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Notes from a Small Island Vol 3a: Neo-liberalism

Started by Cain, October 02, 2005, 05:40:09 PM

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Cain

October 02, 2005, 05:40:09 PM
Volume 3a Neo-liberalism

Fiat Justitia et Pereat Mundus (let justice be done, though the world perishes)
-Ferdinand I (1503,Äì1564)

,ÄúWe need to strengthen our ties to democratic allies and to challenge regimes hostile to our interests and values.,Äù
- Project For the New American Century

,ÄúFrancis Fukuyama is a fucking idiot who defines ,Äúretarded,Äú,Äù
-Cain, shortly before being ,Äútaken outside and had a quiet word at,Äù at a Neo-Conservative group meeting last year.

Neo-liberalism is the name of the game in the 21st, allegedly post-American century.  The historical debate is over, this is the wave of the future, and everyone who disagrees is retrograde and backward in the extreme.  Or so people would have you believe.  Apparently, the end of the USSR means American style democracy has triumphed over every other sort of ideology, and humanity has reached political perfection.  That,Äôs part of the myth of neo-liberalism, the telling of its ,Äúmanifest destiny,Äù, its sovereign right of leadership over the world. And we all know what happened the last times those 2 phrases were in common use, don,Äôt we?

Surprisingly, people don,Äôt like to talk about it much, outside academic journals.  If it is at all, it is referred to ,ÄúGlobalisation,Äù or the ,Äúfree market,Äù (for economic features), or neo-Conservativism for its social features.  People don,Äôt like them being linked though,  because then coherent arguments can be made against it.  And people also don,Äôt like it to be told that Neo-cons are just the logical conclusion of the whole theory.

What,Äôs more, it,Äôs probably the most haphazard stringing together of economic, political and social theories in modern history, not seen since National Socialism.  The arguments are generally flying in the face of facts, obnoxious, and strangely compelling if you don,Äôt factor reality and common sense into the equation.  Even worse, it uses language and good intentions that make attacking it look like you are a tyrant/Communist/Islamic suicide bomber who is against democracy and freedom for all.

These people are the new Crusaders of the 21st century.  The quote from Ferdinand the First is the whole nature of this new beast.  They will talk of spreading democracy to promote peace, going back to giants of history such as Kant and Wilson to justify bringing it about by the sword.   These crusading moralists know what,Äôs best for everyone.  You,Äôre not against democracy are you?

I wont even go into the economic arguments, because they,Äôre so boring and well known there is no need to say them again, ,Äúfree market blah,Äù and all that.

What I will say is this:  they will carve a sea of blood through every land they can in order to bring about the democratic peace theory (that democracies don,Äôt fight each other).  Am I the only one who sees a problem with this idea, spreading freedom by killing anyone who disagrees with your interpretation?  Because that,Äôs why the Neo-Cons target Chavez, and others,Ķ

The other part of their mythology, their ,Äúcreation story,Äù is kept much quieter, now the facts are out.  When Chile was turned into a giant torture chamber and experiment is free markets, the ,ÄúChilean economic miracle,Äù was hailed, and the story of its ,Äúsuccess,Äù was used as the justification for bringing the revolution abroad.  I mean, don,Äôt you think thousands of dead and tortured bodies were a success?  They were against ,Äúfreedom,Äù after all.  And their economic theories were all taught personally by the acknowledged founding father of neo-liberalism, Milton Friedman.  There,Äôs a happy thought.

It wont stop, either.  Not until the rest of the world accepts that this is the way forward.  The entire theory is unpragmatic in the extreme and aggressively expansionist.  There are times we need to support dictatorships,  to carry out necessary, if unpleasant, acts for the defence of the state.  But this isn,Äôt it, and never will be.  We will all drown in their righteous, patronising moralizing if we don,Äôt choke on the blood first!  Their acts will cause eruptions of revenge and bloodletting against us that will make Africa in the 70s look like a minor dispute.  And it,Äôll be us in the crosshairs, as always.  Squeezed between those looking for revenge and our heavily protected leaders, who have a worldview as rigid and unhinged as those they oppose.  There wont be any ,Äúpeace,Äù if they get their way, no matter if their intentions are good or ill.  Do the Iraqis look peaceful to you?  And how many bodies will it take before someone says ,Äúlet us take the fight to the infidels/imperialists/warmongering pigs!,Äù

These people are the worst sort of idealists.  You know about Marxist ,Äúhistoric inevitability?,Äù  Well, these guys have that too, so they think.  They are the tide of progress, the people who will usher in a new dawn for humanity.  Needless to say, these people are not very good historians in general, and fail to note the patterns of hubris and nemesis, condemned to it as we are by our own nature.  And those who ignore the past are doomed to repeat it.  Nazism started off as a world embracing synthesis of left and right values too, as they were interpreted in the 1930s.

These people are the enemies of every sane being on this planet, make no mistake.  Their zeal matches, if not surpasses that of any religious fundamentalist.  And what more, they have power, money and millions prepared to follow them.  And as that,Äôs the case, they,Äôll be following down a bloody trail which may have no easily foreseeable end.

ataraxia

#1
October 02, 2005, 06:18:15 PM
Nice one. Which means it's nasty.

I don't think there's much of an escape for the rest of us, either. The cabbages/Montrose-zombies/sheeple/term-of-your-choice just outnumber us far too greatly. They will bury us, no matter how far we go to hide. Welcome to the end times.
Lossage, sausage, whatever.
http://scoriens.andrew.cmu.edu/

Cain

#2
October 02, 2005, 06:30:28 PM
Thanks.  You'll have to bear with me.  Next semester I'll be covering this in far more detail than ever necessary, and so will probably either explode or contemplate suicide.  Its their unthinking arrogance and disrespect of plurality that gets me.  That, and they dont seem to understand a democratic culture evolves, it isnt a hard wired human instinct that kicks in overnight.

ataraxia

#3
October 02, 2005, 06:36:05 PM
Neither do they understand that "democracy" does not mean "agrees with me all the time no matter how stupid I am".
Lossage, sausage, whatever.
http://scoriens.andrew.cmu.edu/

Cain

#4
October 02, 2005, 06:39:54 PM
That too, though the problem is more widepsread than just Bush.  Tony Blair is a neoliberal, for instance.  In fact, every European leader is, to a certain degree, because this transcends the left/right dichotomy.  Its all a matter of degrees.

The Doctor

#5
October 02, 2005, 06:41:18 PM
QuoteNeither do they understand that "democracy" does not mean "agrees with me all the time no matter how stupid I am".

Affirmative!
Priest, Church of Eris

-
Support A Cure For Ribbons!

Funny little human brains, how do you get around in them?

The Good Reverend Roger

#6
October 02, 2005, 07:19:04 PM
Quote from: ataraxiaNeither do they understand that "democracy" does not mean "agrees with me all the time no matter how stupid I am".

"Democracy" means what they WANT it to mean, because they control the most powerful military machine in history.

They can't HOLD a little country like Iraq, but they can sure as fuck break shit.

Welcome to the post-American century...we're the good guys, because we SAY we are, and if you don't agree, we'll kill everyone you know.

Deal.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

East Coast Hustle

#7
October 02, 2005, 08:12:19 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger...we're the good guys, because we SAY we are, and if you don't agree, we'll kill everyone you know.

Deal.

yoink.

8)
Rabid Colostomy Hole Jammer of the Coming Apocalypse™

The Devil is in the details; God is in the nuance.


Some yahoo yelled at me, saying 'GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH', and I thought, "I'm feeling generous today.  Why not BOTH?"

B_M_W

#8
October 02, 2005, 08:23:38 PM
Quote,ÄúFrancis Fukuyama is a fucking idiot who defines ,Äúretarded,Äú,Äù
-Cain, shortly before being ,Äútaken outside and had a quiet word at,Äù at a Neo-Conservative group meeting last year.

This is nice. I like blunt statements that don't waltz around the argument.


8)
One by one, we break the sheep from their Iron Bar Prisons and expand their imaginations, make them think for themselves. In turn, they break more from their prisons. Eventually, critical mass is reached. Our key word: Resolve. Evangelize with compassion and determination. And realize that there will be few in the beginning. We are hand picking our successors. They are the future of Discordianism. Let us guide our future with intelligence.

     --Reverse Brainwashing: A Guide http://www.principiadiscordia.com/forum/index.php?topic=9801.0

6.5 billion Buddhas walking around.

99.xxxxxxx% forgot they are Buddha.

The Good Reverend Roger

#9
October 02, 2005, 11:11:52 PM
Quote from: East Coast Hustle
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger...we're the good guys, because we SAY we are, and if you don't agree, we'll kill everyone you know.

Deal.

yoink.

8)

You can quote me on that one. :lol:
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

ataraxia

#10
October 03, 2005, 01:03:05 AM
Quote from: CainThat too, though the problem is more widepsread than just Bush.  Tony Blair is a neoliberal, for instance.  In fact, every European leader is, to a certain degree, because this transcends the left/right dichotomy.  Its all a matter of degrees.
I was actually talking about the followers, not the leaders.
Lossage, sausage, whatever.
http://scoriens.andrew.cmu.edu/

The Good Reverend Roger

#11
October 03, 2005, 01:06:20 AM
Quote from: ataraxia
Quote from: CainThat too, though the problem is more widepsread than just Bush.  Tony Blair is a neoliberal, for instance.  In fact, every European leader is, to a certain degree, because this transcends the left/right dichotomy.  Its all a matter of degrees.
I was actually talking about the followers, not the leaders.

Troof.  The closer you get to the top, the less "right" and "left" mean, except as propaganda tools.
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.

Irreverend Hugh, KSC

#12
October 04, 2005, 09:33:23 AM
Neo-liberal = Neo-Con = Fascist = Jeebus-worshipping
"Time for the tin-foil hats, girls and boys!"

Cain

#13
October 04, 2005, 10:26:53 AM
Quote from: Irreverend Hugh, KSCNeo-liberal = Neo-Con = Fascist = Jeebus-worshipping

Hugh knows where I'm coming from.

The Good Reverend Roger

#14
October 04, 2005, 06:55:19 PM
Quote from: Irreverend Hugh, KSCNeo-liberal = Neo-Con = Fascist = Jeebus-worshipping

How are neocons ANY kind of liberal?

You looked up the definition of liberal recently?
" It's just that Depeche Mode were a bunch of optimistic loveburgers."
- TGRR, shaming himself forever, 7/8/2017

"Billy, when I say that ethics is our number one priority and safety is also our number one priority, you should take that to mean exactly what I said. Also quality. That's our number one priority as well. Don't look at me that way, you're in the corporate world now and this is how it works."
- TGRR, raising the bar at work.
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