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Wijnberg, Rob
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4 articles of this author have been cited in the European Press Review so far.
Rob Wijnberg wants to be more than just Homo economicus
Modern life is completely determined by the economy and politicians are nothing more than accountants nowadays, chief editor and philosopher Rob Wijnberg complains in the liberal daily nrc.next: "Ministers are preoccupied with productivity, cutting costs and efficiency. Citizens are customers, patients are consumers of care, students are consumers of education, immigrants are cheap labourers, and the old are increasingly seen as growing cost factors. The gross national product is the measure of our well-being. Welcome to the Netherlands Inc. ... Anyone who describes the world as if it consisted only of rational and material processes without moral values or feelings playing a role is giving an incomplete or even extremely poor description. ... Today's leading class is so caught up in its concept of society as an economy and people as Homo economicus that it has lost sight of its morals. ... The political leadership would do well to combine its talk of growth with the idea of justice more often and replace the talk of quarterly figures with a vision for the future and the concept of prosperity through well-being."
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More from the press review on the subject » Politics, » Netherlands
Rob Wijnberg on the Dutch search for identity
A lively debate on national identity has been going on for several years in the Netherlands. Philosopher Rob Wijnberg lists in the daily NRC Handelsblad five factors - individualisation, de-ideologisation, economisation, globalisation and medialisation - behind the Dutch desire for community: "The self-dependent consumer inhabiting a wide world without truths has a need for a clearly delimited community which offers a sense of security on the basis of shared morals. In this respect the stormy rise of the [right-wing populist Party for Freedom] PVV should come as no surprise. The party answers individualisation by putting the morals of the majority over the freedom of the (foreign) individual; it fills the ideological void by raising national culture to an absolute norm; it combats the economisation of the public system; it takes a clear stand against global institutions like the 'European superstate'; and it cultivates like no other the mistrust and cynicism inspired by the mass media."
» full article (external link, Dutch)
More from the press review on the subject » Domestic Policy, » Weltanschauung, » Netherlands
Conspiracy theories arise out of mistrust
Climate change is the invention of environmentalists and the pharmaceutical industry is behind the swine flu: conspiracy theories are all the rage in the 21st century. No wonder, writes philosopher Rob Wijnberg in the daily nrc.next: "The rift between the people and politics plays a key role. Many people nowadays feel a deep mistrust in the government and the powers that be. As a result, theories purporting to explain how the world is controlled by an all-powerful elite sound all the more plausible. Conspiracies thrive in times of mistrust. But it must also be said that the 21st century has offered no shortage of cause for speculation. Lies about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq were used to justify the war there. A small group of bankers caused a global economic crisis, while the authorities continue to amass vast amounts of sensitive information about private individuals. With a track record like this the state can't exactly expect people's undying trust."
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More from the press review on the subject » Philosophy, » Global
Rob Wijnberg on modern man and the stress of making decisions
In an article in the business newspaper NRC Handelsblad Rob Wijnberg examines modern man and the constant need to make decisions: "This positive concept of freedom makes it clear why, faced with an increasing number of choices, people feel less and less free. For the more choices there are, the less they differ from one another. And the smaller the difference between the various options, the less reason there is to choose one over the other. ... This has been compounded by the advent of mass media, in which 1001 truths converge and compete with each other. ... The stress of having to make decisions is ... not just a matter of luxury or excess but also a question of upbringing, technology and the spirit of the times. The young people of today are growing up in a world in which almost everyone more or less agrees with one's parents, with the politicians and with other people. This produces less pronounced preferences and also a less pronounced identity than would sometimes be useful in a society which presents one with a new choice to make each hour of the day."
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More from the press review on the subject » Philosophy, » Netherlands
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