Jump to content

So What's Neoliberalism?

Recommended Posts

On 15/03/2021 at 22:28, Mister M said:

Pinochet ran a military junta which overthrew a democratically elected government. His government disappeared, tortured and murdered its political enemies, thousands of them. They burned books, violated people's human and democratic rights, and imposed neo liberal policies inspired by academics in their comfy Chicago University offices.

Pinochet was a fascist, a dictator, a brute and a neo liberal. You might not think that qualifies him as a fascist and neo liberal, but I do.

 

Yes, and Pinochet was supported by Margaret Thatcher....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
8 minutes ago, Anna B said:

Yes, and Pinochet was supported by Margaret Thatcher....

Who you have said you voted for yourself.

 

Your point being?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 15/03/2021 at 22:44, Mister M said:

Listen, we can all scour the internet when challenged, and find people to agree with us. Not all of us live by dictionary definitions, but are perfectly able to understand what fascism and neoliberalism are. There are thousands of corpses and disappeared people to testify to it.

If dead people and disappeared people was the definition then the USSR would be classed as fascist.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
8 hours ago, Arnold_Lane said:

Who you have said you voted for yourself.

 

Your point being?

Read Mr M's post 256. Who would support someone like that?

 

Yes I voted for Mrs Thatcher once (and only once) That was 40+ years ago before I discovered politics proper, and before the internet when you could check sources and facts. We believed what we were told in those days and didn't realise that what we were not being told was equally important.

 

There are still people like that today, which is why I encourage people to do their own research and dig deep to get to the truth. Too many people never get beyond the headlines and sound bites. Politicians are the first to take advantage of that.  

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 minutes ago, Anna B said:

......

 

Yes I voted for Mrs Thatcher once (and only once) That was 40+ years ago before I discovered politics proper, and before the internet when you could check sources and facts. We believed what we were told in those days and didn't realise that what we were not being told was equally important....

Don't be daft, and at least give some people some credit for making their own minds up, I never voted once for Thatcher despite liking some of her policies.

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
45 minutes ago, Anna B said:

Too many people never get beyond the headlines and sound bites. Politicians are the first to take advantage of that.  

So perhaps Labour got as many votes as they did in 2019 due to people believing the sound bite “For the many not the few.”

 

 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
46 minutes ago, apelike said:

Don't be daft, and at least give some people some credit for making their own minds up, I never voted once for Thatcher despite liking some of her policies.

 

Don't be daft. You cannot be serious.

We are all surrounded by influences, many unconscious, from birth.

It can take years decades and lifetimes to see through them, some never do.

Anyway, don't be so nasty. Anna was speaking for herself not the whole of the nation.

 

People weigh 'facts' differently.

For some the word of God has to be obeyed as written in the bible. Some translate it to the 21st centuary and some think its a load of bunk.

For some 'life' is sacrsanct be it human, animal or vegetable. These people are genuine in their beliefs and will suffer fines, imprisonment and even death to support that belief.

Some are cynical like Arnold above.

 

But, we have got to live together and although I rarely accept Churchill as guidance - “Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy* is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”

 

* whatever democracy is, in all its different forms.

Edited by Flanker7

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I’m not cynical Flanker7, I’m pointing out that if one claims the simple minded can be easily taken in by Tory sound bites they must also accept that the simple minded can be taken in by Labour sound bites.  

 

I thought my intention was obvious.

 

For the record, it wasn’t me or Apelike who first mentioned the simple-minded.

Edited by Arnold_Lane

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Flanker7 said:

Don't be daft. You cannot be serious.

We are all surrounded by influences, many unconscious, from birth.

It can take years decades and lifetimes to see through them, some never do.

Yes we are surrounded by influences but I have learned to question most things and taking LSD in the 60s-70s even taught me to question the very nature of reality itself.  We don't have unconscious influences from birth as the neural links at birth to do so have not been formed yet, any influences are yet to be learnt later on in life as the brain develops.

 

Quote

Anyway, don't be so nasty. Anna was speaking for herself not the whole of the nation.

I was far from being nasty. I was replying to the bit where she stated this " We believed what we were told in those days ..." so it was not a statement from a first person perspective and a general one. I for one and many others I know didn't think like that and did not believe everything we were told or read in the news. I may be a few years older than Anna but I remember going on marches and demos and witnessing the appalling behaviour of the police back then so had already made up my mind in many ways about politics and power. :)

 

Not changed much has it!

 

 

Edited by apelike

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
On 15/03/2021 at 22:28, Mister M said:

Pinochet ran a military junta which overthrew a democratically elected government. His government disappeared, tortured and murdered its political enemies, thousands of them. They burned books, violated people's human and democratic rights, and imposed neo liberal policies inspired by academics in their comfy Chicago University offices.

Pinochet was a fascist, a dictator, a brute and a neo liberal. You might not think that qualifies him as a fascist and neo liberal, but I do.

 

Would that be the Chicago School of Economics, of which Milton Friedman,  president of the Mont Pelerin Society from 1970 to 1972, was a leading figure?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
3 hours ago, Staunton said:

Would that be the Chicago School of Economics, of which Milton Friedman,  president of the Mont Pelerin Society from 1970 to 1972, was a leading figure?

Yep, known as the Chicago Boys in Chile. Pre Pinochet, Chile was a classic example of a socialist government who let the unions run out of control and also massively increased government spending by just printing money to try and solve its problems rather than increase taxes etc. As stated elsewhere just printing money to cure debt just leads to high inflation which is exactly what was happening there (amongst other things.) 

Edited by apelike

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

For anyone genuinely interested in the genocide in Chile, John Pilger's film 'The War on Democracy' is a good place to start.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.