EU Riots--I’m not a political Marxist at all. But there is something very Marxian in what is happening. The capitalist system has produced this itself. This is what happens when the “reserve army” gets so big that it is no longer a reserve but permanently surplus.

Ideological clarity--Can someone please explain in tweet form exactly what is the "political Left" and more precisely, what is "leftism"? It appears empty of any specific content, ranging from communist, to social democrat, to green, to pro-Palestine, to even classical liberal.

Public Intellectuals--when talking politics & economics in public, we need clarity of domain. Political arguments concern power and control; economic arguments concern production and allocation. Political economy combines the domains, but that does not collapse the distinction.

Public Intellectuals--We need thought leaders. But sadly the media and social media landscape creates perverse incentives. There's a noticeable "radicalism" to their positions. That's the why you gain attention in public as an intellectual. Reasonableness is boring for the media.

European Riots--The commentariat is very, very, lazy: the explanation is something very, very, nebulous: ideology. The right wing is starting to sound distinctly like left wing critical theorists! What an irony.

Rationalists and empiricists step forward please. Time to push back on all this culture war "civilization doom" that has invaded social media. Let's have rational and empirical explanations. Yes. "facts and logic" in the best way. The rest is a rebirth of romanticism.

Riots & Culture Wars: Maybe the culture war warriors should read Occam. I have a simpler economics of crime explanation ... social media mob activation increases the expected benefits of looting and expression of unhappiness (arson). No need for soothsayerism about doom. Easy.

Civilization doomsters--This is a cult, and those professing the end of "Western Civilization" can only be correct. If it happens, they were correct. If it doesn't, they were correct because they forewarned it. Unfalsifiable opinion, that's all it is.

Riots & Remigration -- The riots are being interpreted as "we told you so" evidence for the populist right demanding remigration. Here's a challenge. How? And so much reporting indicate its 2nd & 3rd generation migrant youth. Remigration: really? Pure fantasy.

European riots -- Here is a very simple question that needs to be asked. Would you riot if you were not discontented? Would you riot if your life would be flourishing? I think everyone knows the answers.

Philosophy & social media--sometimes appreciation comes, out of the blue and from unknown people. It's something special: "Reading and enjoying your excellent essay, a real brain twister for the philosophically unschooled mind. Thank you for taking time out of your day to engage.

Israel-Palestine--Sometimes you discover gold nuggets of thought on social media. Here is one. It's an uncomfortable and tragic thought.

The Genocide discussion--I have a new essay on my substack that deciphers the use of "genocide" in the Israel/Palestine conflict. It is in short story form. matthewbraham.substack.com/p…