"Only a crisis, actual or perceived, produces real change."
-- Economist Milton Friedman
Here is a trailer for a film by Alfonso Cuaron and Naomi Klein called The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism.
This trailer is quite powerful rhetorically, visually, and emotionally. The authors argue that through disasters, both natural and man-made, the immediate reciprocal "shock" caused by the disaster has the power to reduce us collectively into a child-like state making us open to suggestion and manipulation, and more likely to comply with leaders claiming to protect us.
When products and markets drive every aspect of our lives, we are in deep trouble as a society. The film suggests that through the adoption of Milton Friedman's economic theory of free market capitalism, we, as a society, are reduced to child-like states of helplessness in the aftermath of natural disasters and wars. In the wake of our collective helplessness and psychological stress, laws are passed to enable and extend corporate interests as opposed to the best interests of the people.
Luckily, there seems to be a glimmer of hope at the end of this film. And that glimmer rests in our ability to talk to one another, to communicate, to organize, to publish and share our often under-represented points of view. As Klein argues, shock is only a temporary state. And the best way to resist shock is "to know what is happening to you and why."The free market is not about freedom and democracy; it's about the economically powerful maintaining control of their power. This is why noted personalities like Tim Berners-Lee (net neutrality) and Larry Lessig (digital rights advocacy) have clearly been arguing much more vociferously as of late. And with good reason. The softer we become to the free market's crusade, the more likely we are to have our rights as individuals and as a society stripped away.
So what can you do? How have you "armed" yourself? I'd be curious to know.
Keywords: Alfonso Cuaron, capitalism, communication, computing, control, digital rights, documentary, economics, Electronic Frontier Foundation, free market, freedom, information, Internet, knowledge, Lawrence Lessig, learning, manipulation, me, Milton Friedman, Naomi Klein, natural disaster, net neutrality, power, psychology, shock, stress, teaching, terrorism, The Shock Doctrine, Tim Berners-Lee, torture, war, you
Comments
Scary stuff. It is a bit like the Government releasing bad news quietly when a big news story on a disaster e.g. is dominating the media and peoples' attention. Then there is the time that a couple of years ago that Heathrow airport was surrounded by tanks and the army because of a perceived terrorist threat and some evidence later that this was an exercise in managing public perception and promoting a feeling of dependence and reliance on government and the State. Tue or not? How do we know? Then there is the banning and blocking of blogs in some countries and controlled access to the web. If access to information is the best way to resist shock and the ensuing infantilism (which is increasingly characterising our culture) then the 'shock therapists' have a key interest in denying us access to information.
On the other hand, this video is an advert. It has shocked me. I shall now buy the book!
Chris,
Very provocative. One important way to arm oneself is to stay informed. This is often challenging considering the media role in supporting (if not implementing) the shock doctrine. On the other hand, there are those in the media who seem to sense an underlying manipulation and imbalance of power that has evolved in this country since 9/11. Bill Moyer's Journal addressed this topic in a number of programs, most recently with License to Spy, the September 7 PodCast. This audio can also be downloaded from iTunes.
Thanks for sharing the video.
Wendy
...Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Chris Sessums, in his blog post, says:This trailer is quite powerful rhetorically, visually, and emot...
...Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Chris Sessums, in his blog post, says:This trailer is quite powerful rhetorically, visually, and emot...
I haven't time to watch the video, but reading your text made me think of the parallels with technology, learning or otherwise. Instead of thinking that we can shape technologies, there is a tendency to see technology as a steamroller that flattens us unless we stand aside.
Some interesting refs here http://www.nyu.edu/projects/nissenbaum/courses_cs_values_2
change the conversation from resistance of external power to
responsibility for our own systems and choosing to change them?
This is our economy our governments our politics.