Neoliberalism is a systemic force of political, economic, and cultural violence, fostering despair while obliterating any vision of justice, solidarity, or care.
Thanks for this! In my 85th year I certainly agree with this discussion. As a newspaper reporter for a short time before a social worker, I'm well aware of the long trend to profits before people--and how it is a very high level now. And good, educated people seem not aware of this. And like half of us or more seem fine with a punitive, legalistic approach to abortion--religious people included. All the energy and potential good will quashed in the pro-life pro-choice stand off.
We are being played big time while money, profits, are moving from the needy to the wealthy at an increasing rate in a largely hidden manner. "According to a Rand Corporation forty-five years study [1975-2018], about $50 trillion had been transferred from the bottom 90 percent to the top 1 per cent in terms of unpaid wages." The Progressive October/November 20/24. A huge underground shuffling of wealth.
We no longer tax the top one percent income bracket at 90 percent, gutting many necessary programs for the poor and needy, such as women and teens with a problem or unwanted pregnancy because for one reason they no longer have any medical care--for necessary appointments and certainly for birth under medical supervision. The big economic pinch is getting tighter and tighter.
Thank you for your comment. I agree with you on almost all of the points you make, but I wonder if the statement "good, educated people seem not aware of this" is true. By the way, this is Sharon Kyle responding. When I say that I wonder, I mean that literally, not rhetorically. On the one hand, I can see the role that age or youth plays in this equation. Young, bright people go to college, become educated, and seem to think, based on their behavior, that they have a full grasp of the quagmire this country is in. But, in time, their views are tempered by life experience, so they make the necessary adjustments to their ideology. So I can see that there probably is a sector of the "good educated people who are unaware of the long trend to profits before people. But I suspect that they represent a small sliver of the populace.
I think a larger sector of the population are those that Hannah Arendt might characterize as suffering from the "banality of evil" (an unfortunate term given the role that white Christian Nationalism plays in this debate. To be clear, the evil Arendt is describing as nothing to do with religion). These are people who are both educated and uneducated who don't seem to align themselves with any particular ideology. They seem to rely on clichéd defenses and catch phrases that come from on-high rather than thinking through political and social issues themselves. The anti-wokism charade comes to mind. They might be aware of the trend towards privatization of the commons but they don't seem to care as long as they continue to benefit in some from the system.
Good points. Iti is just difficult to see how so many people are taken in by people like Trump and others over the years, who just cave in and follow...Hitler for one example.
Thom Hartmann is one of those intellectuals who knows better. I've lost tons of respect for him. Smelled a rat the moment he turned his back on Bernie's movement, and shilled for Hillary. Been downhill ever since.
This is so validating for me. I don't claim to be as educated as Mr. Giroux, but I've been saying for years that neoliberalism is a precursor to fascism. (Yeah "Chicken Little", here!) Mostly to deaf ears. It's a terrible shame things will have to get so much worse, before enough of us small fry wake up. I've long believed what Hedges & Giroux keep repeating, that we need a mass movement to save ourselves. These are frightening times. Unless we find a way to set aside our differences and start that movement, we are doomed.
Thanks for this! In my 85th year I certainly agree with this discussion. As a newspaper reporter for a short time before a social worker, I'm well aware of the long trend to profits before people--and how it is a very high level now. And good, educated people seem not aware of this. And like half of us or more seem fine with a punitive, legalistic approach to abortion--religious people included. All the energy and potential good will quashed in the pro-life pro-choice stand off.
We are being played big time while money, profits, are moving from the needy to the wealthy at an increasing rate in a largely hidden manner. "According to a Rand Corporation forty-five years study [1975-2018], about $50 trillion had been transferred from the bottom 90 percent to the top 1 per cent in terms of unpaid wages." The Progressive October/November 20/24. A huge underground shuffling of wealth.
We no longer tax the top one percent income bracket at 90 percent, gutting many necessary programs for the poor and needy, such as women and teens with a problem or unwanted pregnancy because for one reason they no longer have any medical care--for necessary appointments and certainly for birth under medical supervision. The big economic pinch is getting tighter and tighter.
Thank you for your comment. I agree with you on almost all of the points you make, but I wonder if the statement "good, educated people seem not aware of this" is true. By the way, this is Sharon Kyle responding. When I say that I wonder, I mean that literally, not rhetorically. On the one hand, I can see the role that age or youth plays in this equation. Young, bright people go to college, become educated, and seem to think, based on their behavior, that they have a full grasp of the quagmire this country is in. But, in time, their views are tempered by life experience, so they make the necessary adjustments to their ideology. So I can see that there probably is a sector of the "good educated people who are unaware of the long trend to profits before people. But I suspect that they represent a small sliver of the populace.
I think a larger sector of the population are those that Hannah Arendt might characterize as suffering from the "banality of evil" (an unfortunate term given the role that white Christian Nationalism plays in this debate. To be clear, the evil Arendt is describing as nothing to do with religion). These are people who are both educated and uneducated who don't seem to align themselves with any particular ideology. They seem to rely on clichéd defenses and catch phrases that come from on-high rather than thinking through political and social issues themselves. The anti-wokism charade comes to mind. They might be aware of the trend towards privatization of the commons but they don't seem to care as long as they continue to benefit in some from the system.
Good points. Iti is just difficult to see how so many people are taken in by people like Trump and others over the years, who just cave in and follow...Hitler for one example.
Kinda ironic that the conservative right says the same thing as MR Giroux .
So true the snake eating its tail.
Perhaps as they note the extreme left and right are very close together ><
Thom Hartmann is one of those intellectuals who knows better. I've lost tons of respect for him. Smelled a rat the moment he turned his back on Bernie's movement, and shilled for Hillary. Been downhill ever since.
This is so validating for me. I don't claim to be as educated as Mr. Giroux, but I've been saying for years that neoliberalism is a precursor to fascism. (Yeah "Chicken Little", here!) Mostly to deaf ears. It's a terrible shame things will have to get so much worse, before enough of us small fry wake up. I've long believed what Hedges & Giroux keep repeating, that we need a mass movement to save ourselves. These are frightening times. Unless we find a way to set aside our differences and start that movement, we are doomed.