Venture Capitalist Weighs in, once again, on America’s Young

Here’s an article in which billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel expresses his concern about the coming generation, i.e., that they are prone to become communists.

In all honesty, I haven’t been following Thiel too closely.  At one point perhaps 25 years ago, he was offering to pay young people handsomely ($20K?) if they would do anything else in their lives but go to college.

What to make of that?  I always thought it meant that, as a prototypical capitalist, he thought that ours would be a better nation if our children were not exposed to liberal thinking, and that they went headlong into the workplace.

Here, however, he seems to be saying the opposite.  “If you proletarianize the young people, you shouldn’t be surprised if they eventually become communists,” he explained.  I suppose it’s possible that he doesn’t know what a “proletariat” is, i.e., a member of the working class, as described under Marxism.

What do you expect uneducated young people to become?  Doctors? Astronomers? Pulitzer Prize-winning authors?  No, sorry, that won’t work.  They can’t do algebra, let alone advanced biochemistry or physics.  They can barely read.  They can, on the other hand, mow lawns, flip burgers, pick crops, bus tables, or attend (the ever-diminishing supply of) cash registers.

You don’t want communists, and you don’t want affluence.  What do you want?