Episode 98: The Refined Sociopathy of 'The Economist'
Added 2020-01-22 15:55:09 +0000 UTCFrom its inception as agriculture trade paper in 1843 to the present day, The Economist has provided a gateway into the mind of the banking class. Something of an anomaly in the publishing industry, The Economist is not quite a magazine, not quite a newspaper; aspirational in its branding but bleakly limited in political ambitions; brazenly transparent in its capitalist ideology, yet inscrutable in its favorably spinning for American and British imperialism and racism.
It is publication owned by the wealthy for the wealthy and advertises itself as such. Its only moral pretense: a long history of championing what it calls “liberalism", a notoriously slippery term that, in The Economist’s world, views freedom to profit and exploit labor as interchangeable with the freedom of religion, press and speech.
As such, examining The Economist’s history, its connection to British and American banking interests and intelligence services, can tell us a great deal about the narrow focus of Western, and specifically British notions of “liberalism.” The promotion of capital flows over justice, enlightened imperialism over self-determination, abhors overt racism while promoting more subtle forms of race science and colonialism, all along easing the conscience of wealthy white readers that want to feign concern about human suffering but who have everything to gain by doing absolutely nothing about it.
On this episode, we are joined by Alexander Zevin, author of Liberalism at Large: The World According to The Economist.
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Guest
Alexander Zevin is an Assistant Professor of History at City University of New York (CUNY), and an editor at New Left Review. He is the author of the new book Liberalism at Large: The World According to The Economist, published recently by Verso Books.
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Show Notes
The Economics of the Colonial Cringe: Pseudonomics and the Sneer on the Face of The Economist.
James Fallows | October 6, 1991 | The Washington Post
Liberalism According to The Economist
Pankaj Mishra | November 4, 2019 | The New Yorker
How the Economist shaped the liberal mind
Gavin Jacobson | November 27, 2019 | New Statesman
Nathan J. Robinson | May 19, 2017 | Current Affairs
What the Economist Doesn't Get About Slavery—And My Book
Edward E. Baptist | September 7, 2014 | Politico
Edward E. Baptist | September 7, 2014 | The Guardian
‘The Economist’ Has a Slavery Problem
Greg Grandin | September 9, 2014 | The Nation
The Economist Is Sorry About Its 'Not All Slave Masters' Book Review
Arit John | September 5, 2014 | The Atlantic
The Economist becomes a family affair
Karl West | August 15, 2015 | The Guardian
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Transcript
For a full transcript of this episode, go here.
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Comments
As a near lifelong reader of The Economist, this was cringey but necessary!
2020-03-13 21:54:30 +0000 UTCBefore listening to this episode I only knew about the recent debacles of the economist Bolsonaro Bolivia Etc. But fuck that history is frankly disgusting
Comrade Michelle
2020-01-24 12:09:41 +0000 UTCI just finished reading "The Half Has Never Been Told" (highly recommended), and I had heard stories of the Economist's review--and its retraction. Before, I thought the original review was some kind of internal editorial oversight, to let something like that see print. Now i understand that it was entirely in character but had to be retracted because some things are just too egregious. Now I will know, when my relatives quote The Economist to me, just where they are coming from. Thank you for another job well and thoroughly done.
David Baldwin
2020-01-23 11:40:32 +0000 UTC
