The Shock Doctrine: Disaster Capitalism

A master thesis on elitists use of the art of "Shock & Awe", or exploiting shocking events, to bring about or push through abrupt policy changes of social control. It uses psychiatry's electro-shock treatment as well as the CIA's psychological shock torture tactics as the metaphor of controlling the masses.



This is an amazing thesis. And a sweet video. I'm in envy.

Also check out the extensive resources and references section at the wesite:
www.naomiklein.org...
Hours and hours worth of materials that you can use to learn the case points in case you can't afford the book.

[edit on 26-9-2007 by IgnoranceIsntBlisss]

reply to post by IgnoranceIsntBlisss


I think the documentary is straight on. Its obvious that is what the US government are doing, and have been doing, since the first world war.

Some human beings truly disgust me. All this pain and suffering just to earn more money.


[edit on 26-9-2007 by Copernicus]

Yeah, I made sure to point it out over a year ago in my "TWYS" video that the establishment is set up to profit and benefit from virtually all of our problems (911, Katrina, Wars, etc). Naomi's the first one that I'm aware of to give it a name: "Disaster Capitalism". Perfect title, in and out.

Who else than IIB would start a thread about the Shock Doctrine?

I read this book in less than four days, and I must say it's an absolute must-read. The book goes really in-depth explaining and analysing how a "meme" was spread forcefully over the planet to create a global, self-administrating, open market - at the cost of the poor and under-privileged.

It shows that those with money and power don't even have to conspire for such events like 9/11 - they merely have to pray and wait for catastrophes like Katrina or the Tsunami, and when they happen, they open a desk drawer with concrete plans on how to benefit.

I really hope this book will go down in history as an eye-opener for all those who thought we're fighting to secure freedom and democracy in the middle east and elsewhere.

Just finished her book and had a beer with her hubby... amongst the Missus co-plebes at CBC... total lefties. Nice but so far left as to be well, "intellectuals"... who ain't hurtin' for love nor money. BTW: I consider myself a Libertarian-Socialist. Don't ask.

Her "thesis" is weak for a number of reasons - and she does have the "gift of gab" (both standard and of the "baffle" variety) that does lead seemingly to speculations about which she "reverse-engineers" and deconstructs history only well enough to fit her "argument". Darn glad she has less "pull" up here in Canada than with the audience she attempts to persuade - somewhat South of "The Great White North". She should look at her own family's history of participation in capitalism. Pot-Kettle-Black... Hogs at the private AND public troughs. Double-dippers and I don't mean at Tim Horton's.

I could do the whole critical-thinking thing and cut her and her publisher "a new one", but it really isn't worth the effort - fart in a windstorm and dissipated as quickly. No Pulitzer here.

I'm sure it will sell as well as her last... at least amongst the "folks" she counts as "audience" - cognoscente-elite-South-Paws. Preaching to the converted often has a "back-lash" effect and... I'd recommend any work by her father-in-law and his Pops as "socialism-the-good". Her stuff? Cashin' in on socialism and beatin' a dead horse (Bush) by proxy. Disaster capitalism? More like "Disaster-journalism". Even the "lunch" crowd from the CBC has had a laugh of two in the last week or so... the "book" has totally dropped off the radar up here.

Like the ING-dude says, "Save your money." Those with an interest in a good fun read with a great deal more political and economic and cultural insight might consider Rick Mercer's new book; The Mercer Report - The Book. The "rants" are all the classics Canadians and some Americans will be familiar with.

With "friends" like this on the left... who needs Republicans?

Cheers,

Vic

[edit on 2-10-2007 by V Kaminski]

An excellent post as usual IIB. I always enjoy your well informed posts and usually agree as well. I look forward to reading the book.

There is another thread here that is somewhat similar in that the article discussed in the thread asserts a similar theory to "The Shock Doctrine" - essentially that the PTB have found a way to manipulate and capitalize on just about anything.

Silent Weopons For Quiet Wars:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

kosmic your member bar is giving me seizures...

If she is too left for the economist, she is too left for me
Why Naomi Klein Needs To Grow Up

Welcome to Canada, where everyone likes to talk about how America is Satan. Funny considering how much they all like to shop, especially now with the greenback where it's at. Also funny she appears to have given many of her anti consumerism speech's in Vancouver, the capital of Canada's ironic "I love the environment and hate globalization, yet I wear expensive globalist made clothes so I can look cool at the club where I buy corporation produced liquors and dance to my favorite new Mainstream label produced club track." (It really is Hollywood North - hyper-hypocritical)(I can walk to several dog food bakeries from my house )

A good example i can think of:
Vancouver actually has this "activist" group (twenty odd drunk socialist high school and university students) who go downtown to smash bus stops, break bottles, hurl things at police officers, and assault TV news cameramen. They do this so as to stand up for homeless peoples rights. One homeless man interviewed put it perfect when he said "I have lived on this street for over ten years. I have never seen any of these people, they have never helped me, all they have done is filled the street I live on with garbage" (to paraphrase). Although slightly off topic, I think this perfectly demonstrates the general hypocritical attitude of your average Canadian anti-globalist. All protest, no: real action, critical thought, even self education on simple issues - hell read a newspaper (not that your average Canadian rag writer is any better).

People in Canada like to hate all over America and disregard just how much every single aspect of our lives would fall apart without them. They seem to fail to see both sides of the issue, but in the end isn't that most everyone's problem (including me).

Post: Please don't take offense to this. This is personal opinion based on personal experience. I have met a few enlightened socialists here, who are well read, promote smart changes, and actually like to deal with and discuss real problems and issues. The problem here is that for every one of those I meet 50 people who will just throw the most insane liberal rhetoric at you that accomplishes nothing at best. (I actually had one lady who barged into me and a friends discussion about Iraq. She told us the war was evil, illegal, and the whole shebang. When I inquired as to why she had these views (very politely at that), the only response i could rouse from her were lyrics from several beatles songs. Wow if that doesn't prove the war is illegal nothing will!)

postpost: sorry for the bracket in a bracket above (i know its bad english (and confusing ))

EDIT: Forgot to add, Vic I would give you 3 stars if I could for all of your hilarious Canadianism references (Especially double dipping in the double double- which should be doubly done two times a day)

[edit on 2-10-2007 by WuTang]

[edit on 2-10-2007 by WuTang]

[edit on 2-10-2007 by WuTang]

Originally posted by Akareyon
Who else than IIB would start a thread about the Shock Doctrine?

Originally posted by kosmicjack
An excellent post as usual IIB. I always enjoy your well informed posts and usually agree as well. I look forward to reading the book.

Dig.

Originally posted by V Kaminski
Just finished her book and had a beer with her hubby... amongst the Missus co-plebes at CBC... total lefties.

Dammat [snaps fingers], she's already married?

Yeah CBC is definitely leftist. Like they'll be dead on with issues that don't make left views look bad say Dick Cheney or the Iraqi Occupation, but then they'll spin "Global Warming" as absolute fact... They might even be responsible for the "GW Deniers" rheotric but I can't say for sure just yet.

Originally posted by V Kaminski
Her "thesis" is weak for a number of reasons

I get the feeling that you have problems with the apparent attack on the free market as the apparent enemy, as if it's the source of disaster capitalism...

Originally posted by Akareyon
The book goes really in-depth explaining and analysing how a "meme" was spread forcefully over the planet to create a global, self-administrating, open market - at the cost of the poor and under-privileged.

I honestly haven't read the book yet, as I'm broke and actually PC-less thanks to lightning, however I couldn't help but notice the mention of the Free Market in the video. I haven't read her piece yet to be able to properly decide how realistic the "free market" itself is to blame. However, I have a hunch that she may have some leftie bias that prompted her to attack free market capitalism. In my view, the Distaster Capitalists are set up to exploit just about anything that may arise, and a shift in the markets would be no exception. This raises the question are we to blame the free market concept, or the power elite who would benefit from something else that may arise? Perhaps she has something add that I'm missing, I dunno.

It's important to note that much of what is referred to by the Media etc as "Free Market Capitalism" is in fact "Managed Trade" which is set up to ensure the power of a few. Take NAFTA, SPP, WTO, and so on.

Originally posted by AkareyonIt shows that those with money and power don't even have to conspire for such events like 9/11 - they merely have to pray and wait for catastrophes like Katrina or the Tsunami, and when they happen, they open a desk drawer with concrete plans on how to benefit.

Originally posted by kosmicjack
essentially that the PTB have found a way to manipulate and capitalize on just about anything.

Now this is where I know up-front she's got some focus on some important perspective. I'm very curious if she's the one who coined that phrase "Distaster Capitalism" (capitalizing on disaster, the art and lifestyle of)? I can see where her critics can find objections with her free market views, but can any critics disagree with the reality that our masters are set up to win when the rest of us suffer?

[edit on 2-10-2007 by IgnoranceIsntBlisss]

reply to post by WuTang


I'm finding it harder and harder to not firmly believe that hypocrisy is a universal human element. Take "US" for example: "We're" the worlds hegemonic imperialist empire /slash/ #1 sponsers of international terrorism. You know, basically everything we rebelled against in 1776, and fought against throughout the 20th Century, and are "fighting" now, yet despite the overwhelming facts about the true nature of what "we" have done, virtually everbody is convinced that we're somehow the good guys no matter what damning revelation comes forth. It's so bad that even now that GWB has obviously invaded Iraq out of imperialist ambition, many of those who are beginning to observe the true nature of our systems "foreign policy" still assume that it's all Bush, as if it's some sort of "new" thing and is all Bush's fault.

We're talking about hundreds of millions of people from overlapping generations all so easily duped into self-deciet despite the truth being right there on the surface. I knwo full well that propaganda has had a hand in what I speak of, yet it's really not even the hard to see thru. And that's really just one aspect of the hypocrisy which permeates thru this society alone. For instance, most people agains the war are only against it because "we're" 'losing'. The engineered Balkan's sectarian conflict... "we" pat ourselves on the back (because no US troops really died).

WOW!!! Great stuff!!! I can't believe I missed this one. Kosmicjack posted it on Most Important threads of 2007, and I can see why. Flag and star.

Our industrial military complex is the largest sector of our economy if you look at where our tax dollars are going. People have to WAKE UP!!!!!

reply to post by pjsconcrete


The United States is the NEW THIRD REICH. It is the Military and the International bankers who run everything. The lowly citizen is just a dupe, a schmoe, a pawn to be played. We pay taxes to fund M.I.C. and the groups pulling the strings.
The US President is nothing more than a talking head for the will of the M.I.C. . ( wouldn't look too good to have a military man in uniform addressing the nation,now would it? )
There is a shadow government behind the fake White House facade.
There is a storm of change coming, and it isn't the sweet kind like what is being spewed out of the mouths of the presidential candidates right now either. "CHANGE" is just the new campaign "IN WORD " right now.
The propaganda machine is in full operating mode. The under 50 crowds are licking it up like dogs after spilled gravey.

Yes, gulags are being readied for that storm. Massive arrests are going to happen. People will disappear for good. There will be interogations, torture, and excecutions. You can put that in the bank!
Civil unrest will not be tollerated in any forms. All private weapons will be rounded up by modern day storm troopers. Resist and you die immediately.
What's coming will make Hilter,Stalin, Sadam, Pol Pot look like pikers.

Why? Because there are over 7.5 billion humans on the planet. Land resources are finite and being rapidly depleted. Natural recources are disapearing, especially fresh water. The oceans are slowly dying. At the rates of continued over population, the world will be finished in less than a hundred years. Something has change and dramatically.
Expect upheaval in less than 20 years. Expect a lot less of every thing after that. You will live on what you absolutely need to survive, nothing extra.
Society will be divided in two groups. The high powered, in charge elites, and the underclass of laborers. No middle ground. You'll either be the peacock or the pile of crap it is standing on. Believe it!

The Next generation of the Third Reich, ( 2015 ) will be ruthless and merciless.
Prepare for it now if you can. IT IS COMING!
Did you actually think that you'd live in LA-LA Land forever? Grow up!

UFO Bounty Hunter .01.07.08