Neoliberalism - not so "neo" and not so "liberal" but is a definite "ism".....
- Controlled Decay
- Nov 1, 2024
- 2 min read
"We live under an ideology that preys on every aspect of our lives: our education and our jobs; our healthcare and our leisure; our relationships and our mental wellbeing; the planet we inhabit – the very air we breathe. So pervasive has it become that, for most people, it has no name. It seems unavoidable, like a natural law.
But trace it back to its roots, and we discover that it is neither inevitable nor immutable. It was conceived, propagated, and then concealed by the powerful few.""
This is the blurb to a book called "The Invisible Doctrine The Secret History of Neoliberalism (& How It Came to Control Your Life)" by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchinson.
The book expertly details the channels by which this doctrine flooded our world and permeated western democracies, the ways in which it eats away at our rights and freedoms, funnels money to the richest, prays on every natural resource and fundamentally lead to political crisis' - whereby through their lack of agency, voters become disenfranchised to the point they lose interest in political debate, become more responsive to symbolism, sensations, slogans, and some become unable to differentiate relevant facts and information from propaganda and rhetoric.
Critical thinking is lost.
Which when you look at the MAGA movement and the lurch towards fascism from Trump, is exactly how things are playing out today.
Truth and facts have become irrelevant to many of his supporters, wearing t-shirts saying "I'm voting for the convicted felon".
The book is a great, if not a deeply worrying read... and is also about to be distributed as a film, of the same name, which I gave a modest amount to help get produced, via Kickstarter.
Please search it out and lets, as the book and film suggest, start working to change the narrative we have been sold.
It is a lie.
Lets work towards something more democratic and collective, less individualistic and materialistic, where participatory politics engages an electorate to get what it wants, not what Elon Musk and the tech bro billionaires wants.
Lets do this quickly, before the worlds eco systems collapse, under the consolidated wealth of a few greed heads, con artists and tech bro oligarchs, who want to reshape the world to their twisted doom view.
With the looming election in the USA the warnings from this books message couldn't be more timely.
Monbiot wrote an article that predates the book by some 8 years and covers much of its themes here :
The Invisible Doctrine book is here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/455534/the-invisible-doctrine-by-hutchison-george-monbiot-and-peter/9780241635902
The films website is here : https://theinvisibledoctrine.com/
Enjoy.. and American friends - VOTE!
But not for the Orange one.