On Jul 2, 2012, at 10:36 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
> On Jul 2, 2012, at 10:15 AM, Wojtek S wrote:
>> [WS:] One thing that puzzles me is that despite the colossal failures
>> of neoliberalism and austerity measures it brought about, neoliberal
>> parties keep "winning" elections. There seem to be two logical
>> explanations 1. It does not matter who casts the votes, but who
>> counts
>> them; or 2. The majority of the voting population (i.e. the
>> professional-managerial class) still supports neoliberalism despite
>> the setbacks. I lean toward #2. I wonder what others think.
> I'm afraid you're right. This is one of my criticisms of Naomi
> Klein's Shock Doctrine - she has no way to account for the degree of
> popular assent to neoliberal policies. It's not just fraud and force
> and trickery - there's a real acceptance of this shit.
One thing that puzzles me is how anyone can be puzzled by those election results, given the fact that for the overwhelming majority all the political and economic information they get is provided by corporate mass media owned and controlled by the richest people in the world (Slim! Murdoch! Graham! Berlusconi!) and very deliberately used to prevent any independent opinion from being heard by the majority while preventing independent thought from getting an audience, or even arising, by drowning the public in seductive, addictive, propagandizing entertainment. The "public" doesn't support neoliberalim: how many people do you think have ever even heard, let alone understood the word? The whole operation of the corporate media is to make "neoliberalism" the invisible, unconsciously accepted, perimeter of popular thought. They pay the "best" minds to make sure that it's done right, and they get their money's worth.
Shane Mage
The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.
The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.
Joe Stack (1956-2010)