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David Priestland\’s nonsense

Not that I\’ve watched the video you understand, but if this captures it then the man\’s a fool:

David Priestland: \’Merchant ideology has come to dominate the political class\’ – video

For as Dierdrie McClosky has pointed out at great length it\’s exactly these merchant, bourgeois, virtues becoming those of the larger society which create the industrial revolution, wealth and the consequent longer lifespans and the prospect of a regular three squares a day.

Historian David Priestland argues in his latest book that history can be seen as a series of battles between four distinct groups: merchants, warriors, sages and workers. When one group becomes dominant, he says, a crisis is never far away

Everyone living to 70, well fed, housed and with even a change of clothes sounds like the sort of crisis we can deal with.

7 thoughts on “David Priestland\’s nonsense”

  1. “four distinct groups: merchants, warriors, sages and workers. When one group becomes dominant, he says, a crisis is never far away.”

    He’s probably right about the warriors and sages.

  2. @Nigel Sedgwick

    Freeloading is just an extreme aspect of mercantilism, isn’t it? I know I wouldn’t pass up on a free lunch if I found one…

  3. Whilst he says all 4 groups should be in balance, he actually thinks the sages should have the upper hand (sages included history professors). He was on Broadcasting House press panel on Radio 4 last Sunday and he advocated central planning.

    Kip’s law in action.

  4. Bile, black bile, melancholy, choler
    Earth, air, fire, water
    Merchants, warriors, sages, workers.
    Aristotle (who was wrong about everything) has his modern disciple.

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