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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"What shocks me about neoliberalism is how utterly unapologetic it is about the misery it produces."
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"What shocks me about neoliberalism in all of its forms is how utterly unapologetic it is about the misery it produces."http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/26885-henry-giroux-on-the-rise-of-neoliberalism
Henry Giroux on the Rise of Neoliberalism
Sunday, 19 October 2014 00:00
By Michael Nevradakis, Truthout | Interview
Henry Giroux discusses the increasingly negative impact of neoliberalism across the world, politically, socially, economically and in terms of education, and he offers some suggestions for what we must do now.
An interview with Henry Giroux:
Michael Nevradakis for Dialogics: Let's begin with a discussion about some topics you've spoken and written extensively about ... neoliberalism and what you have described as "casino capitalism." How have these ideas taken hold politically and intellectually across the world in recent years?
Henry Giroux: I think since the 1970s it's been the predominant ideology, certainly in Western Europe and North America. As is well known, it raised havoc in Latin America, especially in Argentina and Chile and other states. It first gained momentum in Chile as a result of the Chicago Boys. Milton Friedman and that group went down there and basically used the Pinochet regime as a type of petri dish to produce a whole series of policies. But I think if we look at this very specifically, we're talking about a lot of things.
We're talking about an ideology marked by the selling off of public goods to private interests; the attack on social provisions; the rise of the corporate state organized around privatization, free trade, and deregulation; the celebration of self interests over social needs; the celebration of profit-making as the essence of democracy coupled with the utterly reductionist notion that consumption is the only applicable form of citizenship. But even more than that, it upholds the notion that the market serves as a model for structuring all social relations: not just the economy, but the governing of all of social life.
I think that as a mode of governance, it is really quite dreadful because it tends to produce identities, subjects and ways of life driven by a kind of "survival of the fittest" ethic, grounded in the notion of the free, possessive individual and committed to the right of individual and ruling groups to accrue wealth removed from matters of ethics and social cost.
That's a key issue. I mean, this is a particular political and economic and social project that not only consolidates class power in the hands of the one percent, but operates off the assumption that economics can divorce itself from social costs, that it doesn't have to deal with matters of ethical and social responsibility, that these things get in the way. And I think the consequences of these policies across the globe have caused massive suffering, misery, and the spread of a massive inequalities in wealth, power, and income. Moreover, increasingly, we are witnessing a number of people who are committing suicide because they have lost their pensions, jobs and dignity. We see the attack on the welfare state; we see the privatization of public services, the dismantling of the connection between private issues and public problems, the selling off of state functions, deregulations, an unchecked emphasis on self-interest, the refusal to tax the rich, and really the redistribution of wealth from the middle and working classes to the ruling class, the elite class, what the Occupy movement called the one percent. It really has created a very bleak emotional and economic landscape for the 99 percent of the population throughout the world.
And having mentioned this impact on the social state and the 99%, would you go as far as to say that these ideologies have been the direct cause of the economic crisis the world is presently experiencing?
Oh, absolutely. I think when you look at the crisis in 2007, what are you looking at? You're looking at the merging of unchecked financial power and a pathological notion of greed that implemented banking policies and deregulated the financial world and allowed the financial elite, the one percent, to pursue a series of policies, particularly the selling of junk bonds and the illegality of what we call subprime mortgages to people who couldn't pay for them. This created a bubble and it exploded. This is directly related to the assumption that the market should drive all aspects of political, economic, and social life and that the ruling elite can exercise their ruthless power and financial tools in ways that defy accountability. And what we saw is that it failed, and it not only failed, but it caused an enormous amount of cruelty and hardship across the world. More importantly, it emerged from the crisis not only entirely unapologetic about what it did, but reinvented itself, particularly in the United States under the Rubin boys along with Larry Summers and others, by attempting to prevent any policies from being implemented that would have overturned this massively failed policy of deregulation.
It gets worse. In the aftermath of this sordid crisis produced by the banks and financial elite, we have also learned that the feudal politics of the rich was legitimated by the false notion that they were too big to fail, an irrational conceit that gave way to the notion that they were too big to jail, which is a more realistic measure of the criminogenic/zombie culture that nourishes casino capitalism.
- snip -
What shocks me about neoliberalism in all of its forms is how utterly unapologetic it is about the misery it produces. And it's unapologetic not just in that it says "we don't care," because we have a punishing state that will actually take care of young black kids and dissenting college students and dissenting professors who basically don't believe in this stuff. It also blames the very victims that suffer under these policies.
- snip -
How have neoliberalism and casino capitalism impacted the quality of education and also access to education?
That's a terrific question. Regarding the quality, it's dumbed-down education to the point where it literally behaves in a way that's hard to fathom or understand. Education has become a site of policies that devalue learning, collapse education into training, or they are viewed as potential sites for neoliberal modes of governance and in some cases to be privatized. The radical and critical imagination is under assault in most neoliberal societies because it poses a threat as does the idea that the mission of education should have something to do with creating critically thoughtful, engaged young people who have a sense of their own agency and integrity and possibility to really believe they can make a difference in the world. Neoliberals believe that the curriculum should be organized around testing, creating passive students, and enforcing a pedagogy of repression. Most importantly, the attack on communal relationships is also an attack on democratic values and the public spaces that nourish them. These spaces are dangerous because they harbor the possibility of speaking the unspeakable, uttering critical thoughts, producing dissent, and creating critically engaged citizens.
What is at stake here is the notion that thinking is dangerous. It's a policy that suggests that education is not about creating critically informed young people
MORE AT LINK
Henry Giroux (born September 18, 1943), is an American scholar and cultural critic. One of the founding theorists of critical pedagogy in the United States, he is best known for his pioneering work in public pedagogy, cultural studies, youth studies, higher education, media studies, and critical theory. In 2002 Routledge named Giroux as one of the top fifty educational thinkers of the modern period.
cheapdate
(3,811 posts)this question. There is an entire chapter devoted to "Asshole Capitalism".
The book explores questions such as, what is it to be an asshole? Do some societies generate more assholes than others? Does capitalism generate more assholes than other systems? Are assholes responsible for their assholery? What are the best strategies for asshole management?
The author, Aaron James holds a PhD from Harvard and is a professor of philosophy at UC Irvine.
It's a fascinating read, both fun and serious.
Capitalism, he argues, enriches and empowers assholes. It attracts the borderline assholes and turns them into full assholes. Capitalism has an inherently high rate of asshole production. Unchecked by traditional cooperative institutions, it can completely ruin a society. Ours is heading that way.
adirondacker
(2,921 posts)Thanks for the reference.
MontyPow
(285 posts)I wanted to see whether I fit the bill, which is probably why I haven't started reading it yet!
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Thanks for the tip!!
"Capitalism has an inherently high rate of asshole production. Unchecked by traditional cooperative institutions, it can completely ruin a society. Ours is heading that way."
Amen to that.
Baitball Blogger
(46,703 posts)They're as cold as small government types.
demwing
(16,916 posts)are not pushing for populist alternatives. They're fine with top-heavy, intrusive, oppressive systems as long as those systems are privately owned, not publicly held. They want us to confuse citizinship with consumerism because the only thing that can stop àn oligarchy is an educated, engaged citizenry.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)That law is supposed to be written by the People and enforced by the government of the People.
Seems quaint,...doesn't it.
demwing
(16,916 posts)then yes, holding the rich and powerful to the rule of law has become a very quaint concept, at least in some circles.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)"I'm gonna kill him."
"You can't kill him, he's the president."
"He's not the president, he's an ordinary person. I can kill an ordinary person."
Solly Mack
(90,764 posts)JEB
(4,748 posts)Helen Borg
(3,963 posts)"Friendship in an Age of Economics: Resisting the Forces of Neoliberalism"
It's really inspiring in many ways. It also makes you think about how deeply neoliberal forces are pushing to shape who we are and how we see ourselves in relationship with others. I really recommend it.
malaise
(268,968 posts)Even in the face of empirical evidence proving that the model is an abysmal failure, they steamroll the rest of us.
Cosmocat
(14,564 posts)does not matter, they just become MORE confident in how right they are.
What has increasingly led me to all but give up hope is that even in the face of a never ending stream of neoliberal disasters, the general public seems to gobble up their bullshit even more.
What recent history shows me, is that things have to be REALLY, REALLY bad for people to have any real awareness and do something to put them out of power (Bush totally running the country into the ground on EVERY front, so the 06 and 08 elections), but that the public QUICKLY gets back in line with them (2010).
Not sure you can beat it ...
supercats
(429 posts)Eloquently, and succinctly summed up what our world has turned into...All at the hands of our countries so called leaders. I wish he would speak on what can realistically be done about it.
brush
(53,776 posts)to unravel the grip neoliberalism and austerity have on our country/countries.
Hope it's not too violent or is a non-violent revolution an oxymoron?
At any rate, fasten your seat belts because it's going to be a . . . you know the line, right Betty Davis.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)brush
(53,776 posts)what then?
Some sort of action taken?
Power doesn't give up power voluntarily.
Dont call me Shirley
(10,998 posts)Remember the religious cults in the 1970s and 80s? Deprogramming was being used successfully to pull cult members out of their temporary insanity.
Dustlawyer
(10,495 posts)contributions! That would definetely take a whole lot of brave, committed people, which we don't seem to have at the moment. This would be the fight to retake control of our government from the Plutocrats, who bribe with campaign contributions and Super PACS! Not enough people believe this yet and the clock is ticking on climate change. Ever feel like a Lemming being pushed over the cliff?
AndyTiedye
(23,500 posts)and the people who hunger for freedom end up with a hard theocracy instead.
Here it woudldn't be Islamists, it would be "Christian" Dominionists.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Last edited Mon Oct 20, 2014, 08:13 AM - Edit history (1)
compared to radical Islamists over there.
CJCRANE
(18,184 posts)under Arafat, Saddam, Gadaffi and Assad.
That all changed in a few short years.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)It seems.
AndyTiedye
(23,500 posts)If the chain of command fails, as it would in a revolution, they get control of the nukes. Game over.
bvar22
(39,909 posts)Many Latin Americans have successfully reclaimed their countries through near bloodless Ballot Box
revolutions.
It CAN happen here too.
----Bolivian Reform President Evo Morales
[/quote]
Viva Democracy!!!
I hope we get some here soon.
brush
(53,776 posts)Was it Chile where the Friedman's Chicago Boys try their austerity experiment full on and it was a total failure.
That was rejected eventually also, right?
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)for saying it.
MisterP
(23,730 posts)it today!!!"
it's Stalinism with different state investment
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)Their ideology is so psychotic and, because it IS an ideology, no amount of argument, fact, or results will change their minds. There's only one way to fight this kind of mental pathology, which is why I'm a commie.
appalachiablue
(41,131 posts)to be dangerously ridden. Good one. Tx.
socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)It's VERY difficult to do and you're always in danger of being eaten.
appalachiablue
(41,131 posts)socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)BTW, you do realize that little aphorism is about the futility of trying to "regulate" capitalism. Regulation is impossible to do, at least over the long term. The only solution is to smash capitalism and build a socialist state.
Response to socialist_n_TN (Reply #97)
appalachiablue This message was self-deleted by its author.
socialist_n_TN
(11,481 posts)whereisjustice
(2,941 posts)it's every bit as toxic as neo-conservatism. Perhaps Hillary and the 3rd way can tell us.
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)the "geniuses" of the Democratic Party decided the biggest factor for their loss was money as the Democrats were being out-fundraised by a 3:1 margin. They ignored the fact that the inside-the-beltway boys HATED the Carters because they were not insiders and because Carter came from humble beginnings. When Carter was up for re-election the Democrats RAN from him. They gave him NO support. Now, add to that that the Republicans decided the race was going to be so close, they needed another faction of support -- enter the right wing Christians who, before this time, were considered to be on the fringe of society (and rightly so). This gave that group legitimacy and this country has been suffering from it ever since.
So, Reagan held office for 8 years and Bush Sr. for 4 years and the Democrats-In-Charge again decided that the problem was the money and that their candidates were too far to the left. Enter the Clintons and their Third-Way -- meaning that they make nice with the Big Boy Donors (Goldman-Sachs, etc.) and that they "triangulate" which means they took over the Republicans' platform (welfare "reform," elimination of Glass-Stegall, NAFTA, etc.), leaving liberals the middle class and the poor without any representation.
The Neo-liberals now have a stranglehold within the Democratic Party and they're not about to let go. They have many prolific and vocal representative right here on DU, defending the indefensible (torture, XL Pipelne, TPP, war without end).
There's only 2 ways out of this: a) Liberals need to take back the Democratic Party of b)a solution that is not allowed to be spoken of here at DU. (PM me and we can discuss.)
hfojvt
(37,573 posts)because he was a right-leaning southern Democrat.
Hence, the liberal lion, challenged him in a primary, lost, but took the fight all the way to the convention.
That, however, does not explain the multiple shellackings of Mondale and Dukakis.
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)a "right-leaning Democrat." Both Mondale and Dukakis were defeated not because they were liberal but because they were weak candidates which was handy when the DLC folks needed someone to blame for their losses and a reason to pull to the right which meant making nice with the Big Money Boys. How convenient.
JHB
(37,159 posts)...though Reagan added rocket boosters to that trajectory. And weird as it seems given what we have to deal with today, he used to be considered the moralizing prick who wore his religion on his sleeve.
But you're correct that the hawkish and "pro-business" side of the party didn't like him and didn't like the way he implicitly ran against them in 76, using changes in the primary structure to "run up the middle" and win the nomination without their support. He and his "Georgia mafia" didn't have good relations with the Democratic establishment in Washington.
There were rumblings of a Moynihan challenge in 1980, which may have been the factor that convinced Kennedy to do it, and once Kennedy was in Moynihan bowed out.
Let's also not forget the "Ed Koch wing", those voters who would single-issue vote on whether someone "helped" or "hurt" Israel, and they considered the Camp David accords a raw deal rammed down Israel's throat. Koch was quite gleeful at the electoral harm he did to Carter.
Finally, any discussion of the 1980 election that doesn't put the words "hostage crisis" at the forefront is more about grinding a favorite axe than discussing the election. Despite everything, Carter and Reagan were nearly neck and neck until late October. It was when it became clear to everyone that there would be no last-minute deal to release the embassy hostages, no "October surprise", that the numbers started the big shift to Reagan.
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)at least not the version we know and hate today; that was started in earnest by the Clintons. It's funny that, back then, Carter was considered a Centrist. Now he's considered a far left-wing liberal.
As for your last paragraph, I wholeheartedly agree. Nixon and Kissinger's sabotage of the Paris Peace talks in 1968 worked so well they thought they'd try it again in 1980 with the hostages. Worked out real well for them.
2banon
(7,321 posts)ronnie624
(5,764 posts)laying the groundwork for the extremism that would later result in the Taliban. That sort of self-serving interventionism is most certainly part and parcel to neoliberalism.
2banon
(7,321 posts)hfojvt
(37,573 posts)but that's what I read, for example
"Senator Jackson made a fateful decision not to compete in the early Iowa caucus and New Hampshire primary, which Jimmy Carter won after liberals split their votes among four other candidates. Though Jackson went on to win the Massachusetts and New York primaries, he was forced to quit the race on May 1 after losing the critical Pennsylvania primary to Carter by twelve percentage points. Carter then defeated Governor Wallace, his main conservative challenger, by a wide margin in the North Carolina primary, thus forcing Wallace to end his campaign."
...
"As Carter closed in on the nomination, an "ABC" (Anybody But Carter) movement started among Northern and Western liberal Democrats who worried that Carter's Southern upbringing would make him too conservative for the Democratic Party."
and also to appease liberals, Carter chose a liberal running mate.
"Carter then chose Minnesota Senator Walter Mondale, a liberal and political protégé of Hubert Humphrey, as his running mate."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,_1976#Democratic_Party
Then there was the primary challenge from Kennedy. What was THAT about?
As for Mondale being a weak candidate, well what made him weak? As a former Vice President he would have national name recognition, far more than Carter or Clinton who sort of came out of nowhere.
Le Taz Hot
(22,271 posts)He had name recognition but nothing that made him stand out other than Carter tagged him for the VP spot. As for his run at the presidency, he didn't have a whit of charisma, he had a dour look about him and people just weren't excited about him or his campaign. Anyway, that's what I remember.
Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)That's not what the electorate wanted to hear.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Well said.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)Phlem
(6,323 posts)She's inevitable!
deutsey
(20,166 posts)And not just through internet memes, but through political party rhetoric.
appalachiablue
(41,131 posts)Excellent article. As I heard Naomi K. say, 'the challenge is neoliberalism'. The power that the Transnational Corporate Class holds through this ideology is formidable and perhaps nothing less than a serious consciousness revolution could begin to try to change it. I see the term 'MARKET' in the MSM at least 5 times a day. Everything is for sale, has a price, and can be bought- even education/schools now. It's all about money. Other than the 1990s WTO demonstrations, I'm wondering if there are/have been protests or marches against Neolib. including the worst aspects of globalization.
hifiguy
(33,688 posts)Discovered him a few years ago and he cuts through the bullshit with a razor-sharp katana of clarity.
nationalize the fed
(2,169 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)governments have been thrown out and people like Hugo Chaves (sp wrong) put in its place. Also I think the protests in Egypt and the ME could be classified as a reaction to this. Also Greece has had some large protests. So other parts of the world are reacting - don't think we have - except maybe the results of the 2008 election where we all thought we were going to get change.
appalachiablue
(41,131 posts)resulting from decades of western influence. Also Occupy, like protests in Greece and other EU countries, formed after the 2008 financial/banking crisis-austerity. Unclear to me is whether these targeted Neolib. economics per se, not just capitalism.
My Point: did these or any other actions call out Neoliberal ideology as such. To me this is important. I didn't realize the vast, newer NL system until N. Klein put it together in her major book of mid-2000s. I often hear of the 'free market', and NL usually by liberals. Maybe splitting hairs or overlapping here. Will do more checking, thanks for the input.
(The documentary, 'Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse' (2012) used *Neoclassical econ. which might be an Australian usage because of the producer).
jwirr
(39,215 posts)austerity. Egypt and the ME countries I am not sure about them either. And don't forget Iceland. They as a country turned away from the idea of austerity.
I loved Klein's book. It opened my eyes as to a lot of what is going on in our own country now. We are fighting back but it is going very slow.
marmar
(77,078 posts)blackspade
(10,056 posts)K&R
jwirr
(39,215 posts)stab at an answer to the problem?
Cosmocat
(14,564 posts)the public gobbles their bulllshit up.
Part of the "beauty" of it is that all things being equal, it tunes into what people will viscerally react to.
If you have a really sharp person who laid all of this out in a campaign against a total POS, the good guy loses more often than not because people's eyes glaze over 3 seconds into the thoughtful discussion and the POS screams "HE HATES AMERICA!" and they vote for the patriot ...
jwirr
(39,215 posts)WHEN CRABS ROAR
(3,813 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)start the healing.
LeftInTX
(25,296 posts)greatlaurel
(2,004 posts)Yes, we can take back our world, but we are going to have to work very hard and be very creative at all levels. My only disagreement with Mr. Giroux is that we do need to work local, too. But he is correct in that local movements are too easily derailed. We need to show people that what they have been told on TV are a pack of lies to divide and conquer.
I do like his closing statement "Power is not just a one-shot deal. It doesn't mean you demonstrate in the street with 200,000 people and then you walk away. It's got to become more systemic. We need more than what my friend Stanley Aronowitz calls "signpost politics," the politics of banners. Mass demonstrations for climate change, for instance, are encouraging because they draw attention to a crucial threat to the planet and that's a pedagogical moment, but we have to go far beyond that. We need to create ideologically, politically, educationally, international organizations that can begin to bring their weight to bear on this global politics that now controls basically state politics and nations all across the world. This means moving from education to confrontation; it means moving from critique to action; it means moving from recognizing a crisis to the practice of freedom, one driven by sustainable organizations, self-sustaining resources, and the collective will to act."
mettamega
(81 posts)my only conclusion though we all look relative alike, there are really different levels of being a true human being with the intelligence of heart ...
valerief
(53,235 posts)PatrickforO
(14,572 posts)Neoliberalism sucks. It really does. It goes against every tenet of human decency, and has torn our social fabric out of our hands.
nikto
(3,284 posts)The evidence is out there.
Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)nikto
(3,284 posts)John Deasy, corporate-installed superintendent of LA School District (now leaving ),
is a classic example of a corporatist-neoliberal, whose actual mission in education was to deligitimatize
and crush Teacher's Unions and dis-empower teachers while establishing for-profit Charter Schools wherever feasible.
Any time he was attacked, or even questioned, he responded by using the language of the civil rights movement
and Martin Luther King (it's all about "children's civil rights" and giving "poor minority children a chance in life", etc etc etc),
which ofcourse are all admirable sentiments.
The only problem is that Deasy's priorities became pushing thru a well-over $1Billion corporate deal for IPADS, using
construction funds no less, that was obviously a crony deal from start-to-finish (phone call records confirm the collusion).
BEWARE CORPORATISTS WHO USE THE LANGUAGE OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT
TO FURTHER CORPORATE GOALS.
Hate to say it, but the languaging sure works on a lot of Liberals---hence the success of
the so-called school "reform" movement, which is actually a corporate hi-jack operation and
total deception on a nationwide scale.
blkmusclmachine
(16,149 posts)Jamastiene
(38,187 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Real nice. We certainly didn't vote for this bullshit.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)They are destroying the world right before our eyes.
Thank you, Hissyspit.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Is this who you really are?
Is this what you really are?
LWolf
(46,179 posts)is that Democrats have allowed neoliberalism to gain a foothold in the Democratic Party.
LiberalLovinLug
(14,173 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)are too busy working to survive to know what the actual policies are....They only hear the public speeches, which are full of lies.
The politicians proclaim loudly to care about all the same principles and policy goals of the old Democratic Party, while their actual policies quietly do just the opposite. And the MSM colludes by hyperventilating that they are all SOCIALISTS. No wonder people are confused and frustrated as hell.
Lies upon lies upon lies just this year:
Months ago: Obama's heavily publicized speech about reining in military involvement...followed immediately by a new war in Iraq, a new war in Syria, carpet bombing of a captive population in Gaza, and a TRILLION DOLLAR new nuclear weapons escalation.
Then: the shameless public claim to support net neutrality, when his own appointees are enabling corporate takeover of the internet.
Then: that jaw-dropping public proclamation: If you blow the whistle-You should be thanked & protected for doing the right thing," when we have all watched first-hand this administration's treatment of Chelsea Manning and Edward Snowden, and the vicious, systematic crackdown on whistleblowing in the federal government.
Then: Advertising and bragging about his plan to impose limitations on biotech monopolies for protection of citizens...and even putting the anticipated savings in his budget,....all the while making specific proposals to do exactly the opposite through the TPP.
Let's not forget DiFi's vows to "reform" NSA spying, when the actual proposals she wanted would actually entrench and legalize the vast majority of it.
In my state, Third Way Governor Terry McAuliffe ran his gubernatorial campaign on all sorts of specific things he would do to force Medicaid expansion, got into office, and changed his mind.
And that's not even to mention the mass propaganda machines whose tactics Edward Snowden revealed, aimed at the government's own citizens.
This is what we have come to in the United States of America. This is our lying, manipulative government on corporate money, waving flags on the teevee while sticking knives in our backs for their corporate masters. This whole country marinates in propaganda that tells us that 2+2=5, and our politicians are more liberal than ever.
Freedom is Slavery.
Ignorance is Strength.
Torturers are patriots.
And we are not spying on Americans.
We all live in Oceania now.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)Of course, I've been watching Democrats right here at DU excuse neoliberalism for more than a decade now.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)On one hand assuring us that corporate Democrats care passionately about and are working hard toward the very same populist goals...
....and on the other hand viciously attacking anyone who expresses those goals as "fringe," out of touch, out of the mainstream, extremist, wanting a pony, purist, crazy Leftist, Libertarian, TeaLeft....
LWolf
(46,179 posts)daleanime
(17,796 posts)liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)Zorra
(27,670 posts)ballyhoo
(2,060 posts)riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)heaven05
(18,124 posts)hadn't read truthout.org recently. Very informative 'interview' with Giroux. Explains a lot of the misery present in the current world and how it is possible for th RW, in america, to create a very ugly class-racial system that has everyone at each others throat while not keeping their eye on who's causing the racial and economic discord. thanks again.
raouldukelives
(5,178 posts)One can freely choose to be a part of it or apart from it. Being a part of it brings more money, more promotions and more luncheons.
Being apart from it pays much less but one isn't burdened by knowing that they are doing all they can, with the one life they have, to bring more pain to fruition for so many for the benefit of so few.
deutsey
(20,166 posts)rug
(82,333 posts)colsohlibgal
(5,275 posts)These are great thoughts by great thinkers and thinking, critical thinking is the key. Most people just accept way too much at face value. Like there is no historical evidence that even the government can lie, manipulate, and stonewall.
The republicans are the worst but neoliberals are not terribly altruistic either. Like the legions of Obama apologists. They equal the Dubya apologists. Both can rationalize about anything. You bring up the TPP to them and most don't even know what that is.
At this moment I don't see a good way out from this conundrum with the two morally bankrupt national parties having an electoral virtual monopoly. We elected a democrat in 2008 who talked a good game but before too long you knew it was in large part another bait and switch.
I fear we'll have to hit the skid pretty hard and then rev up something bigger than the civil rights marches to get any chance of real change.
Martin Eden
(12,864 posts)Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)They also learned that we had become so partisan most would not notice and the ones that did wouldn't care. Even now it is enough for many just to oppose the right just as much as it is on the right just to oppose the left, even if the things we do are the same things we were against in the past. Pride goes before the fall.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Go Team!
Divorce team loyalty from the actual policies, turn politics into a vapid sports event, and you can get people to cheer anything, up to and including Kill Lists and torture, food stamp cuts and austerity, fellatio of criminal bankers, criminalizing journalism, imprisoning whistleblowers, and endless war for oil...
ronnie624
(5,764 posts)How fascinating that the resident purveyors of the status quo have not yet commented.
mb999
(89 posts)It's a system of economic terrorism.