeamasOS]

I've always considered myself a liberal, although over the past year or two I've been trying to find a solution to the problems you list. I think the biggest step liberals have to make, is to truly commit to the universality of the rights we love, and make sure that as much as possible exceptions are not made. Anywhere.

Secondly we have to acknowledge that, increasing access to these rights is the domain of the left much more so than that of the right, and to embrace that there is a certain amount of left wing policy that has to be enacted to achieve these goals.

Thirdly we have to really acknowledge the problems with capitalism, and that the only real solutions to them, for now at least are being proposed by left wing thought. This doesn't necessarily mean that we should all drink vodka and call each other comrades, but that we should at least look to these policies to address specific problems, and see what happens from there. And importantly be honest in our assessment of the economic problems that we face, rather than relying on dogma driven policy.

Lastly it's important to acknowledge that freedom is to a certain extent, inherently paradoxical. In the sense the it's a balancing scale. If you don't give everyone freedom equally then you end up with the 'some pigs are more free than others' scenario. And that some ideologies exists to undermine freedom, and it's important not to give those ideologies room to grow, by being aggressive in how you challenge their hypocrisies.

[rkaiser]

"Capitalism might not survive"
Then perish.

[MalloryMovies]

*[VERY LONG COMMENT]* What I find quite interesting is how, at least in the US, pretty much everyone left of Ayn Rand knows that neoliberalism/capitalism is hot fucking garbage they just don't realize that what they're describing is capitalism and that socialist policies could be potentially viable solutions. Like it's a very common phrase in America that 'money is the root of all evil' and most of the country agrees that neoliberal politicians that serve the interest of the ruling class (the "elite" i.e the rich and powerful who benefit from capitalism most) don't really serve the interests of the average person.

The problem is that nationalist and anti-left-wing propaganda and sentiment is deeply ingrained in American culture. We were practically founded on a hatred of taxes (and also mostly racism and genocide, but hush we don't talk about that), and most of the second half of the 20th century was spent in the cold war in which we used communism as an enemy to excuse fighting proxy wars to protect our business interests.

People get that capitalism sucks, but they've been taught to venerate the word capitalism without understanding what it is (thinking the problem is greed, as if the two are even remotely separable), and demonize the very idea of being critical of capitalism, as if it's inherently anti-
american to be anti-capitalist.

This leaves a lot of Americans stuck, because they can't even entertain the idea of a policy left of what the Democratic party trots out every four years, but they also don't like what's being offered by either party. So they either vote begrudgingly for one party or the other based on other issues (typically social issues, with a willful ignorance to how the economics influence the social), or they end up being turned to the other alternatives to liberalism, which are right-wing ideologies (which is also being implicitly propped up by liberalism as you said).

In this way, not only does liberalism push to the right ideologically due to free speech absolutism and a link to capitalism, but also through how it shapes culture. Because its link to capitalism necessitates the rise of cultural ideals that prop up capitalism, anyone who isn't a part of the ruling class and thus a beneficiary of capitalism, is liable to be pushed to fascism since socialism isn't seen as an option.

This is specifically a phenomenon of the oft-described 'white working class', as minorities often are more willing to push left because the racially/ethnically motivated oppression they face leads them to develop different attitudes toward the culture of the ruling ethnic class. Nationalism and patriotism are far less attractive when the nation in question has been oppressing you on account of your skin color for generations.

As a person who leans further to the left than pretty much any of the people I interact with in my personal life, most of whom are liberals and moderates, watching this has been equal parts fascinating, frustrating, and terrifying.

sidenote Im writing this at very late at night so if this reads as rambly and incoherent I apologize but I hope that the points I am attempting to describe are at the very least decipherable.

*tl;dr Americans do understand that capitalism is bad, they just don't know that what they think is bad is called capitalism, and that the solutions could be socialism. Liberalism has created the cultural conditions for this to be the case.*

[bartholomooo]

The cheekiness of how you say "comrade" gets me every time

[romanpollmeier]

You did a good job pronouncing "Teil Eins Die Nazis" greetings from Germany PS: I love your channel

[waterglas]

Please do a series about socialism ideology (its virtues and problems)