Shock Doctrine and Other Books

Today I'm going re-learn something, which is the one thing I'm good at. Shock Doctrine is a book written by Naomi Klein about what she calls "disaster capitalism." It plays up our fears and uncertainty after big news items drop to allow dangerous policy to go through. She wrote this in 2007, and a documentary of the same premise was released in 2009. I read the book a decade ago, but it is still highly relevant and I have forgotten most of it. The media plays into it fully with its always on, 24/7 requirements. We are now forced to stay in a heightened state of shock for longer periods, because every single day there's a new travesty that needs our immediate attention. We're entrenched in it. Absolutely everything is a disaster now, from homelessness to trans rights to immigration to inflation. There is no nuance or subtlety. This book addresses that, and I'm hoping to find further action items at the end of it.

Image credit: https://naomiklein.org/

Intersectionality is vastly important to get things done, but we've placed ourselves in echo chambers of outrage. So, step one is to slow down. I gotta breathe, and the best way I know is to immerse myself in a depressing but important book. Get these at your library where possible.

Book link: https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-shock-doctrine-the-rise-of-disaster-capitalism-naomi-klein/12304745

Film links: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3B5qt6gsxY or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aL3XGZ5rreE  

If you don't have a ton of time to spend on a book or documentary that's ok. There's a Wikipedia page that does a pretty good job explaining it.

Another book on my re-read list is The Death of Democracy: Hitler's Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic by Benjamin Carter Hett. I listened to this one back in February but I need to grab a copy of the actual book. Seems important.

Other options I already have on my shelf include Poverty, By America (https://bookshop.org/p/books/poverty-by-america-matthew-desmond/21003293) by Matthew Desmond, and another, newer Naomi Klein book called No is Not Enough about the cheeto's first presidency (https://bookshop.org/p/books/no-is-not-enough-resisting-trump-s-shock-politics-and-winning-the-world-we-need-naomi-klein/7213773).

Either way, we have a few months to stock up on knowledge. So today I'm gonna read, and watch, and learn again.

Be kind. Tomorrow we find others doing the work and we reach out to them.