Book Review of Francis Fukuyama's: Identity, The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment

Identity, The Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment. (2018)

By:  Francis Fukuyama

Why I got the Book: I  love Fukuyama's work, so I'm always ready to pick up and read one of his books.

What I liked :
•    I found it funny that Fukuyama explains that he was completely surprised by Trump's victory in the United States elections and of Brexit. Fukuyama's initial hunch of what lead to these two major historical events was the rise of populism and authoritarian governments across many democracies, being fed by the decay of classic democratic institutions, like in Hungry, Turkey, Thailand, Poland...  while the Arab spring showed how weak democratic revolutions can be.
•    If you're a newbie to the world of political philosophy and theory of the State, one can learn a lot in this book.
•    The book explores the world of identity politics and Francis takes great effort to define identity itself and how this concept has evolved over the years.
•    Fukuyama revindicates Samuel Huntington in this book citing him and defending his work.
Identity politics for Fukuyama by no means are consider as a bad thing, for him it does seek change culture and behavior, to try to respond and amend an injustice affecting that group.    


Central Thymes:
•    Modern nationalist populist are described by Fukuyama initially by rising to power legitimately through democratic means, they claim a connection to the people through narrow ethnic/cultural terms, do not like basic democratic institutions always putting them in question and seek to undermind the check and balances that are fundamental to the health of democracy.
•    Two core concepts the book revolves around is Isothumia the demand to be respected on an equal basis with other people or groups and Megalothumia the desire to be recognized as superior. Fukuyama explains that Isothumia and Megalothumia can and do feed into each other.
•    Francis make a fascinating affirmation that liberal capitalist democracies have created a world order that has lead to a great inequality amongst  the populations of many nations but overall humanity, in general, is better off in general with many social and economic indicators better than ever but there is a great concentration of power  in  elites across the globe, the rise of new oligarchs in many State across the globe. Elites that are viewed are the ones responsible for the Economic crash in the US in 2008 and the crisis in Greece, there has been the perception of the hollowing out of the middle class. 
•    The author explains the evolution of the Left and Right of the political spectrum and how they change, with the left shifting focus from  equality of workers, trade unions, social protection, and economic redistribution now fixated on groups that view themselves as marginalized, diving head first into identity politics. While the right that centered their views of freedom, reducing the size of government and the promotion of the private sector, but  also now indulging in identity politics in the search of the true patriots who will protect national identity defined by race, ethnicity and/ or religion.
•    Transnational elites vs. patriotic national elite that fighting their proper respect and recognition.
•    The book establishes that Identity is how one defines ones inner self but also how the social world with its rules and norms shapes one's identity giving it or not recognition and importance, basically your worth and dignity. Now in modern times, the inner self is intrinsically valuable and the outer society is systematically wrong. One must not conform to the rules that society imposes, it must change one must find and receive recognition, self-esteem has become paramount.
•    Fukuyama explains that traditionally it is established the individual are rational utility maximizers, who seek to benefit their own self interest and if they cooperate with others it is to reach this goal. But the rational choice paradigm and behavior economics cannot explain preferences and identity politics, where status, dignity, and honor are fundamental and become political rights. And in these modern times, the desire for equal recognition has changed for the validation of the group's superiority. There an obsession with the idea of validation and authenticity, while feeling varying degrees of resentment and humiliation, the author uses the example of the Arabe Spring.
•    Francis writes that when a minimal common culture is perpetually put into question a shared moral horizon starts to disappear competing with a cacophony of competing values systems, many people do not enjoy this situation of this new found freedom, many people feel an intense insecurity and alienation. While we have the rise therapeutic liberalism, product of the rise and incorporation of psychology within many disciplines within the social sciences and in public policy since the mid '80s has lead to the politicization of the recognition of self-esteem and lived experiences, that does not worry about a just or unjust society, but focus on rules that retrain and recognition. The problem this creates a great divergence amongst groups which have different shared experiences, causing that it impossible to see eye to eye on any key issues and social media feeds into this tremendously. 
•    Nationalism and politicized religion create a collective identity and are really good at diagnosing problems and each have their way of solving these problems, they are willing to play the democratic game to reach their illiberal objectives. They feel disrespected and they feel a great nostalgia for an imagined past, author uses the example of second and third generation Muslims in Europe, that turn to jihadist who are mostly disenfranchised and marginalized young adults many time petty criminals and or parts of gangs, the motivation of their conversion is more personal and sociological than religious, fueled by the problem of identity the rejection of their parents identities and their host societies. 
•     The Middle class is a theme that the author revolves around a lot in this book, which seeks respect and are politically motivated, they feel threatened and have really pushed the rise of nationalism across many countries, feeling the poor or unworthy  (migrants for example)   are eating away at their well being and unfairly favored, while feeling invisible or ignored by the ruling elites.  People of the middle class feel like the work hard than the rest and play by the rules, and feel it's unjust that they are unseen they perceive their status is being trampled on. The nationalist discourse they are holding you down find an echo in these people.  
•    The book gets into the evolution of the left during the past 50 years which started to fixate on culture, especially on institutions that opressed minorities at home and on developing nations. Multiculturalism became the predominant form of public policy, but this lead to many immigrant communities not wanting to integrate themselves in their host societies, in the case of Europe Salafist community leaders pushed for this, and the left recognized these political figures for being the more authentic representatives of their community than the westernized Muslims.
•    In the social/political discourse opinions become privileged over reason, and everything is driven by identity, also a short form dissertation reign in the world of social media feeds into this. Identity politics can start producing feedback in a way that makes political correctness more and more important, And this happens on both sides of the political spectrum eventhough it started on the fringes of the left.
•    Identity becomes none negotiable in the way they are conceived today, have paved the way to the death of political debate.
•    Society needs to protect the excluded and marginalized but also establish common goals, national identity creates the shared belief in the countries political system whether it be democratic or not. This identity can be embodied informal laws and institutions, for example, the recognition of an official national language .A official history within school curriculums plays a fundamental role in the construction of a common identity among many other things the state can do for its construction. The promoter of culture like poets, filmmakers, artist, musicians... tend to have a special place in culture. If people constantly question  there national identity seeking refuge in the more personal definition of identity, basically over time you'll have a  community not willing to seek common goals with other groups to achieve common national goals, this also eats away a the trust among communities killing social capital.
•    Fukuyama does not like the concept of dual nationality, ius solis should define nationality, assimilation is fundamental, common school desegregate communities, civics classes are extremely fundamental, the border must be controlled but a proper migratory policy needs
      
  
What I didn't like or Debatable Stuff:
•    The author revisits certain aspects of the theory of States and political philosophy that he has already touched in other books, it seems to be his go-to place for filler for Fukuyama.    
Overall:

Book Review of Jordan B Peterson's 12 Rules for Life, An Antidote to Chaos (2018)

12 Rules for Life, An Antidote to Chaos (2018)

By:  Jordan B Peterson

Why I Got This Book:

I discovered Jordan Peterson thanks to the  Counter Arguments channel on Youtube which had uploaded a fantastic video of Peterson in a interview on the BBC where the female host Cathy Newman just does not stop hammering at him  to expose that he issues against woman and that he's part of the alt-right and Jordan with an ability I have seldom seen before outmaneuvers her and actually flips the interview on her  and actually makes her prove his point. I was blown away with his debating skills, so I started to look up Peterson on youtube and discovered he was a pretty famous intellectual with some interesting and for some provocative points of view, so I set out to get this book because it came out right around the time I discovered Peterson, so here are my impressions.
Central Thymes:
•    Peterson affirms that it is a mistake to think that the main goal in life is the pursuit of happiness.
•    Individuals must balance in their interior conflict of order and chaos, their inner Yin and Yang, the author references Taoism as one of the cornerstone in how he views the world and how to fix people lives as a clinical psychologist. The author all leans heavily on Judeo-Christian beliefs too, referencing and analyzing many parts of the bible.
•    Jordan describes Order basically culture and its norms which facilitates cooperation among members of society, that is inclined to try to be constants and fixed, the male, while chaos is the unpredictable and the unknown of nature which is in constant change, the female.  For Peterson
•    Shared cultural systems stabilize human interaction and humans need values to act and perceive the pursuit of their goals which brings progress into their lives.
•    Anger is an important tool in life if used correctly can hold tyranny at bay on an individual and on a social level. Because if one does not channel this anger resentment can build creating monsters.
•    If there is no adversities, challenges or dangers in life it is not worth living.
•    Humans are aware of their defenselessness, finitude, and mortality, with this being the origin of great distress to many people, but this can be used as a double-edged sword that can be exploited.
•    Peterson affirms that he believes in equal opportunity but not in equality of outcome, which over time I have come to accept this as the most constructive way to view society.
•    Jordan establishes the Ethics is the philosophical study of morality, while Religion covers the domain of the ultimate value, which is not the scientific domain of empirical description. The Peterson explains that religion end is to teach us the proper behavior, stirring us to be a good person. Personally, I feel this is a pretty reductionist view of religion, that serves Peterson's purpose, but the behavior control aspect of religion is one small aspect of faith.
•    The way we see the world depends on our religious views, which even for an atheist who live in a culture that in the west, for example, is deeply influenced by Judeo-Christian values cannot escape.
•    Bible is the foundational document of Western Society, establishing its values, morality, and concepts of good and evil, personally, I feel this is a little bit an overstatement the Bible is extremely important but it is not the only foundational text that helps shape Western Society.
•    School shooters in the US are making an existential protest, it an act of religious fundamentalism even though they did not do it in the name of faith.  The conflict in their mind is working on a religious level the world and reality are an insufficient experience and are evil, which must be destroyed. 
•    Sacrifice a fundamental invention of humanity where human realize the passing of time and delaying gratification, to better one future. On a social level sacrifice and sharing forges ties of trust, collaboration, reciprocity, prestige and reputation in a community.
•    Most political debates participants focus on winning but not being right, this leads to leads to reinforcing preconceived notions that are actually are fixed and reestablished, leaving out the possibilities to learn something or being constructive.
•    Socialism and social reformers do not care for the poor, they just feel contempt towards the rich, their resentment fuels their auto perception of self-importance, just like SJWs.
•    Modern school systems are too hard on male trying to beat out many male traits that are fundamental to men when they adults.
•    Postmodern and Neomarxist thinker are obsessed with the concept of the patriarchy, the dominion of the white male, really indulging in victim culture using it as a political tool. They view culture as an oppressive structure, which Peterson establishes that this is ignorant and ungrateful, also shows how they have no understanding in history.  Peterson also brings up the topic that P/Ns have gotten to the point of questioning science which they affirm the scientist have vested interest in their finds, and literally, they are no true facts, everything is relative. It has gotten so bad that basic skills and competence are actually put into question.
•    Culture for  Peterson crushes individuals into acceptable shape, but it offers great gain for people because they inherited the gift of language and technology for example. Culture takes and gives, but when it's healthy it give generously.
•    The collective pursuit of a valued goal creates hierarchies and systems the establish who the winners and losers are.  
•    Nature is the primary oppressor of Women, not men.

What I liked :
•    The book is surprisingly honest and personal at moments. In the Audio Book which is narrated by Peterson himself he actually gets choked up talking about a tragic moment in his life. In other moments he surprisingly funny with his dry wit.
•    You almost get a Peterson biography in this book because he talks a lot about his own past and personal experiences.
•    The book is pretty odd oscillating from a self-help book to a political philosophical manifest. 
•    Peterson makes a lot of emphasis in how unique individual is and that they are infinitely complex.
•    The affirmation the Atheist are also religious people by Jordan is pretty bold which I share with him, they just don't know the god they serve
•    Peterson seems to have an admiration for Extreme Sports especially Skateboarding and surprisingly love watching the Simpsons.
•    Peterson references the works of  Carl Jung, Friedrich Nietzsche, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, Sigmund Freude and Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

What I didn't like or Debatable Stuff:
•    Some chapters are too long, as a reader, I tuned out at moments and may have messed out a couple of important points. Around chapter 10 the book started to lag a bit but picked up in the last chapter and the conclusion. 
•    Peterson talks a lot about religion but it is never clear if he actually believes in a true God or in a metaphorical philosophical  God. Peterson even though he talks a lot about the positive aspects of religion he seems pretty elusive about his own religious views.
•    The author talks a lot about power but never defines it, and it seems he uses it pretty lacksly.
•    Tends to consider postmodernist and hardcore Marxist are one and the same, which you sit down to break this down is a mistake, but which is not to say that most SJWs are armchair Postmodernist/ Marxist, which you cannot debate with, even if you have hard empirical evidence on your side, so even though Peterson is academically sloppy he's sort of right.
•    Many of Peterson affirmations are used for individual and on a broader social level, and the social world is too complex to have a one size fits all explanation, even though some of his ideas may explain things very well on an individual level but partially on a larger social level.  
•    Peterson does pander a little to a right-leaning or conservative point of views especially when talking about genders and other social issues.  For example, he makes many more references to the old testament than to the new, which conservative Christians love.
•    The man hates Elmo, he must be Evil and has a thing for lobsters jajajaja.
•    At moments you can tell that Jordan has a pretty big ego.
•    When Peterson refers to religion he just focuses how it is used to regulate behavior and it stirs people to be good but does not define good. Neither goes into metaphysical aspect of faith, only focusing on the social norms it generates, this can be problematic if you only view faith in these terms, because his views seem to be pretty sophisticated and seems to omit things to the reader.
•    Jordan has a strong position against the idea the Gender is purely a social construct, and establish that this is not up for debate for him this determined by biological factors.
Overall: The book gets an 8 out of 10, it gets you thinking.

and Taoist, one must balance the inner Order and Chaos, and people that prevail are able to want on the frontier between constants and change.  Peterson actually uses an interesting example that good music has a proper balance between predictable and unpredictable, which makes it artistically interesting.

Which is the Worst Book Ever? It's The Great Big Book of Horrible Things