The Message of Thomas Friedman’s New Book: It’s Going to Be O.K.
Dec 1, 2016 12:25 PM ET
Originally appeared on The New York Times
By JOHN MICKLETHWAIT
John Micklethwait is the editor in chief of Bloomberg.
From Donald Trump to Brexit to Marine Le Pen, one thing that unites the unhappy West is a profound sense of mystification. Across Europe and North America, people have an acute feeling that their world is accelerating away from them — but they can’t quite understand why. There is no narrative. Hence the attraction of leaders who “tell it like it is” and identify convenient scapegoats, like immigrants or the European Union. But what most people really crave is an honest explanation. As with patients on a psychiatrist’s couch, the first step is to understand what is going wrong. Then you can decide on the medication.
