...For Klein neoliberalism is the rule of the market and corporations over the state therefore, meaning over the people. In her novel, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism she gathers together decades of economic catastrophes made by the United States, the IMF and the World bank. In this novel Klein is pushing to expose capitalism’s true nature,“ a policy the breeds poverty and crime” (Georgi Arbatov). Klein’s basic thesis and main point is that neoliberalism is dominating the world by using public disorientation such as wars, terrorist attacks and natural disasters to push through reforms that are not accepted. The introduction of the book Klein talks about the disaster in New Orleans, Hurricane Katrina, one of the many examples she uses to support her thesis, and how the Louisiana State Legislature in Baton Rouge were using this tragedy as an opportunity to change New Orleans. They spoke about building condos now that public housing was finally gone. One congressman said, “ We finally cleaned up public housing in New Orleans. We couldn’t do it, but God did”(page 4). Klein recalls what some of the victims commented on when they heard what the Legislature was planning after this occurrence and how when these victims saw this as tragedy, they saw it as an opportunity, coming about with “The Shock Doctrine”, which is when governments use these disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, to pass reforms that change the nations economy. In this novel...
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...The question on my mind after seeing The Shock Doctrine was whether ends justify means. Quite possibly, this is the question Klein wanted to be asked, because much of her case regards the distasteful means taken in order to further free market economics, tactics which the very proponents of these dogmas may feel they want to disassociate themselves with. However, my question was about Klein's/Winterbottom's own tactics. The film uses all methods that we've grown used to from modern politics: cherry-picked facts, "proofs" by emotionally-charged metaphors, hinted claims of guilt by association, sound-bite slogans that are repeated incessantly, and, of course, scare tactics. Sad to say, I've come to expect these things from political candidates that need to make their points in a 30-second TV appearance. I've even come to expect them in rating-seeking news programs. But have we stooped so low that these tactics are now par-for-the-course in documentaries, where a film-maker has 90 minutes of canvas to make a clear, compelling, and well-argued case? I happen to agree with Klein's stance that extreme capitalism is dangerous, and I think what we are seeing in both Europe and China in recent years (e.g. the collapse of Chinese nation-wide education and health policies) are just further proofs of the narrative Klein forwards. However, I don't see that there is a well-argued case here that would convince someone claiming that any change, good or bad, rarely happens in a peaceful way...
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...The Shock Doctrine Matt Linseman The Shock Doctrine describes the concept of “disaster capitalism” where the “the powers that be” exploit the current social and economic systems in place to gain an advantage over the general population and in turn achieve their ultimate goal of generating any type of profit or power possible. Naomi Klein’s book describes how free market policies have come to dictate the world with the help of disaster manipulation, torturous exercises and shock of all kinds implemented upon countries as well as individuals themselves for profit and power gain. Naomi Klein dissects this theory in her book by illustrating countless unfortunate events that have happened across the globe such as revolutions, terrorist attacks, market meltdowns, wars and natural disasters and how “disaster capitalism” is implemented behind the scenes while these events take place. “Friedman defines these orchestrated raids on the public sphere in the wake of catastrophic events, combined with the treatment of disasters as exciting ‘market opportunities’ or ‘disaster capitalism.’”(p6) It’s interesting because critics have been known to label Klein as a kind of conspiracist due to the nature and tone of her writing, though she does backup her arguments. She also follows the actions of a man named Milton Friedman throughout her book; she describes him as “a grand guru of the movement for unrestricted capitalism and for writing the rulebook for the contemporary, hypermobile global...
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...Soc. 403 May, 8, 2012 Shock Doctrine Through history wars and natural disasters have been part of the adversities humanity has suffered. Mankind has managed to get ahead with theses adversities but it becomes hard to believe where blood, and pain takes place others can get benefits from death. Where some fight for a better equal society others are expecting to spend a disgrace to make money from it. In the book “The Shock Doctrine” by Naomi Klein, critiques how free market is dominating the world through the exploitation of disaster-shocked people and countries. America has become a corporatist state using the element of shock treatment among citizens. The term “disaster capitalism” first pointed out in the book by economist Milton Friedman claims that “whenever government have imposed sweeping free-market programs, the all-at-once shock treatment or shock therapy has been the method of choice” (8). Friedman observed only a crisis actual or perceived produces real change and the new fundamental change was a permanent reform. The reason is simple capitalism has always needed disasters to advance and the prefer method to achieve goals from corporations utilizing a collective trauma engage in radical social and economic engineering. The shock therapy has helped America to become a corporative state where free market makes everything, it is the ultimate goal but hand with hand privatizing is what leads to corporations to a better success without of these disasters...
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...With the implementation of fair trade policies and the straining policies that the WTO (World Trade Organization) initiates, globalization will become a threat to the current status of power around the world. Globalization is the process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a global network of politics through communication, transportation, and trade. Globalization will create a one world economy, where big global corporations make a fortune exploiting slave labor on the other side of the world. With the treat of these global corporations taking control of the world economy because of fair trade policies, Naomi Klein’s argument about disaster capitalism that is discussed in her book The Shock Doctrine, can be directly related. Globalization helps develop third world countries in response to the outsourcing of jobs that multinational corporations carry out. As more capital is poured in to developing countries, those countries will acquire economic stability and increase their standard of living. In return the economy that those individuals belong to will also begin to grow. As stated in Forbes Magazine, “Per-person income in China has climbed from $16 a year in 1978 to $2,000 now. Wages in factory boomtowns in southern China can run $4 a day--scandalously low in the eyes of the protesters, yet up from pennies a day a generation ago and far ahead of increases in living costs” (Robyn Meredith and Suzanne Hoppough). China’s economy...
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...flows. The concept of globalization is said to have been spawned out of the Cold War as a result of the increase in specialization and the need for trade. As a result of globalization many economists, businesspeople, and politicians have found that they needed to change their policies and adopt what is called “the Golden Straightjacket”, which is a set of guidelines that governments and businesses must follow to be successful in a unified market. Many economists, politicians, authors, and businesspeople have differing views on the costs and benefits of putting on the Golden Straightjacket. Tom Friedman, an economist and author, argues that the Golden Straightjacket is a good thing for the world economy, while Naomi Klein, author of The Shock Doctrine, argues that free trade is a technique used to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. Other ideas that have been argued are the effect globalization has on the spread of democracy. Tom Friedman argues that globalization is used to revolutionize governments to conform to democracy while Dani Rodrik, author of The Globalization Paradox, says that globalization actually hinders the spread of democracy. Klein, Rodrik, and Friedman offer differing views that reveal the various costs and benefits of globalization. Globalization usually refers to the global distribution of goods and services though reduction of barriers to trade. Globalization has existed for as long as there has been international trade. Our ancestors used trade routes...
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...Book Review: This Changes Everything, by Naomi Klein, published: Sept. 2014 Summarize the book. What is being discussed? Rob Nixon of the New York Times called Naomi Klein’s “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate” “a book of such ambition and consequence that it is almost unreviewable.[1]” Naomi Klein researches the impact of Climate change and its relationship with free market capitalism. She discusses capitalism as failed economic system. She goes into great depth on the subject of resource extraction, pollution and the events of surrounding the affected communities in these regions across the world. However, rather than concluding that things are hopeless Naomi Klein argues that: We can build something better and reclaim our economic system. She argues that the market cannot save us. We have the tools/technology to get off of fossil fuels, but it requires leaving free market capitalism behind. We need to rebuild local economies, reign in corporate power and reclaim democracy. She argues that we aren’t all the all powerful saviours of the planet, but that as visitors on the earth we have to save ourselves from an earth that is rocking, burning and driving humanity into extinction because of our actions. Describe the three most important arguments or claims made in the book. The first argument Naomi Klein makes is that world leaders and climate scientists agree if we are going to avoid truly catastrophic consequences of climate change; we need to...
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...stages of disaster capitalism is shock and awe and the inception of what she refers to as the shock doctrine. Throughout Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, she describes how cataclysmic events whether through wars, terrorism, military coups, market meltdowns or natural disasters open the doors to Friedmanite (named after Milton Friedman) economics (2007). Not only do these disastrous events make countries susceptible to increased exploitation from free market capitalists looking to profit from disaster, their radical economic policies and the massive privatization of public schools, utilities, health care and other public services, but also, as Klein describes in the book, it has led to some of the most atrocious and violent acts carried out by governments and their army and police forces throughout the world. Klein begins with describing the events that took place immediately after Louisiana was hit by Hurricane Katrina. She introduces us to Milton Friedman, author of Capitalism and Freedom and the one responsible for using “shock therapy” to implement Chicago School economics in other countries. Friedman’s goal was to recreate societies and return them to a pure capitalist state without any interruptions, government regulations, trade barriers and entrenched interests (Klein, 2007). In addition, he believed that the reformation to pure capitalism of these societies was not possible without the presence of a disaster or state of collective shock. When disaster strikes, societies...
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...dictionary, n.d.). Shock advertising is a marketing strategy that deliberately, rather than unintentionally, startles and offends its audience by violating norms for social values and personal ideals (Wikipedia, 2011). The Free Dictionary continues to state that the shock advertising technique is ideally intended to push boundaries and separate itself from the norm in hopes of attracting an audience and to provoke conversation. As its name states, shock advertising is usually presented in a controversial, bold, and offensive manner. Advertisers are hoping to revolutionize how one views the status quo for the sole purpose of selling a product. Further, shock advertising is created by the use of the images or words that are communicated. Shock advertising may disregard societal manners through nudity or by creating a sense of fear through brutal violence or because the product itself is deemed inappropriate (The free dictionary, n.d.). For example, the clothing brand FCUK’s creative arrangement of letters is unmistakably provocative (B&T, 2004). Shock advertising is not only controversial because of how its message is presented, but also whether it is effective (Wikipedia, 2011). Shock is a successful means of advertising because it creates an emotional persuasion, which ultimately leads to action from the consumer (Huntington, 2009). Thus, shock is useful because it generates action from an emotional reaction, not due to the outrageous images and headlines. Shock advertising is...
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...Shocking but Effective: Techniques Used by Awareness Campaigns Images are everywhere in the media. We see commercials, billboards, magazine advertisements and more every day. Eventually, people stop paying attention to what the ads are saying and what they are selling or promoting. Commercials start to mush together in unimportance as we wait for our TV shows to return. Billboards blur into each other as we see the same messages portrayed over and over. This challenges advertising companies to come up with catchier slogans, more comical commercials or images, anything to get people to snap out of it and pay attention to what they have to say. This particular image is an underwater advertisement seen clearly through the water. It is an advertisement for the Watch Around Water campaign in Australia promoting the supervision of children at public pools. The background is blue in order to blend in with the water and to look like water as well. There is a white boy wearing swim trunks face-down on top of the blue, sprawled across the advertisement. It is apparent that he is a drowned child. On the bottom of the image, partially covered by the dead child’s foot are the words “Where’s Your Child?” Under this is the logo for the Watch Around Water campaign. The ad makes it personally when it asks “Where’s Your Child?” It further insinuates the question of “Are you watching them?” and makes the viewer feel responsible, as they should, for their child’s whereabouts. The purpose...
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...Failure to Escape Traumatic Shock by Seligman and Maier The purpose of this study was to determine the type of learning acquisition in dogs that were subjected to three different styles of electric shock. They wanted to determine what method of learning worked the best to avoid a shock for an extended period of time. Each of the three groups of dogs learned escape/avoidance training, however the "escape" group and the "yoked" group gained more training than the normal control group. The "escape" group was taught during their training that touching the side panels during the shock would terminate it. This was repeated 64 times in the harness and the same training was done 10 more times in the shuttle box, 24 hours later. The "yoked" group received the same training as the "escape" group, however the "escape" group could touch the side panels to end the shock while the "yoked" group was taught the same thing, but touching the panels did not end the shock. In Experiment 1 the "yoked" group might have experienced a concept called learned helplessness. The researchers in this version of the experiment proceed to think that because the "yoked" group couldn't get out of the shocks by touching the side panels, that the group just accepted the fact that the shocks will take place and that they can't do anything about it. In Experiment 2, the experiment was designed to see if the dogs from experiment 1 would react the same to an inescapable shock as they did in experiment 1...
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...behavior tendency that it is. He then sets up an experiment at Yale University that will push the limits of human obedience. He has a “teacher” give out a series of simple word pairs for the “learner”. If the learner gets a word pair wrong then the teacher gives out a series of shock ranging from 15 to 450 volts. The teacher who is the real subject in the experiment does not know that the learner is a paid actor who does not receive any actual shocks. The motivation behind this experiment for Milgram was to test just how far people would go to obey the command of an authority figure. Milgram’s theory is that the subject will have total control of what they are doing and will disobey the authority figure when inflicting pain onto a hopeless human being. One of his subjects, Gretchen Brandt, is participating with the experiment when the learner got the word pair wrong she showed the self control to stop shocking to not continue. Milgram thought that this is how the majority of subjects would react, “Her behavior is the very embodiment of what I envisioned would be true for almost all subject”(Milgram, 44). Brandt simply wasn’t worried about rejecting the authority if it meant that she no longer would have to shock the subject again. The next subject that Milgram includes in his essay is an ordinary unemployed man named Fred Prozi. Prozi continues with the experiment as told until her got up to 195 volts, at this point the learner was no longer answering the questions. Prozi sees the...
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...Signs of Shock As a veterinary technician, it’s important to be able to recognize when a patient enters the animal hospital in distress. Prompt action following the hospital’s procedures can save a pet’s life. Shock is a medical term meaning a loss of circulation. If a pet is in shock, their blood pressure is very low. This can be critical if the pet’s vital organs and brain is not getting enough blood flow. There are many reasons why a pet may go into shock. Often it is due to a trauma to the body and or loss of blood. A pet that has been hit by a car can present to the hospital in shock, or a dog fight. Severe allergic reactions, heart failure, or excessive vomiting and diarrhea...
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...symptoms mostly were the feeling of loneliness and sadness. I also slept a lot. I felt like I just wanted to go deeper and deeper in my sleep and dream about my sweet home. I refused to go out and talk to native people. All I did was sitting in front of my laptop and watched Vietnamese movies or read Vietnamese magazines. It was all for the purpose of killing time and forgetting the emptiness in my heart. There are a lot of different theories about the phases of culture shock. The differences mostly depend on each individual’s personality. The most common theory is identified by Kalvero Oberg. He discovered the five distinct stages of culture shock in 1958, the five stages of culture shock. The first stage is called “honeymoon stage”. When entering to a new country, you may feel excited and eager to experiences new things. You’re in awe of the differences you see. Just looking at everything in the new place reminds you of sweet home during this stage. Desi Downey, an author of the article Culture Shock: It's the Little Things That Count in the Biggest Ways, lived in China for six years, and taught English there for much of that time. She narrated her own story when she first moved to China since her husband was offered a chance to work there. Before she ever left...
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...The Irony of Louise Mallard’s Widowhood In “The Story of an Hour” by Kate Chopin, the author disturbs the reader through the character of Mrs. Mallard. Mrs. Louise Mallard is a coldhearted woman who is happy at the news of widowhood, unbeknownst to her family and friends. Mrs. Mallard’s train of thought throughout the story is unexpected and shocks the reader at every turn, but teaches the reader a few things about relationships in the process. Situational and dramatic irony are created through the interpretation of Mrs. Mallard’s reaction to her husband’s death and through her own untimely death. Two different events in this story shock the reader through situational irony. Situational irony occurs when the reader’s expectations of the story are met with an unexpected occurrence, something that the reader wouldn’t have guessed would happen. The first incident takes place shortly after the main character, Louise, is told that her husband has died in a railroad accident. Her immediate reaction is predictable; she clings to her sister and sobs because her husband is dead. When a person loses a loved one that person goes through a mourning period to grieve for the loss and to cope with the death. What the reader is unprepared for, however, is not this display of emotion directly after the news of the accident. Rather than devastated by his death, Louise is overjoyed. Rather than absorbing the news as some women, “with paralyzed inability to accept its significance”...
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