Yearly in December, The Economist finds a “word of the year” that summarizes a significant occasion or pattern and has gained reputation in its wake.
It’s helpful to know that the journal has been against populism because it rose in america and elsewhere on the earth however, I might say, not all the time in a constant manner. The true drawback shouldn’t be the fitting and the left, however the choice for collective decisions over particular person decisions that characterizes each side. (There have been some encouraging indicators, nevertheless, that the celebrated journal is evolving towards its Nineteenth-century classical liberal roots.)
The Economist‘s phrase for 2024 is “kakistocracy,” the rule by the worst, from the traditional Greek kakistos (κάκιστος) for “the worst” and, in fact, kratia (κρατία) for “rule” or “power.” Opposite to the case of, say, “aristocracy,” the spinoff “kakistocrat” for these worst individuals who govern has not taken root, however we are able to hope it would. The 2024 phrase of the yr would stay very related even when Ms. Harris had been elected instead of Mr. Trump. It is usually related in lots of different international locations.
In his 1944 guide The Highway to Serfdom, Fredrich Hayek, the longer term economics Nobel laureate, foresaw that because the state features energy, the worst folks would change into rulers, whether or not or not it’s a single dictator adored by the bulk or an all-powerful democratic majority. The regime can be supported by folks with the bottom ethical and mental requirements and by probably the most gullible. They’d embrace the precept that the tip justifies the means and unite in opposition to scapegoats. Folks would lose any “respect for the individual qua man instead of merely as a member of an organized group.” Cynicism and disrespect for fact would unfold. Tribal feelings and authorities propaganda would displace rational arguments. Hayek wouldn’t have been stunned if foreigners, immigrants, and pet-eating Haitians had been among the many scapegoats.
Kakistocracy is etymologically a really pejorative time period. Kakistos is the superlative of kakos (κακός), which suggests unhealthy or evil. Cacophony, for instance, means disagreeable sounds. The plural impartial of kakos is kaka (κακά) and means unhealthy issues. The French baby-talk phrase “caca,” that means “pou-pou,” got here from that Greek phrase or a Latin spinoff. It has been a part of the French language since the sixteenth century. I perceive that, in American English (“****”) and in Spanish, the phrase has the identical that means.
From a political-economy viewpoint, which is what pursuits us right here, kakistocracy is unhealthy for everyone besides the kakistocrats.
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Behind the scenes: I instructed DALL-E to create a picture “representing three members of a democratic kakistocracy.” The bot refused, saying that this idea “didn’t align with our content policy.” He would solely comply with characterize a democratic kakistocracy that might, as I instructed him, “makes your content policy illegal”! The second picture under is without doubt one of the two he produced for that case. However the least unhealthy picture I lastly obtained as an instance this put up was after I requested him for one “representing three members of a populist kakistocracy.” Altering “democratic” for “populist” additionally labored for his content material coverage! That is the primary one slightly below. DALL-E defined, “Here is the generated image representing three members of a fictional populist kakistocracy.” AI bots usually are not Einsteins nor nice social theorists.
“Three members of a fictional populist kakistocracy,” by DALL-E
DALL-E’s view of a democratic kakistocracy that might outlaw his “content policy”
