Saturday, November 23, 2019

Interview With Spengler

The Asia Times has an interview about China with David Goldman, previously the anonymous "Spengler." He is very much a proponent of the long view for understanding a culture, focusing on its centuries rather than its last few weeks. He is not especially complimentary to the Chinese in this discussion, though he also rather shrugs it off, noting that they don't have the same values we do, and they are who they are.  Different.

He voted for Trump and says he will again, but disagrees with him strongly on a couple of points.  The commenters over at Maggie's were instantly on him for that, but did not make especially strong arguments for the defense, in my view.  Spengler may be very wrong about Chinese character and Trump's economic policies, and he is certainly pessimistic about many things.  But he is clear and gives evidence for his opinions, which is not always the case in discussion these days.

It is sobering.

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