In support of open borders and meta-context awareness
Perry de Havilland has a splendid example of how the left and right generally share ‘meta-context’ (the unspoken axioms that we take for granted when we discuss something). This one relates to immigration. In Perry’s words:
In less benighted times the arrival of more people would have been referred to as a ‘growing market’ (i.e. a good thing) rather than an impending liability which needs a ‘wake-up call’ to alert us to a problem.
…If indeed much of Central Europe is decamping from their homelands and heading for these Sceptred Isles, what an excellent time to abolish the decrepit socialist legacy systems (which are rather like running 1980’s era computers in 2007 and then wondering why things do not work) that have inexplicably survived into the Twenty First century. Time to replace them with adaptive, market-driven approaches that are neither distorted nor crowded out by an idiotic and fantastically inefficient state run medical system, preposterous public sector housing and ever more dumbed down state schools. None of these things, not one, is logically something the state should have anything to do with. As I have argued before, perhaps the changing demographic realities may force exactly the sort of changes that should have been introduced decades ago.
And if that is true, it is yet another reason to thank the latest wave of immigrants. Guys, you might actually save us from ourselves.
Back to meta-context. I don’t find a lot of people who are aware that they have one, much less what theirs consists of or how they arrived at their set of particular unspoken axioms. Ask them, “Why do you think that?” in a genuinely curious manner and they are either unable to answer or think that you are being deliberately obtuse.
I like to be around people who do know what their meta-context is, how they got there, and how to apply it to everyday problems. It is only a struggle to live like this to the extent that a game of chess* is a struggle. It’s fun, revealing, challenging, and more rewarding than being an intellectual bump on a log.
* I don’t actually play chess (because I’ve always had someone or other trying to force me to learn, which was pretty poor strategy on their part).
Filed under: Life
Ah the meta-context!
I hypothesise that one of the reasons why people probably avoid talking about it - even if they know it themselves - is that it reveals inconsistencies in their own thinking. To reveal it to themselves is probably torturous enough for some not to reveal it to strangers.
At some level humans aspire to live to higher standards than they live at present or admit to living at present. Some hide from scrutiny because they cannot bear the pain of their flaws being revealed; others actively seek to find the flaws. To each, his/ her own journey to self-actualisation.