In America, Only Some Ideas Are Worth Spreading
The Article: In America, Only Some Ideas Are Worth Spreading by Savannah Cox in The Speckled Axe.
The Text: What would you do if an incredibly successful venture capitalist had the audacity to tell you that–despite his extended residency at the top of the US totem pole of wealth and the conventional “wisdom” that surrounds Reagan-initiated “trickle down” economic thought–the wealthy don’t actually create jobs and they need to be taxed more, not only for their own well-being but for that of the middle class and the poor? Furthermore, what if he presented his reasoning (the same kind of off-the-wall, game changing revelations that would get you shunned or scorched by presiding authorities in centuries past) with relevant examples, facts and figures to elucidate his point to a broader audience capable of turning one man’s speech into tangible, national changes?
Given the alarming truth that the American wealth gap is on its way to rivaling the Mississippi River in both width and divisive power, you might think that this would be an idea definitely worth spreading–especially by an organization whose mission is just that. You might also think that this idea, grounded in experience and concern for the welfare of Americans across the board, would transcend the increasingly prickly lines of political ideologies that unfortunately define our time.
You would, however, be wrong. Moreover, you’d never really know how you’d respond to such an idea because it’s been censored for being “too political” and partisan for a public already suffering through the familiar derisiveness and vitriol abundant in presidential election seasons. In this case, the venture capitalist in question is Nick Hanauer, the first non-family investor in Amazon.com and the censoring organization at hand is TED, the geek chic franchise known throughout Internet and international communities for spreading innovative and often contentious ideas to the public via “TED talks.”
Back in March, TED curator Chris Anderson approved Hanauer’s topic, economic and income inequality, to be delivered and recorded for TED audiences around the world. Yet upon reviewing the speech in April Anderson became much more apprehensive about its appropriateness for release. In one e-mail to his other colleagues, Anderson stated that Hanauer’s discussion “probably ranks as one of the most politically controversial talks we’ve ever run, and we need to be really careful when we post it.” And a few weeks later, TED pulled the plug on airing one business man’s so-called controversial assessment of contemporary economic policies currently contributing to the exorbitant wealth acquisition of the few at the expense of the many.
While we might not ever be able to witness Hanauer’s delivery on YouTube, the text has surfaced on the National Journal and is now available to the public. The saddest part, though, is that his thoughts aren’t even that startling, especially within the context of today’s rather macabre socioeconomic backdrop. In an epoch where United States leaders raise monolithic corporations and their pinstriped profiteers to quasi-Godlike statuses, speaking plainly and honestly about the ills of a system that consistently favors a small, über-wealthy elite is almost considered blasphemous–and worse, it is something that apparently warrants censorship.
Beyond saying what everyone already (or should already) know–that the income share of the richest Americans has nearly tripled and their taxes have declined almost 50% since 1980–some of Hanauer’s other seemingly sacrilegious statements included the following:
“I have started or helped to start, dozens of businesses and initially hired lot of people. But if no one could have afforded to buy what we had to sell, my business would have failed and all those jobs would have evaporated…
Rich businesspeople like me don’t create jobs. Rather they are a consequence of an eco-systemic feedback loop animated by middle-class consumers, and when they thrive, businesses grow and hire, and owners profit. That’s why taxing the rich to pay for investments that benefit all is a great deal for both the middle class and the rich.”
Granted, as a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, TED officials are perfectly entitled to release or abstain from releasing talks as they see fit, and it is true that these ideas and concerns are markedly more prominent in one political party (and by “markedly more prominent” I mean that they merely exist) than the other. Just this afternoon, Anderson released a statement refuting Hanauer’s claims of censorship.
However, none of what Hanauer said is any more controversial than issues raised in TED talks years past. What’s more, as it serves as the marrow of an economic foundation designed for growth, prosperity, and sustainment, the disintegration of the American middle class (which is now becoming as scarce as ice in the North Pole) is an issue that doesn’t affect only the 99%, the 1%, the liberal “elitist” Americans, fire-blooded conservatives or even the Paul Bot übermenschen. Its demise impacts everyone. That alone should transcend ideological divisions sliced deep into our national soil, but it doesn’t. Today, candidness and criticism of institutions don’t breed discussion, they breed silence. And in a nation founded on the dissent of a few, there are few things more dangerous than that.
