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My low regard for Jacobin Magazine should be obvious enough by now. And what I think of this article on an ongoing Canadian scandal is no exception. https://jacobinmag.com/2020/07/kielburger-trudeau-charity-canada
Part of my dislike of Jacobin is its tone. It's not that it represents a sort of jargon-prone left mostly interested in preaching to the converted (there are far worse offenders). No, what I particularly abhor about it is what I could call "Infomercial Optimism".
I refer to the inevitable infomercial sequence where they show you some trashy product that you're currently using, and it doesn't work (say, a can opener). It's in black and white, the actor overacts terribly and just throws the opener away in despair to dramatic musical cues.
It's not enough for the can opener to not work; it's shown as a full calamity. The handle breaks off. The blade won't stay in the can. Soup is splashing all over the place as it is opened. The actor cuts his finger trying to remove the lid and it's like he's bleeding to death.
And then like it's the bleeping Wizard of Oz after the sepia Kansas sequences, the image switches to colour as the screen sparkles: INTRODUCING the miraculous new can opener of the age, etc. etc., at the limited-time offer of four easy payments of... well, you know the gimmick.
Well, Jacobin Magazine reminds me of that, with the difference that they appear to be genuinely convinced of what they're selling.
Just like their infomercial counterpart, they too are fond of saying their product is revolutionary, even though it's just another damn can opener.
Just like their infomercial counterpart, they too are fond of saying their product is revolutionary, even though it's just another damn can opener.
I have no fondness for capitalism as it is. And it might well be as dramatically bad as the infomercials think my old can opener is.
But Jacobin's overwhelming naiveté of their idealism is not unlike the brazen shamelessness of the infomercial's proposed remedy for my kitchen.
But Jacobin's overwhelming naiveté of their idealism is not unlike the brazen shamelessness of the infomercial's proposed remedy for my kitchen.
As far as US politics is concerned, I was quite fond of Sanders, but the Jacobin crew just elevated him to something of a demigod.
It would have been lucky if he achieved one-tenth of what he set out to do, through no fault of his own.
The reality check would have been severe.
It would have been lucky if he achieved one-tenth of what he set out to do, through no fault of his own.
The reality check would have been severe.
It becomes especially obvious when you start looking at Jacobin's coverage of other countries.
What's perplexing is that they tend to be relatively well informed of the local problems, but the solution is the same one-side-fits-all imported from the US Left, its target audience.
What's perplexing is that they tend to be relatively well informed of the local problems, but the solution is the same one-side-fits-all imported from the US Left, its target audience.
In some cases the articles seem to be written to directly rebuke arguments made by American liberals.
Their treatment of Canada is quite telling in this regard. It never goes beyond a primer of Canadian politics, with special emphasis recently on "debunking" Justin Trudeau.
Their treatment of Canada is quite telling in this regard. It never goes beyond a primer of Canadian politics, with special emphasis recently on "debunking" Justin Trudeau.
But I would be extremely surprised if any Canadian leftist ever thought Trudeau was not bunk in the first place. (As for the Conservatives, what they think of him goes without saying.) The target audience here: the US Democrats who offered Trudeau as a model of statesmanship.
For example, this from September 2016, i.e. before Trump was elected, and three years before the next scheduled Canadian federal election, so not intended for Canadian voters. (Also that title, which sounds not left-Schmittian but kindergarten playground.) https://jacobinmag.com/2016/09/justin-trudeau-unions-environment-arms-saudi-arabia
Or this, from April 2019, which "exposed" Trudeau's "fake progressivism", a revelation that surprised exactly nobody who isn't a Liberal supporter on this side of the border. https://jacobinmag.com/2019/04/kinder-morgan-trans-mountain-pipeline-resistance
The tone of Jacobin on Trudeau has remained more or less unchanged by the article at the top of this thread (published last July 31st).
There was a federal election meanwhile and the Liberals were re-elected with a minority government, down from a majority in 2015.
There was a federal election meanwhile and the Liberals were re-elected with a minority government, down from a majority in 2015.
The scandal the article details is the kind of thing that's par for the course for the Liberal Party: a government contract given out to a high-profile charity to which some high-profile Liberals (including the finance minister) have ties, which charity also has a for-profit arm.
The details in the Jacobin article are accurate as far as I can tell so I will leave them at that.
The real question I'd like to put to Jacobin is, okay, where do we go from here?
And that's where their proposals usually start going off the rails.
The real question I'd like to put to Jacobin is, okay, where do we go from here?
And that's where their proposals usually start going off the rails.
