How WWII Doomed “Creativity” and Led to Its Takeover by Silicon Valley and Weapons Companies

Tucker Carlson (0:04)

Tom Frank, thank you for doing this.

Tom Frank (0:06)

Tucker Carlson, great to be here.

Tucker Carlson (0:07)

So you've got decades of experience writing books that make people mad.

Tom Frank (0:13)

Made them happy, made them laugh.

Tucker Carlson (0:15)

Exactly, but now you've written a book against creativity. How could you be against creativity?

Tom Frank (0:19)

Yeah, good question. So I'm not actually against creativity. I'm against the way the word has been like basically hijacked and used to excuse.

Well, I'll do the whole thing real quick here, plutocracy. So this word, which is a magical word, a word that describes what is most human and most valuable about us, has been taken over the years and used to describe, well, the American elite. They are creative, they are innovative. Why do they succeed? Because they are innovators.

You know, why should we admire them? Because they are creative. Why should we cut their taxes? Because that's how to get innovation going again, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And it's become a kind of a word for rationalizing rule by an elite.

Tucker Carlson (1:09)

What is creativity?

Tom Frank (1:11)

Well, look, it's supposed to be, the definition of it that people use is it's a kind of mental faculty that is analogous to IQ, but with two important differences.

Everybody can participate. IQ is supposed to be born in, it's genetic and it doesn't change in the course of your lifetime. The main idea behind creativity is that everybody can do it, and you can learn how to do it. So your creativity can change, you can get better at it as you go through life. Now, none of this is particularly scientific, and it all pretty much falls apart under scrutiny. But nevertheless, there's a reason that we admire artists, and we admire novelists, and we admire musicians, and we admire people that create. This is- Make new things. It's the spark of the divine in the human being.

Tucker Carlson (2:08)

Exactly. God created, we are made in his image, therefore we create.

Tom Frank (2:11)

Exactly.

Tucker Carlson (2:13)

It is the most beautiful and human thing, I think. Or among them, anyway.

Tom Frank (2:19)

Yes, the word, the problem is the way the word has been completely and utterly hijacked. And in some ways, it's- I'm sorry, I got ahead of you there. Should I-

Tucker Carlson (2:27)

No, no, no, not at all.

Tom Frank (2:30)

It's perfect for this kind of linguistic hijacking that I'm talking about, because it's something that we all love. It's something that there can be nothing wrong with it. And the same with the word innovation. You know how you see it everywhere? I saw it on a bus on my way up here. You know, it's like a bus line called innovative.

And this word is everywhere. And the reason that it's everywhere is because we admire it so much. There can be nothing wrong with this.

This is the noblest of human faculties. This is what makes our country prosperous. You know, this is supposedly what makes us unique among the nations, is that we're a creative people, we're an innovative people. And this is why our economy is, you know, or this is why we're such, you know, so affluent.

Tucker Carlson (3:15)

I did notice a change. I didn't, I mean, I noticed it, I didn't understand it as it was happening, but the creativity obviously undisputed good. But the creative class-

Tom Frank (3:26)

There you go.

Tucker Carlson (3:27)

Right, is a different thing. So the creative class was always viewed by suspicion, but I, in my perception, by the ruling class. The creative class was this kind of separate distinct thing. They live in Brenham's Village.

Tom Frank (3:40)

But Tucker, what if you redefine the creative class and you say they are the ruling class, or you say the ruling class are creative? How about that? Well, but this is really what happened.

Tucker Carlson (3:50)

Oh, yes.

Tom Frank (3:50)

So there's this huge best-selling book in, I think, 2002, it came out. Richard Florida was the author and it's called The Rise of the Creative Class. And this is the idea that this is the correct designation for the dominant class in America.

But he's using it to describe, he uses it to describe all sorts of people, not just artists, not just writers. But basically every manner of of white collar professional, highly educated professionals are, are quote unquote creative and they're this dominant elite. But because they're creative, we're supposed to look up to them, respect them, admire them, and do these massive public favors for them. And this was the, this was the upshot of that book and that theory. And by the way, it's still going. It's this is, there's cities all over America that are building, you know, constantly doing this, building special tax districts for creatives and special, you know, you know, supporting all kinds, well, you just think of all the things they did, building bike paths, you know, encouraging coffee shops, you know, doing, doing all this stuff to, to lure, to bring creatives to your city, because once you did that, then you would have prosperity.