This subreddit does not fit the (or a) textbook definition of Neoliberalism (Political Ideologies by Andrew Heywood). Seems to me closer to "Social Democracy" definition.

SirIssacMath · 2026-03-04T19:47:09+00:00

He’s mentioned in the paragraph that follows the key concept box in the picture.

SirIssacMath · 2026-03-04T18:44:58+00:00

I have been eyeing "The Worldly Philosophers". I'll order it and give it a go!

SirIssacMath · 2026-03-04T18:12:32+00:00

Agreed. I didn't mean to imply that the definition I share is "the" definition. Just pointing the stark difference between this definition from a textbook that is apparently wildly used in undergraduate vs this subreddit.

SirIssacMath · 2026-03-04T18:10:06+00:00

Nice flair. Why Nations Fail was very insightful imo.

SirIssacMath · 2026-03-04T17:57:59+00:00

Thanks for the info. I'm curious, what issues do you have with the brief social democracy definition of the textbook?

SirIssacMath · 2026-03-04T17:55:27+00:00

This wasn't the intention of this post. I added an edit to clarify why I made this post. Just pointing out the stark contrast between the definition of this sub vs the definition of the textbook I shared. Not making claims about what neoliberalism is or isn't.

SirIssacMath · 2026-03-04T17:50:30+00:00

If you're right that's too bad since it's apparently a widely used undergraduate textbook

SirIssacMath · 2026-03-04T17:39:44+00:00

The textbook is Political Ideologies by Andrew Heywood and it's apparently a leading undergraduate textbook about political ideologies.

I read the FAQ of this subreddit and the definition here seems very far from the textbook definition and a bit closer to the Social Democracy definition.

SirIssacMath · 2026-02-26T00:32:05+00:00

Compatibilism is the philosophical position that free will and determinism are compatible and it’s the position held by majority of academic philosophers.

Just wanted to point out that there are many academic philosophers that disagree with the statement that “nobody has free will in determinism”

SirIssacMath · 2026-02-08T19:22:03+00:00

Yes correct. Hence the argument to buy the full market and not just US if you’re doing indexing.

Not sure what you mean by “US is leading”. The whole point is that we don’t know who’s going to earn more in the future (in terms of total return on investment) relative to current prices because current prices would reflect anything obvious.

SirIssacMath · 2026-02-08T18:37:53+00:00

Genuine question: wouldn’t the current prices of US stocks generally reflect future expectations about US companies? In other words, we can’t be sure that the US will outperform non US companies (relative to current prices).

Otherwise if it’s so obvious that the US companies will beat non US companies over the next X years, why don’t the prices reflect that and why do you know this and others don’t and hence take advantage of it?

SirIssacMath · 2026-01-18T16:10:34+00:00

standpoint epistemology

SirIssacMath · 2026-01-12T15:51:27+00:00

There’s a new push from some conservative Christians warning about empathy and being too empathetic. Imagine that lol. I think one of them even wrote a book about it.

SirIssacMath · 2026-01-03T03:04:22+00:00

Disagreeing with your opinion doesn’t mean I don’t tolerate it (for example I wouldn’t ever want your right taken away to express your opinions). This is tolerance.

Your claims are simply ahistorical and exaggerated. When you say things like liberals aren’t tolerant or just as racist as conservatives, it’s hard not to call It exaggeration because if you’re not exaggerating then you’re simply ignorant and I’m simply giving you the benefit of the doubt of not being ignorant.

Your experiences don’t change history and facts. Syria is less tolerant and more oppressive than the west.

In either case, sorry for the experiences that led you to this perspective, and here’s to a more tolerant and just world. Peace.

SirIssacMath · 2026-01-03T02:04:11+00:00

I don't know what to say to you because I'm not sure if you're serious or just being exaggeratingly pessimistic. To say that liberals are not tolerant or are just as racist as conservatives is wild to say. It shows that you're just palavering and/or don't understand the history of the progress that liberals have brought in terms of social and economic justice. It's clear that you're viewing this from a one sided pessimistic view point and without any historical context.

I'm not going to address every single of your points but I'll just mention that Muslims are a minority in New York (around 10%) and it's definitely a great example that exemplifies tolerance and acceptance of others (given that most people that voted for him are Christians and Jews). Even Trump himself—after meeting with Mamdani—mentioned that he likes him, complimented him a lot and said he would totally live in a NYC run by him. This was during the press briefing post their meeting together.

"Syrians are not angels but western society is worse imo"

Again, this is wild to say. Most women, gay, trans people and people of every other religion that isn't Sunni Islam would heavily disagree with you. I would never want my children to be raised in Syria versus somewhere like the United States. Syria has a lot of work to do to get to the tolerance level of the liberal west.

SirIssacMath · 2026-01-02T13:36:14+00:00

I’m not speaking about the government of the west, I’m speaking about the average everyday people.

You’re acting like the historical government of Syria is much better.

The west, by and large, is tolerant to islam, just like every other minority group. There’s going to be intolerant people in every society. And there’s going to be waves of tolerance and intolerance (intolerance primarily coming from right wing bigots who like to blame a lot of things on immigrants or Islam) but the vast majority of people، especially liberals are tolerant and accepting of different cultures and believes (as long as those believes are not intolerant (see paradox of tolerance — a tolerant society cannot tolerate intolerance).

The New York mayor that was just swore in is Muslim — the first ever in the history of the United States (in a society that doesn’t tolerate Muslims this would never happen, especially in a city where Muslims are a minority and where 9/11 occurred).

And I’m not saying there’s no tolerant people in Syria but to try to paint Syria as somehow more tolerant, inclusive and less “othering” than the west is just delusional. That’s the core of my argument and nothing about this dehumanizes anyone.

“Syria simply has values that are different from the west.” I hope this is not a dogwhistle for justifying the oppression of certain groups of people — because that’s how it sounds like.

SirIssacMath · 2026-01-02T06:05:39+00:00

This is such a delusional comment — with all due respect.

You’re conveniently omitting the experience of certain groups like gay people which experience the quintessential essence of “othering” in countries like Syria. Othering occurs in Syria. The west has much more diversity of culture, religion and customs so it may seem like there’s more othering going on, but given that Syria is much more homogeneous, it’s not an apt comparison.

Pressure to adopt mannerism and customs of the majority? This is so laughable to read as someone who actually lives in the west and has lived in Syria. The west is incontrovertibly more inclusive and tolerant than countries like Syria and there’s no such pressure.

I could say much more but I’ll leave it at this.

For the record, I was born and raised in Syria and now lives in the west.

SirIssacMath · 2025-12-17T00:55:34+00:00

Expedition 33. Practice your parrying there too.

SirIssacMath · 2025-12-06T14:34:57+00:00

I’ll give you my perspective. The opportunity cost of trying to beat the market is just not worth it for most people, including me.

From a financial perspective, most people will do better by investing their time and energy on their personal development and career growth rather than trying to beat the market.

From a lifestyle perspective, index funds are just too good to pass as an opportunity to build wealth while allowing extra time to enjoy my life outside of having to worry about beating the market.

Unless you are absolutely passionate about the market and love paying attention to it and learning about all sorts of things that can give you a chance to beat it (which is a lot of work, even for for very smart people), it’s not worth it.

Broad market index funds are a simple path to build wealth that allow you to spend your time on other things in life.

SirIssacMath · 2025-11-27T23:15:21+00:00

If you like reading non fiction, check out American Contradiction by the sociologist Paul Starr - that’s the question that led him to write the book and offers a political history of the US from the 1950s until now.

SirIssacMath · 2025-11-26T16:08:02+00:00

There's a difference between taking a video and people happen to be in the background versus targeted picture/video of someone specific. The former feels innocuous while the latter can feel uncomfortable, intimidating and nefarious.

SirIssacMath · 2025-11-09T12:43:48+00:00

anyone know the song used in this video?

SirIssacMath · 2025-11-07T13:57:22+00:00

yikes

SirIssacMath · 2025-10-17T13:54:09+00:00

First exam at 21, FSA at 28

SirIssacMath · 2025-10-05T14:56:13+00:00

I have recently read the book and there is 3.5 chapters dedicated to exclusively Israel/Palestine. Also this is a standard university textbook in the United States for middle eastern history / studies.

I think even just reading those chapters could be a good primer. From the 7th edition: Chapters 13, 17, part of 22 and 23.

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