The Shock Doctrine
Naomi Klein's book the Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism has been on my reading list for a while.
Her primary point is that the wealthy use moments of crisis to implement policies that sane, regular citizens would normally oppose. The privatization of their water supply. The elimination of their right to sue for faulty tires. A plan to go to war, let's say, theoretically, against a country that had already been largely pacified -- simply for the benefit of a multitude of business interests.
I'm not sure that the book's premise is a revelation, and in fact as a tech writer with a mean humanism streak I see policies implemented almost daily that screw consumers in one way or another, usually right under their noses. Not only that, via the use of propaganda and PR, it's usually accomplished with the cheering support of said consumers.
So I'm interested to see if she addresses the fact that most of the radical policies being enacted by the nation's corporations aren't done in secret or while we're distracted, but are in fact done in plain sight. They're simply distorted so badly (successfully?) that the public takes them for the opposite of what they actually are.
A no child left behind act that leaves children behind, a clear sky initiative that pollutes, drug reform laws for the elderly that raise drug prices, phone industry franchise reform that limits deployment of services -- the list is endless. And these things weren't passed on 9/12 when I still had burnt wreckage in my nostrils.
They were passed right in front of our faces. They were passed with the public's nodding, disinterested, slack-jawed approval.
And it all stems back to the advent and rise of the "free market" think tank to discredit humanism and consumer advocacy via the use of sophisticated modern propaganda, something that's still seems like an issue that hasn't fully made it on to the radar of even the most politically sentient.
We're soaking in a culture that professes that caring is weakness, that humanism equates to communism, that obtaining wealth is enlightenment and that using tax dollars to help children or improve infrastructure is madness, but using tax dollars for war is wise.
I'm not sure the problem is that people are being tricked during times of crisis, but that they're being tricked constantly, and from a multitude of directions.
As I see it, the problem is that an already confused and apathetic populace is being bombarded with disinformation by the nation's wealthy on all sides (lawmakers, ads, distorted media reports, radio, think tanks), and there's no functional, truth-obsessed media to offer balance. Meanwhile, our education system, which should instill critical thinking capabilities, is quite intentionally left to rot.
The top ranked tech blog is more interested in self-promotion than truth. The top ranked cable news network is more concerned with political allegiance than truth. The top-ranked papers aren't read. And all of them are in absolute and total fealty to advertisers. In such a climate you don't need to implement greed-driven anti-consumer policies on the down low, because no media outlet with any real reach is going to illuminate the bullshit anyway.
There's no money in it.