The Westâs Eleutheromania & How Its Governments [AKA Managerial Capitalists] Made Its Citizens Accessories to Economic Hegemony With No Holds Barred
Assignment Question: According to Hickel, what is the "myth" of development that began with Harry Truman? What makes this "myth" so compelling? What is wrong with this myth (i.e. the flawed assumptions)?
According to Hickel, what is the "myth" of development that began with Harry Truman?
The myth of development that began with Harry Truman was a claim that without US industrial, and scientific techniques foreign âdeveloping nationsâ were to suffer. The most insidious part of Harry Truman's myth about these âunderdeveloped areasâ was that their economic life was to be stagnant without US intervention. Thence this leads to a string of US inference into the foreign economic policy (interference meant to prop up an unbalanced free-market system tailored to fit US needs).
What makes this "myth" so compelling?
The myth is so compelling because it propagandistically reframes developing nations as nations desperately needing to imitate the systems of the West and the West should help in doing so.
What is wrong with this myth (i.e. the flawed assumptions)?
The flawed assumption is that free markets are the best solution for a struggling economy and that foreign intervention is necessary to create these free markets.
The myth of development that began with Harry Truman was a claim that without US industrial, and scientific techniques foreign âdeveloping nationsâ were to suffer. The most insidious part of Harry Truman's myth about these âunderdeveloped areasâ was that their economic life was to be stagnant without US intervention. Thence this leads to a string of US inference into the foreign economic policy (interference meant to prop up an unbalanced free-market system tailored to fit US needs). The notable mental part of Harry Truman's âperception managementâ was how smug, trusting of their authority, or chock full of some sort of messiah complex the citizens of the United States of America must have been to have bought the idea; that inferring with foreign economic matters was noble. Without implying a negative value judgment, I suppose that this couldâve been the result of hyper-normalization where people didnât know any alternative to the actions suggested by their government. Perhaps Americans were akin to âa frog gently placed into a pot of tepid water with the heat on low, floating quite placidly [i.e. Americans (?and the West?) were originally accustomed to mild economic interventionism with FDR]. As the water gradually heated up [with World War II Americans & the West became accustomed to fighting for freedom in foreign wars], the frog [the West] sank into a tranquil stupor, [were full-on hypernormalized], and before long, with a smile on its face, it will unresistingly allow itself to be boiled to death [Americans and the West began to blindly ride movements such as  the Red Scare].
With a historical precedent of colonialism, tribalism, and empires it seems Harry Truman was easily able to redirect the westâs former squabbles over resources [See: The US âinvading and occupying states like Honduras, Cuba and the Domincian Republic] ; with seemingly eleemosynary [charitable] yet vague statements positioning the West as superior saviors.
What is wrong with this myth, well, without proof of deep-seated imperfection Harry Truman made claims that âdeveloping nationsâ were in such an impoverished state based off of a seemingly unrelated comparison to the United States of Americaâs accolades. Justifying the US United States of America must intervene. Leaving how the United States of America should intervention with vague language. With this flexiloquent [pertaining to someone who speaks ambiguously] language, Harry Truman was able to continue his virtue signaling narrative that precluded much democratic oversight from the American people; whilst, maintaining glowing approval from the press.
Harry Truman claimed that half the people in the world are living in conditions approaching misery and with Americaâs significant scientific and technological advantages. The USA was in a responsible position and thus should act to development foreign nations so that to mirror the USâs success. His statement on global inequality based on a half-truth lead to the Westâs battle on âdevelopmental policiesâ that âwere threatening their access to cheap labor, raw materials, and consumer markets across the South, eroding the foundations of the world system that they had come to rely on during the colonial era. Unwilling to let this continue, they intervened across the South to depose democratically elected leaders and replace them with regimesâgenerally dictatorshipsâthat would be more amenable to Western interests. As Noel Maurer points out in The Empire Trap (Princeton, 2013), these interventions were typically triggered when Western assets were put at risk by land reform, nationalization, or capital controls. `` Thenceforth to maintain western interests and under the guise of liberal internationalism, the West would act as creditors; giving out loans with exorbitant interest rates thanks to their unequal bargaining power. This amid heaps of other reverse aid tomfooleries with the development of these developing countries leads to true stagnation in the development of these developing countries are in so much need of the Westâs putative superiority.
The West with its conservatism that has a great desire to avoid risk when lending money in the hopes of making interest on such loans. Would fight folks policies not mirroring that of their own. Helping folks abroad is easy to sell to a populace, but regime change wars are not. Thus in a coded language, Harry Truman used diversionary tactics and whataboutism to avert his citizenry gaze from the true violence of Americaâs desire to access weaker nationsâ resources ad libitum. I imagine that Harry Truman stipulated that his citizenry would refrain from questioning his policies on how to better these âdeveloping nationsâ as long as it was benefiting them. Although, it may have been the case that all these altercations with opposing ideoogies where to avert people attention away from domestic problems (Iâm not sure though, because Iâm totally out of the loop when it comes to history). Â This likely lead to the hyper-normalization of regime change wars under the guise to prevent the spread of communism and other putative dangerous ideologies. Methinks that even with western inventions becoming more and more excessive. As long as the government keeps the military voluntarily and there is little inflation of prices for example the people living in the country wouldnât protest much. Making it easy for a government to continue itâs reverse aid whatnot. âPerhaps it is easier for folks to put up with the discomfort of others rather than their own.[Paraphrased Russell Brand Quote Thingo]â
I presume that the West was attempting a new form of colonialism where all nations would mirror each other economically. Perhaps forming some sort of worldly single-market economy. Where the West and its transnational super political organizations would foist economic conformity on these developing nations. Thus eschewing economic instability and maintaining the status quo; where they could easily dominate the world economy with their large market share. Market domination manifested with the West trying to prevent developing nations from obtaining relative autarky [economic independence or self-sufficiency] i.e. they did their best to thwart developing nations' attempts at import substitution [Oâ my the horror a country trying to build their economy to tailor to their national good and not that of the West]. Besides to West facillating dependency whether intentional or not it may have been to prevent other nations from competing economically on a significant scale.
Mapping the predecessor and proliferation of Truman's Myth
The good-intentioned Franklin D. Rooseveltâs Quarantine Speech likely referring to putting economic pressure on the more patent bad news bears nationsâ Empire of Japan, the Kingdom of Italy, and Nazi Germany; set the precedent that interventionism is the solution that will stabilize unstable regions.
[See: Long-term policy and metaphor from the Wikipedia Page âTruman Doctrineâ] âIts sweeping rhetoric, promising that the United States should aid all 'free people' being subjugated, set the stage for innumerable later ventures that led to globalisatic commitments.â.
The disease rhetoric also comes out about now with the "quarantine the aggressor" perception management technique being employed to get away with more direct military intervention now.
[See: Long-term policy and metaphor from the Wikipedia Page âTruman Doctrineâ]
âBy framing ideological differences in life or death terms, Truman was able to garner support for this communism-containing policy.â
It seems over time this "quarantine the aggressor" rhetoric escalated and become more and more blown out of proportion.
Over time this became more and more normal. With the US expected to intervene in all skirmishes for freedom, free-markets, and the like. #hypernormalisation
âCapitalism is not an inherently evil thing itâs amoralâ -- Adam Curtis
Untampered Quote -âIf you drop a frog in a pot of boiling water, it will of course frantically try to clamber out. But if you place it gently in a pot of tepid water and turn the heat on low, it will float there quite placidly. As the water gradually heats up, the frog will sink into a tranquil stupor, exactly like one of us in a hot bath, and before long, with a smile on its face, it will unresistingly allow itself to be boiled to death.â -- A version of the story from Daniel Quinn's The Story of B Digressional Opinion - I loved Daniel Quinn's Ishmael.
âOne of the ways power conceals itself is by saying âThis isnât power at all, this is normalâ â -- Russell Brand
âThe sign of a great ideology is something that doesnât look like an ideologyâ
Wild Theories - The USA has a  Christian population. Christians have a history of Crusades in the hopes to spread Christendom whatnot. The USA has a free market ideology the USA hoops into regime-change wars in the hopes of spreading free markets. If the USA had to choose between a kleptocrat who liked free markets and a kleptocrat who liked  I donât know a market economy thingo. The USA who help the kleptocrat who likes free markets.
Words For Ideas - Â Impotence, Complicit, Rational Ignorance, Normal, No Alternative?, Avoid Risk, Lend Money, Mass Market Culture,
Phrases For Ideas - Capitalism = Save Yourself, ?Capitalism derived from Protestantism?,
to the luck and good circumstance deprived âdeveloping countriesâ. Maybe the prior heroic action i.e. the United Stateâs involvement in World War II.
In other words, the West were either the benefactors of things such as Guns, Germs, and Steel.
Hickel, Jason, et al. âThe Development Delusion: Foreign Aid and Inequality.â American Affairs Journal, 20 Aug. 2017, americanaffairsjournal.org/2017/08/development-delusion-foreign-aid-inequality/. This article originally appeared in American Affairs Volume I, Number 3 (Fall 2017): 160â73.
âRussell Brand & Adam Curtis - Do We Really Want Change? | Under The Skin #03.â Performance by Russell Brand, and Adam Curtis, YouTube, His Own "Rebirth Tour" so Russell Brand Sponsored Himself , 22 July 2017, youtu.be/xBy08P7tHPQ. Youtube Video Description - This week I speak with filmmaker Adam Curtis about the rise of individualism, where real power lies, and whether we really want change.
Short, John R. Human Geography: A Short Introduction. Oxford University Press, 2018.
Wikipedia contributors. "Quarantine Speech." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 21 Jul. 2018. Web. 2 Oct. 2019.
Wikipedia contributors, 'Liberal internationalism', Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, 22 September 2019, 04:11 UTC, <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Liberal_internationalism&oldid=917075688> [accessed 2 October 2019]
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