"Shock Doctrine" Shock

[marmar]

I'm just over 90 pages into Naomi Klein's "Shock Doctrine" and I'm already in need of a mental health break. As compelling a must-read as the book is, it's also overwhelming. I'm in the section now about the University of Chicago/Friedman disciples interventions in Latin America - it's been a shocking bit of education for me. It will also cause you to think all kinds of unsettling thoughts.
This little section, focused on Pinochet's overthrow and assasination of Allende, encouraged by the "Chicago Boys," I find particularly horrifying:

"For the Chicago Boys, September 11 (1973) was a day of giddy anticipation and deadline adrenaline. Sergio de Castro had been working down to the wire with his contract in the navy, getting the final sections of "The Brick" approved page by page. Now, on the day of the coup, several Chicago Boys were camped out at the printing presses of the right-wing El Mercurio newspaper. As shots were being fired in the streets outside, they frantically tried to get the document printed in time for the junta's first day on the job. ......
"The proposals in the final document bore a striking resemblance to those found in Milton Friedman's "Capitalism and Freedom": privatization, deregulation and cuts to spending - the free-market trinity. Chile's U.S.-trained economists had tried to introduce these ideas peacefully, within the confines of a democratic debate, but they had been overwhelmingly rejected. Now the Chicago Boys and their plans were back, in a climate distinctly more conducive to their radical vision. In this new era, no one besides a handful of men in uniform needed to agree with them."

And all of that relates to the book's thesis:

The corporatist alliance is in the midst of conquering its final frontiers: the closed oil economies of the Arab World, and sectors of Western economies that have long been protected from profit making - including responding to disasters and raising armies. Since there is not even the veneer of seeking public consent to privatize such essential functions, either at home or abroad, escalating levels of violence and even larger disasters are required in order to reach the goal. Yet because the decisive role played by shocks and crises has been so effectively purged from the official record of the rise of the free market, the extreme tactics on display in Iraq and New Orleans are often mistaken for the unique incompetence or cronyism of the Bush White House. In fact, Bush's exploits merely represent the monstrously violent and creative culmination of a fifty-year campaign for total corporate liberation.

If 90 pages has caused me this much mental anguish and prompted all these conspiratorial thoughts (and I'm not a conspirancy theorist at all), I'm going to be in a straight jacket by page 466........
I think I need a glass of wine now. :tinfoilhat:


PS - READ THIS BOOK!

[JDPriestly]

1. Everyone on DU should read that book. Based on my experience

in life, I suspect it is oversimplifying some complex things, but Naomi Klein makes a really compelling argument. If you can't read anything else, read The Shock Doctrine.

[jonnyblitz]

2. I finished it a few days ago. excellent book.

I second your recommend.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. I'm about halfway through it

and all kinds of things are starting to make sense now.

Follow the money.

[Greyhound]

4. Here's your 5th. n/t

[Ilsa]

5. Happy to be K&R# 6. I don't have the book (yet) but heard alot

about it, and it makes perfectly evil sense. Concentrating on the history of shock doctrine leaves less to be argued with, versus dry financial theory and opinion.

[Greyhound]

6. I am so happy to see this thread.

While I haven't read the book in question, I've studied this arena for years and was stunned then at how influential this tiny group of ignoramuses have been. Every Fed chairman has, since the 70s, has been one of them or a disciple, and there has been an uninterrupted loot-fest of our national treasure, because of this.

Ignorance is truly bliss, though it is often very expensive.

[yardwork]

61. The other pillar of this corporatist takeover is torture and its developers.

The book begins with a review of the history of electroshock and sensory deprivation experiments. The CIA funded psychiatric research at universities and hospitals that became the torture manual in the early 1960s. That torture manual was used by U.S. operatives throughout the 60s, 70s, 80s, and 90s in Latin America and other places to help corporate-friendly regimes take over democracies. Aftrer 9/11, this approach to torture came out in the open and the U.S. government now blatantly defends its use.

All the events we have witnessed unfold and discussed here on DU - the Patriot Acts, the determination that people grabbed in Afghanistan and Iraq and now the U.S. and anywhere else are not POWs but "enemy combatants" without any rights, pictures from Abu Ghraib, eyewitness accounts of Guantanamo Bay, Jose Padilla's torture, extraordinary renditions, secret U.S prisons throughout the world, president's signing statements, Alberto Gonzalez's memos, arguments about "waterboarding" and on and on - this is all part of the codification and justification of torture.

Klein's thesis is that corporatists wait for a natural "shock" to occur - a disaster of some kind. When one presents itself, as did 9/11, the Indonesian tsunami, Hurrican Katrina, the U.S. military and corporations dive in and administer a second "shock" - they militarize and privatize everything while the population is reeling and unable to fight back. Then, the third "shock" - literal electroshocks, sensory deprivation, brutalization, and other forms of torture - are administered to individuals to break down any remnants of resistance.

The desired end result? A nation - and ultimately world - where tax dollars are paid directly to private corporations to do as they wish without any consideration for human needs or morals.

[defendandprotect]

69. Expert at propaganda --- willing to use violence in any event ---

a brutal ideology --

Is the Democratic Party interested in stopping them --- ???

If not, we may be wasting our time there --- ???

[Greyhound]

72. We have to disabuse ourselves of this notion that the Democratic Party

is actually an opposition party. They consist of and serve the same ruling class that the Republiks do, that should be obvious to anyone by now. We are, as we always have been, on our own.

Make friends and build your network, you will need them.

[defendandprotect]

77. Maybe this should be a PM . . . however . . .

then why are we here at DU, I frequently wonder --- ???

Why is it TABOO to mention the Green Party or any other third party alternative--?

I'm here trying to figure this out --- ?

Most people here, IMO, think that there is something left of the party --
and they are optimistic that they can work out something thru what's left ---

Are some of us here to wake them up --- ?

I think there are threads appearing now which point to outright BETRAYAL ---
but there is still hope here . . . .

And NO talk of plan B --- a question I've been raising for months --- !!!

[Greyhound]

84. Well I'm here because my girlfriend got me hooked.

I've met some intelligent, interesting people. Unfortunately DU is a good sized sample of America, so there are a disturbing number of the other kind here too.

Because of the way the system is rigged, I don't think that there is much hope of a third party making any difference, let alone gaining power. History is once again repeating itself and will follow the same course it always has.

Sooner or later things will get bad enough that a critical mass of people will realize that it is us vs. the ruling class and then the next stage will begin. My hope is that this happens before I'm too old to be more than a victim of what is coming.

[defendandprotect]

91. Soundly stated . . . and well understood ---

I don't care what the political label is --- we need a breakthru --
time is running out re Global Warming ---
the oil industry has managed to keep that a non-issue for decades!

[nxylas]

99. Because this is a Democratic Party site

The "Democratic" in "Democratic Underground" signifies loyalty to the Democratic Party, not to democracy itself. The party could nominate Augusto Pinochet as their candidate and DUers would still be expected to fall in line behind him.

[bbgrunt]

7. I just was reading this and took a break to

check DU. I am sick at heart. The people in this country have been naively complicit in all this horrible history--and now it is coming to our shores.

Naomi Klein has written a revolutionary book. We need to understand that what is happening is AGENDA DRIVEN. It is not due to stupidity or incompetence of the current administration. That is simply the cover. It is a much broader attack on human rights and control for the benefit of the few. Everyone needs to understand this before we can begin to address it.

[liberalla]

27. If only it were incompetence! We could work on that!

Understanding that it's all by design is what twists my stomach in knots.

[Joanne98]

31. Incompetence by design. They're human cash registers!

[Auggie]

34. Just saw your post bbgrunt. I agree completely (post #33)

[nadinbrzezinski]

8. all them dots are getting connected, aren't they?

and I am at that page or so too... and problem is I have seen the effects of some of this. The PAN also makes sense in Mexico too

[mirrera]

9. Keep reading no matter what!

I am now 3/4 through and the learning is incredible. I have to read some chapters twice. Very important book. Naomi Klein, and naomi Wolff...bravo!
Edit to add companion books: The Economic Hitman by Perkins, and Overthrow by Kinzer.

[Triana]

10. Got it on CD - am about 3/4 of the way through...

....it is a MUST READ.

[pnorman]

23. It's also available in Audible.com format

Here it is: http://tinyurl.com/2ayu28 I just finished listening to it for the second time a few days ago. It's probably retained better when read rather than listened to, but audible still has some major advantages.

pnorman

[Lorien]

26. It's on iTunes too

same format, about $2 cheaper.

[pnorman]

65. I didn't know that. What's the size of that ipod file?

Audible.com uses a fairly efficient system of data compression, and also allows a wide choice of compression. I have that book in my computer as "quality #3" (a quality higher than really needed for voice). It comes in two parts, totaling 73MB. That's a little over 9 hours of listening time. As for price: if you subscribe to a plan as I do, they cost $10 each each REGARDLESS of stated price. Since some of the books in the catalog are pretty high, if it's anywhere near $10, I buy it at that price rather than "squander" my credits.

To anyone interested in such books, check the Audible.com webpage to make sure that your player is supported. (most are). And once you've purchases a book, it's there at their webpage forever (or as long as they're still in business). You can download it as many times and at whatever quality as you wish

pnorman

[Blue_In_AK]

11. This is such an important book.

It should be required reading for everyone. It was especially illuminating for me because discussions of economics usually make my eyes glaze over, but this was really interesting in the sense that I could hardly put it down. Everything makes so much more sense now.

[burrowowl]

12. And also read

Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States". Corporatism is not new to the U$ of A,it has just gotten worse and the People more brainwashed since Ray-Gun

[EVDebs]

13. All The President's Men footnote re 'Chilean investors'

The operation to unseat Allende via CIA money could be the source of the monies coming back to Nixon via the unnamed 'Chilean investors', mentioned in the footnote early on in Woodward and Bernstein's book All The President's Men.

CIA money, returning to the President's coffers, just as with other CIA political acts overseas, would be a case of illegal domestic operations. But when would the law ever get in the way of illegal domestic operations for The Company ? Blowback be damned, full speed ahead.

Also see 'Who Paid The Plumbers' at
http://www.padrak.com/alt/BUSHBOOK_5.html
(scroll down a little bit to find the segment)

The Mexican bank monies sourced from CIA Chilean operations...Think about that.

[AntiFascist]

57. Speaking of illegal domestic operations...

many of the CIA-Cuban linked Watergate burglars were also involved in the Bay of Pigs, with much speculation that several were involved in the JFK assassination. Evidence also points to Bush Senior being in charge of the Bay of Pigs CIA operation. Web researcher Steve Kangas is the only one I know of pointing out that one of the objectives of CREEP was to remove pictures showing CIA operatives Hunt and Sturgis being arrested at Dealey Plaza, which Democrats may have been planning on releasing. He pointed out that if the remaining Nixon tapes were released together with classified documents covering the Bay of Pigs, then the truth would come out, and he spearheaded an effort to have these documents and media released to the public. Kangas was later "suicided" in 1999 in the office building of Richard Mellon Scaife.

[yardwork]

62. I used to think that this kind of speculation was too far-fetched - not anymore.

It's difficult to find the balance between paranoia and perfectly healthy understanding that our government has been doing utterly horrible things for as long as I've lived and longer.

The citizens of this country and the world are faced with confronting facts that would previously have been dismissed as paranoid ramblings. We have to face them because they are true. They are documented.

I remember the day that Colin Powell acknowledged CIA involvement in the Chilean coup.

[AntiFascist]

85. oops, sorry for the misinformation....

Paul Kangas is the independent investigator (and former Kennedy guard) who links Watergate and Bush to the Kennedy assassination, and he seems to be alive and well. Steve Kangas was working on a book about CIA covert operations when he died. Steve Kangas knew about the CIA connections to Watergate, but did not probe as deeply as Paul Kangas.

[defendandprotect]

94. Just want to comment that the "tramp" photos were as important as Jim Garrison immediately

recognized . . .

Howard Hunt's son said that he saw the poster with the tramp pic on it unexpectedly ---
and it shocked him because he immediately recognized his father as one of the tramps.

And it's the best identification of all the tramps ---
In the original pic, Howard's notorious ears stick out on top and on bottom ---

to show how important these photos were . . .
LATER editions of them have been subtly changed . ..
to reign in Howard Hunt's ears for one .. .
and to begin to eat away at details of the face which strongly identify Howard Hunt.

MEANWHILE . . . Howard Hunt --- somewhere along the way --- had ear operations to
correct their highly identifiable uniqueness.

Gonzales in the House immediately noted that the presence of Hunt in Watergate tied
all these events together --- Bay of Pigs, coup on JFK, and Watergate ---


As we look back on the Bay of Pigs and understand that JFK did not call off the air
coverage, but there was some trick played there ---

we see that the CIA had a lousey plan --- it failed --- and maybe was intended to
FAIL in order to harm JFK's popularity????

No matter how things work out --- these people profit.

JFK reacted by firing Allen Dulles, Bissel -- his brother was Mayor of Dallas ---
and issuing an edict that would make the Military responsible for any further such
activities as BOP -- barring the CIA from carrying out any further such operations.

Additionally, he made it known that he would break the CIA into small pieces and
blow it away --- a great idea I'd say!

MEANWHILE . . .
As Madelaine Brown --- LBJ's mistress tells us --- plans to assassinate JFK began two years BEFORE the assassination.




PS: Not familiar with PAUL KANGAS' work . . . . . .
If I have time, I'll try to look up what he's written.

[AntiFascist]

95. Here is Kangas' take on the economics driving Nixon and the CIA in these operations...

http://www.newsgarden.org/columns/bush&jfk.shtml

...

After Batista was kicked out by the starving people of Cuba, and Fidel Castro came to power, Castro began telling American corporations they would have to pay Cuban employees decent wages. Even worse, Pepsi Cola was told it would now have to pay world market prices for Cuban sugar. Pepsi, Ford Motor Co., Standard Oil and the Mafia drug dealers decided Fidel had to be removed since his policies of requiring corporations to pay market wages was hurting their profits. So the corporations asked then Vice-President Nixon to remove Fidel. Nixon promised he would, just as soon as he'd won the 1960 elections against some underdog, an unknown Democrat named John Kennedy. It would be an easy victory for Nixon. The polls had Nixon winning by a landslide. Besides, Kennedy was a Catholic, and Americans would no more elect a Catholic President than they would elect a woman, a black or a Jew. This was 1959. Nixon told Pepsi, Standard Oil and other corporations who lost property given back to the farmers of Cuba, that if they would help him win, he would authorize an invasion to remove Castro. To further impress contributors to his campaign, then Vice-President Nixon asked the CIA to create Operation 40, a secret plan to invade Cuba, just as soon as he won.

The CIA put Texas millionaire and CIA agent George Bush in charge of recruiting Cuban exiles into the CIA's invasion army. Bush was working with another Texas oilman, Jack Crichton, to help him with the invasion. A fellow Texan, Air Force General Charles Cabel, was asked to coordinate the air cover for the invasion. Most of the CIA leadership around the invasion of Cuba seems to have been people from Texas. A whole Texan branch of the CIA is based in the oil business. If we trace Bush's background in the Texas oil business we discover his two partners in the oil-barge leasing business: Texan Robert Mosbacher and Texan James Baker. Mosbacher is now Secretary of Commerce and Baker is Secretary of State, the same job Dulles held when JFK was killed. (Source: Common Cause magazine, 3-4/90).

...

On edit: Source: Three Men and a Barge", Teresa Riordan, Common Cause magazine, March/April 1990, and San Francisco Chronicle, May 7,1977, interview with Frank Sturgis in which he stated that "the reason we burglarized the Watergate was because Nixon was interested in stopping news leaking related to the photos of our role in the assassination of President John Kennedy."

[defendandprotect]

96. While Ike was ill with his heart attack, Nixon oversaw the original BOP planning ---

it was called "Operation 40" --

That's the plan that turned into the Bay of Pigs ---

Re Bush and BOP --- the supply boats were named: "Zapata, Barbara Jean, Houston" --
rather obvious connection with Poppy.

One of the steps in the invasion --- and I'm not sure which because I have heard that the air attacks were carried out --- but one of the steps was called off and I've seen reports that
go back to McGeorge Bundy or his brother . . . and then this has been denied --- but somewhere
along that trail there seems to have been some kind of dirty trick played.

Nixon was hand-picked by Prescott Bush and the GOP "boys" ---
Nixon signed on to run for Congress, provided he also would have a slush fund over and above
his salary!

People looking at the Hiss case and other parts of the Nixon "career" find a lot of dirty tricks
and myth --

A connection to Jack Ruby arises out of Nixon's early HUAC days ---

Nixon is also connected by Olver Stone in trying to arrange the Gulf of Tonkin "attack" ---
it's not in the movie NIXON, but there was a paperback of the script which included such a
scene but it was either cut, or never filmed.

[Beausoleil]

97. Actually, it was Gen. Charles Cabell, who was also fired by Kennedy,

whose brother Earle was mayor of Dallas in 1963.

[defendandprotect]

100. Thank you --!!! Who's "Bissel" --- ??!!!

Thanks for figuring out who I was talking about . . .

[defendandprotect]

101. This did also include Richard Bissell . . . Dep Dir of Plans/CIA ---

Deputy Director of Plans Richard Bissell. ...

[Beausoleil]

102. Definitely, Bissell also lost his job. n/t

[defendandprotect]

93. Only scanned about half of the link --- which certainly attempts to change

a Nixon fall to a coup on Nixon ---

It may have been a little bit of both ---
I don't think that they planned to get caught at the Watergate ---
someone might have trapped them ---
but the thinking behind the break in was from the administration.

Didn't we have a tape of Nixon pushing for this break in --- ???
Over objections of Haldemann---???

The two objectives I've heard re Watergate --- and there may have been many ---
but W&B said that it was to PLANT evidence that the Dems were taking money from
the Russian Communists.

ALSO -- it has been strongly suggested that the Dems were working on the JFK coup
and had some evidence.

As far as money --- and as I said I haven't yet read the whole thing ---
obviously, the oil industry has been behind much of the mischief in America.

From H. L. Hunt to today's ExxonMobil ---



Just a PS on this to add that there seems to be solid information that Nixon was
unstable, at best, with heavy drinking, drugs --- legal but oddly procured ---
and strange behaviors. It seemed much like a Palace where everyone was spying on
everyone else. And, needless to say, Nixon was paranoid if not psychotic.
Who would you trust: Haig or Kissinger? Liddy?
Nixon was wiretapping Kissinger and Nixon was wiretapping himself!!

This was a hothouse where murderous secrets were known and being kept covered up
and I don't doubt that many more evil events were hatched and carried out from
those offices.

[Joanne98]

14. Wait till you read the part about Lockeed Martin processing the Social Security checks.

That happened in the 90's during the Clinton Administration.

I just got to part six, Iraq! I'm a fast reader but it's taking me a while. It's got so much information in it. It's a MUST MUST MUST read!

[defendandprotect]

40. Is this still going on---????

[clyrc]

15. I'm about halfway through this book

By page 34 I was already horrified. I may have to read the rest after the holidays, to avoid getting too depressed.

[CrispyQ]

53. Me too!

I haven't picked it up in five days & when I have time to read, I find myself reaching for my programming books instead. WTF?? I only read those when I want to sleep!

:hi:

[warren pease]

16. She's speaking in Portland next Friday night if anyone's up this way and interested...

It runs from 7:00 to 9:00 at the First Unitarian church on (I think) SW 12th and Main. Admission is on a sliding scale with $20 the top price, but the flyer says nobody will be turned away.


wp

[Arugula Latte]

39. Thanks for that info. I will try to make it (if we don't have a holiday party!)

:hi:

[warren pease]

46. Well, if you do have a party and we're not invited...

I'll politely ask Skittles to kick your ass.

:toast:


wp

[lala_rawraw]

17. wait until you get

to the experiments on human, unwitting patients. i had to take a walk i was so upset.

[Lorien]

18. Readers might want to post a review on iTunes audiobooks

a couple of freepers have brought down the rating of "The Shock Doctrine", which is new on iTunes audiobooks. Post your own review and get the word out there!

[underpants]

19. I plan to read it but even that took a mental excercise...oh that's it

It takes too much to figure what "they" spent all those years figuring to think that they might have figured it.

Their organization is chilling.

[tom_paine]

20. Don't the Bushie Murderers just LOOOVE their anniversaries.

Like when Bushei McVeigh blew up the Okie City bldg. on the anniversary of Waco.

While other bushfriends just coincidentally burned our Reichstag down on the exact anniversary the Bushies overthrew Chile.

That's another big piece of circumstantial evidence, the 9-11 being the Bushies' favorite day to destroy Free Nations.

Their attack on WTC was a homage to the CIA thugs and Bushie Murderers who ousted Allende.

[Marie26]

74. Does

Klein believe that 9/11 was an inside job, or is she just saying that the Bush Ad. profited from the disaster after the fact?

[tom_paine]

86. I don't know. I have not yet read her book, though I have read plenty about her book.

So I can't answer your question. I don't even know what Klein's opinion is on 9/11 or if she evn mentions it in her book.

My guess would be, while she probably mentions 9/11 as a shock the Bushies used, how it was used, etc., that she avoided pondering where or from whomthe attack came, as that would be a big dstraction and wander from the topic at hand.

But really, that's just a guess. You'll have to read the book, and so will I.

[Marie26]

98. Thanks, will do.

*Disguised kick*

[mmonk]

21. It is dark through page 442.

Then there is the conclusion, "Shock Wears Off" The Rise of People's Reconstruction. Hope the book motivates everyone to stay awake and active. Democracy is not a spectator sport, especially when it is under assault.

[snot]

22. K & R'd. nt

[IDemo]

24. Naomi's Klein and Wolf should be required reading by all

but there aren't enough anti-depressants in the US to handle the sudden increase in demand.

[Lindsey]

25. I already have one foot in Canada....

so I better not read it....I don't know how much more I can take. Sometimes the head needs to go back in the sand....but it'll resurface when it has to.

[sss1977]

28. It's not about conspiracy, it's about reality.

[defendandprotect]

41. Conspiracy is reality ---

And much of our system of Justice is based on "conspiracy" . . .

Watch those efforts to make certain words dirty --- or taboo ---
they're the words and ideas you should be paying attention to ---

Liberal, for one ---
Feminist, for another ---

[sss1977]

55. exactly

[bluedigger]

29. Just starting the final chapter.

It's like the light just came on for me - everything makes sense now! Great book! Thanks Naomi!

[DemReadingDU]

30. Another book I must read

[Ricki]

32. seriously the best book i have ever read

she pulls it all together! k&r

[Auggie]

33. I think BushCo is intentionally laying the groundwork for economic disaster

in order to push through many privatization policies -- medicare, social security, tax collection, and on a local level, fire/police protection and water supply/distribution. I believe this applies to climate crisis too. It's the only explanation I can come up with why this administration has appeared so inept in the past seven years. It's not incompetence. They want disaster. Believe me, their privatization policies are already written out and honed to perfection, just waiting for implementation. There's too much money yet to be made.

From The Shock Doctrine:

"It was in 1982 that Milton Friedman wrote the highly influential passage that best summarizes the shock doctrine: 'Only a crisis -- actual or perceived -- produces real change.' "

"The kind of crisis Friedman had in mind was not military but economic. What he understood was that in normal circumstances, economic decisions are made on the push and pull of competing interests. -- workers want jobs and raises, owners want lower taxes and relaxed regulation, and politicians have to strike a balance between these competing forces. However, if an economic crisis hits and is severe enough -- a currency meltdown, a market crash, a major recession -- it blows everything else out of the water, and leaders are liberated to do whatever is necessary (or said to be necessary) in the name of responding to a national emergency..."

Do as marmar suggests: READ THIS BOOK!

[Hydra]

42. All wars are based on economics

so the disaster simply has to be a disaster that is seen, felt and can't be ignored.

Also, don't forget that these people are big on eugenics- if large numbers of "undesirable" people die in the process of their policies, all the better. It will save having to kill them later.

[Auggie]

68. I'm expecting a full-blown monetary crisis.

[Hydra]

87. You got it!

"The dollar is no longer viable- we need to switch to the...AMERO!"
"Wont that require us to have a North American Union?"
"What, didn't you get the memo about that? We were going to do that anyway!"

[Auggie]

88. The AMERO! LOL!

[bluesmail]

35. I got it in the mail as a thank you

for donating to FSTV. I just now started to read it. Not anticipating a smooth read.

[Alameda]

50. FSTV

It's nice to see another FSTV supporter here :hi: . I figured this out when they said "Shock and Awe"....and realized that's what is happening here. There is so much going on you don't know where to plug. It is soooooooooooo depressing....which is part of the strategy...how much more? It's so short sighted. OK, you have all the wealth in the world, so what?

[femrap]

36. Thanks for review....

I can't wait to read this book!

[madmunchie]

37. I intend to read this book, that is for sure

Although it sounds like I have heard much of this already. And, I have fully embraced it as well. That is why I am so critical of the Democratic Pary. Although, right now, I HATE this Repub Admin and all of their supporters, I am deeply dismayed by the Democrats as well. I know reading the book will just get more details and help me understand how many of the Dems are soooo complicit in what has happened in the country since 2000.

[defendandprotect]

43. Think of how meaningless the debate questions always are --- ignorning reality . . .

whether Global Warming and the suicidal policies of our oil industry --

the need to nationalize our oil and take it out of the hands of a few private families ---

the immediate need to put ELECTRIC CARS on our highways ---

The issue of the Fed --- a private bank dictating the nation's economic policies ---

and so much more ---

[madmunchie]

76. Do most people on this board even really understand the type of questions that you are asking?

I think not.

[defendandprotect]

79. I think you do ---

And that would mean there are at least TWO of us to wake them up --

right?

[madmunchie]

80. You would think, but when you get turned off by, supposedly, your own people, what chance do you

have with the rest??? Do you know how many "DU'ers" will viscously and personally attack posters, flame threads they don't like and then alert to shut it down???? Successfully?????

I love it when I find someone that actually understands the total mess that we are in and how this mess is getting worse by the day, because most here are not keeping their eyes on the ball.

Thank you for your kind response. I am too stubborn to given in and so now, at least I know that there are a few of us in each other's corners.

[defendandprotect]

81. I haven't seen that except on the supposedly anti-bashing threads . . .

which as I read them are really saying "don't criticize my candidate" --- !!

I do see it on the "conspiracy" threads --- and you get trolls there ---
however, to understand our political situation today, we have to understand
how political violence has been in play ---

many want to deny it --- evidently the DU owners ---

so -- that position by the DU almost invites the trolls ---

DU understands Global Warming . . . and that's been a big battle on other websites --
but I think it's over now ---
everyone has got it now re GW ---

DU has to be for ending this overall mess ---
or for Democrats ---
I think we're going to come to a point where they will have to recognize that these
may be two different roads ---

Good to know you're here too --- pm me if you have any ideas or want to chat ---

[Blue_In_AK]

47. It has accelerated since 2000

but has been going on since the '70s, at least, and, yes, the Democrats have been complicit.

[madmunchie]

75. That is what is so frustrating.......I come to a forum like this expecting

to find many other people who know the truth. But, it seems, at least the most vocal, are clueless and are worried more about the very very superficial dressings of their candidates and don't really bother looking deeply at them. If you even start confronting them by posting facts about their candidate, a flame throwing starts and others join in and before you know it, a thread is locked. Open, honest discussion with opinons doesn't have much of a chance here.

If you look very closely at the candidates, you see a very very different picture of them and you realize that we are on a sinking ship with candidates basically performing dog and pony shows distracting most while the ship continues sinking.

[yardwork]

64. I can certainly understand why Gore and then Kerry had to be neutralized.

Gore, with his insistence on the truth of global warming and Kerry, with his history investigating and calling hearings on the links between the U.S. government and terrorist cells, were simply too dangerous to be allowed to be president.

Either Gore or Kerry would have interfered with the plans, and the corporatists could not allow that to happen. Hence, the well-coordinated smear campaigns against both of them and the stolen elections.

Everywhere we look, the corporate-owned media is complicit. The voting machines are rigged because they're made by corporations with close ties to bushco.

The only hope, as far as I can tell, is a grass-roots popular rebellion.

[Lorien]

38. Check out the video on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kieyjfZDUIc

[Kingshakabobo]

44. She wrote an article for Harper's titled "Baghdad Year Zero."

In case anyone hasn't read it, here is the link.

http://www.harpers.org/archive/2004/09/0080197

[Hydra]

54. That's a very good article

I disagree with two points, though:

1. The CIA is well aware that if you shock someone hard enough, unless you have them tied down, their next move will be to kill you, knowing that they can expect no mercy from you. Given that fact, all of this was a deliberate act to justify our continued presence, despite not even being able to put a puppet gov't in place that will do what we tell them to.

2. The "Neocons" or whatever you want to call the would-be rulers of the world depend on the lowest forms of control available to enforce their will, and as such, are well aware that their ideology has no practical usage except bare looting. You don't see Einstein shooting people to convince them he's got a good idea- a good idea stands on its own.

Basically, there was no mistake here. All of this was legal kabuki to keep a veneer of legitimacy on our invasion. Never doubt the power of greed to destroy.

[BlueJac]

45. Ordered it from Amazon 2 days ago.....

looking forward to getting it.

[Chalco]

48. Just wait til you read the chapter on Israel.

Everything, I mean everything will fall into place.

Klein has written the most important book in decades. It is the unvarnished truth. She provides the etiology for our current geo-political mess. It was without a doubt the most depressing book I've ever read because it left me feeling helpless. But, I am a believer in the knowing the truth and now I have it. That is liberating.

[mia]

49. She will be in Miami tomorrow. Here's the email.

You can reserve an autographed copy of her book from Books & Books.
See email link below.


"Naomi Klein has written a brilliant, brave and terrifying book. It’s nothing less than the secret history of what we call the ‘Free Market.’ It should be compulsory reading."

– Arundhati Roy


Meet
NAOMI KLEIN
Discussing and signing
The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
(Metropolitan Books, $28)


Monday, December 3, 7:30pm
Coral Gables Congregational Church
3010 De Soto Boulevard
(across the street from the Biltmore Hotel)


With a special screening of THE SHOCK DOCTRINE: A Short Film created by Naomi Klein and Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men, Y tu mamá también, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) and directed by Jonás Cuarón, is an official selection of both the Toronto Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival.

The Shock Doctrine explodes the popular belief that free markets go hand in hand with democracy. Based on breakthrough historical research and four years of on-the-ground reporting, Naomi Klein reveals that our world is increasingly in thrall to a little understood ideology that is conquering the globe by systematically exploiting moments of disaster and trauma. This is the shock doctrine. It is a strategy that has been evolving over the past thirty-five years. Beginning with the late Milton Friedman, one of the most influential economists in the world, it has been developed by his many powerful followers, including Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney.

Klein exposes how moments of collective crisis—9/11, the tsunami, or Hurricane Katrina for example—have been used as opportunities for rapid-fire corporate raids on societies reeling from shock. She calls this phenomenon disaster capitalism. In contrast to the popular myth of this movement’s peaceful global victory, Klein shows how it has exploited moments of shock and extreme violence in order to implement its economic policies in so many parts of the world—from Chile to Russia, China to Iraq, South Africa to Canada. Often a refusal to comply results in distinctly more corporeal shocks: the shock of torture. Pinochet’s Chile and Guantánamo Bay are just two examples.

Klein charts the rise of disaster capitalism from 1970s Latin America right up to the present day and, in particular, its devastating effect in Iraq. She argues that the war is being used to facilitate new markets for foreign investors, the ultimate goal being to create a model corporatist state in the Middle East.

The aim of The Shock Doctrine is to prepare us for the next shock. Once the mechanics of the doctrine are deeply and collectively understood, Klein believes whole communities become harder to take by surprise, more difficult to confuse. It is through information, she says, that we become shock resistant.

About the Author

Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, author, and filmmaker. Her first book, the international bestseller No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies, was translated into twenty-eight languages and called “a movement bible” by The New York Times. She writes an internationally syndicated column for The Nation and The Guardian and reported from Iraq for Harper’s magazine. In 2004, she released The Take, a feature documentary about Argentina’s occupied factories, co-produced with director Avi Lewis. She is a former Miliband Fellow at the London School of Economics and holds an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws from the University of King’s College, Nova Scotia.

CAN’T MAKE IT?
If you’d like an autographed book from any of our author events, please call us at [phone] to pre-pay or email us([e-mail])and we’ll have one or more copies signed and reserved for you. Signed books make great gifts!

[Radio_Lady]

51. Schedule is grueling; Naomi will be in Portland, OR on Friday, 12/07 at the...

First Unitarian Church -- 7 PM
1011 SW 12th Avenue
Portland, OR

Seating is limited. The event is sponsored by Powell's book store.
For more information, call 503-228-6389

http://www.naomiklein.org/meet-naomi/tour-dates/2007-12-07-portland-oregon

http://www.naomiklein.org

I tried to book her to do a radio interview with me, but she was unavailable before we leave on vacation 12/9/07 :-(

Put my order in for some time in the spring, when Picador will release a paperback edition :-)

[CrispyQ]

52. It should be required reading for every American.

I would not abstain from reading this essential book even though my blood pressure goes up every time I read it. I can only take it in small doses, & I'm about half way through.

k&r

on edit: kant spel

[BelgianMadCow]

56. It's n°1 on my wish list - any advice on where to buy Blue?

[applegrove]

58. Yes it is one of the best books of the year I think. So much information

in it presented in such a clear fashion.

[yardwork]

59. I'm only on page 50, but I already understand so much now.

"Why are we torturing people?" is the question I didn't really want to answer in my mind these past years.

We know that the Bush administration knew that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. They were told this repeatedly by their own operatives. The lie about WMD was used as an excuse to invade and occupy Iraq - so why torture people? The official reason given by bushco - we're looking for WMD - was clearly a lie. Likewise, no Iraqi knew the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden or had anything to do with 9/11. So why were we torturing all these people?

We're torturing people to force them into compliance with the privatization of the world. Naomi Klein lays it all out. This is not speculation - she documents everything. It's fact.

Klein says that the appropriate term for the approach that has taken over is "corporatist." Not neo-conservative or neo-liberal.

Corporatist.

[BREMPRO]

60. the dark side of capitalism- reveals the clear connection between the human right abuses

in south america in the 70's (argentina,chile, brazil etc..hundreds of thousands tortured and "disappeared"), and the need for this brutality to impose the milton Friedman/ford foundation chicago school of economics radical privatization plan for the region. According to Klein, The Ford plant in Argentina actually had a torture room on site to torture its workers if they spoke up about their rights! It reads like a spy novel, but as Marmar suggest, quite depressing to learn of America's export of this kind economic and physical brutality. I'm just on the first few chapters and already amazed at the brilliance of her reporting and thesis.

This is a MUST read for all AMERICANS, especially DUers.

[libnnc]

63. Listening to it right now

8 minutes in and I feel faint already.

I may put my fist through the wall tonight.

I wish there was a way to broadcast this over the airwaves.

[defendandprotect]

66. Thanks so much for the link; didn't know she was on YouTube!!

I'll be buying the book tomorrow ---
and passing word along as far as I can.

I was trying to wait a bit to read this ---
but obviously we all need to read it immediately!!!

[libnnc]

67. kick

[defendandprotect]

70. Just want to mention....how urgent it is, IMO, for everyone at DU to read this thread ---

and the book ---

The first realization we have to make is that there could be none of this going on without
political violence --- so to try to discuss our politics --- especially of the last 45 years
without acknowledging stolen elections and murders is not going to get us very far.

But also want to zero in on the fact that this thread could easily have been sidelined
as a "conspiracy" thread ---

And, IMO, we're at the stage we're at now because of the sham WC and MSM making the JFK coup a taboo subject --- and, in fact, still here at DU --- a JFK coup discussion is bounced from general discussion-!!

Do we honestly think that brutality such as Noami Klein is talking about stops at the WTC?

[Arugula Latte]

71. My husband just bought this book today

...at a local independent bookseller. :)

I want to read it, but at the same time I don't want to because I know it will sicken me even more than I'm sickened already by the state of our nation.

[Supersedeas]

73. thanks for the warning and recommendation - k&r

[tex-wyo-dem]

78. Haven't yet read this book, but definitely next...

On my reading list. Just reading this thread has turned on some lights for me.

Back when I was in high school, I became a big fan of Robert Ludlum novels and read every one. The only thing I found a bit "over the top" at the time was that in a few of his novels the villians turned out to be small secretive organizations that included many well-known, influetial and wealthy individuals with designs to take over the world using government infiltration and global economic/banking institutions to attain their goals (sounded a bit too much like a crazy 007 movie premise to me). It seems, however, that Ludlum may have been somewhat of a prophet, either by accident or he had actually stumbled across actual information that supported the existence of such an organization. In any case, it tuns out he wasn't too far off the mark to reality.

[NuttyFluffers]

82. i look forward to reading it, mostly to confirm my assessments.

i love good scholarship, especially in matters i do not have time for myself. and since information like this is rather preferential to me, i love understanding things in a holistic and interconnected manner, i am definitely anticipating to be pleased. the big thing will be running my personal checklist about how much i got right -- backed up by her scholarship -- and how much i have overlooked in history. it'll be fun like a cross between a guessing game such as '20 questions' and 'bingo'; i tend to do very well in reading people and motivations, so i look forward to busting out my scorecard...

[libnnc]

83. Insomniac's kick

still listening to it on iTunes...

[chervilant]

89. hmmm...

First of all, many of us have been calling corporatists by their true name for quite a while. And, many of us have been tracking what's going on, some of us from within the belly of the beast (for example, I just finished a brief sojourn as a mortgage lender, during which time I refused to sell any of the high risk loans now defaulting at record highs, which completely torqued my manager--think what he would have said/done if he'd learned how I helped all my clients negotiate to the lowest possible rate and fees available at the time they obtained their mortgages? still laughing about that...). Naomi just kicked up our knowledge about corporatists exponentially, and in a populist style. More and more of us are becoming aware of the dangerous shenanigans of the vile, corrupt corporatists, thanks in part to Ms Klein.

Second, the Revolution has already begun. Many of us simply don't know it yet, but we will--when the time is right. Remember how it was right after 9/11? That is the True Human Spirit that the corporatists cannot diminish. Right now, the corporatists seem to have assumed that--since many of us are fat, depressed, hedonistic and/or oblivious--they can achieve their evil goals with relative ease. I, for one, hope they continue to underestimate us. We the People will do what is necessary to stop the corporatists. Count on it. Forget not from whence we came, Good People!

Third, the internet is key to our Revolution. Never before in our history have we had access to so much vital information. Never before in our history could we network with people from around the globe. Never before in our history have we been able to reach a massive number of people all at the same time in mere seconds. Thus far, the corporatists seem to be slow in grasping the power given us by access to the internet. We see their burgeoning awareness in their attacks on activist websites like Moveon.org. We see it in their arrogant dismissal of the erudite words of the growing cadre of internet journalists. We The People can and MUST use the internet to organize and plan. Again, this part of the Revolution has begun--when the time is right, We The People will coalesce into a 'Force to be reckoned with'!

Many of my friends accuse me of wearing rose colored glasses. So be it. I refuse to take them off, Good People! I have every faith in us. To those naysayers out there who are reading this, I say DO NOT LET YOUR FEARS CONQUER YOU! You will need all of your energy to fight for our rights, as did our mothers and fathers before us! When enough of us get past our deer-in-the-headlights "this can't be happening in the UNITED STATES!" immobility, we will act. We will have to.

[redqueen]

90. As long as we just vote for candidates with D's by their name, we'll be fine.

Dems aren't on board with this.

We can trust them.

[SecularMotion]

92. Here's a link to Naomi Klein on Democracy Now

She was interviewed the day before "Shock Doctrine" was released.

http://www.democracynow.org/2007/9/17/the_shock_doctrine_naomi_klein_on