padraig (u.s.)
a monkey that will go ape
also just one more thing in re neoliberalism, I would really encourage stan or anyone else who discusses it to learn something about it
at some point, as the saying goes, you have to engage with the actual text. and of course in my case I always want to understand how my enemies think.
like it's no secret that Hayek, Friedman etc held democracy, and personal freedom in general - besides the freedom to participate in the market, which is what Friedman meant by Free to Choose - in utter contempt, even if they were usually savvy enough not publicize that contempt.
it's one of things that confuses ppl about neoliberals - they're supposedly all for personal freedom but very happy to violently repress personal freedom in order to supposedly bring about even more freedom , i.e. "we had to bomb the village in order to save it". in fact, in that regard neoliberals - in a particularly ironic twist - resemble nothing so much as a Communist vanguard, subjugating the people in the name of the people's own ultimate happiness under the assumption that they know better than the people what that happiness is and how to reach it. and you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs (or in this case, Chilean dissidents, people driven into poverty by austerity, etc).
at some point, as the saying goes, you have to engage with the actual text. and of course in my case I always want to understand how my enemies think.
like it's no secret that Hayek, Friedman etc held democracy, and personal freedom in general - besides the freedom to participate in the market, which is what Friedman meant by Free to Choose - in utter contempt, even if they were usually savvy enough not publicize that contempt.
it's one of things that confuses ppl about neoliberals - they're supposedly all for personal freedom but very happy to violently repress personal freedom in order to supposedly bring about even more freedom , i.e. "we had to bomb the village in order to save it". in fact, in that regard neoliberals - in a particularly ironic twist - resemble nothing so much as a Communist vanguard, subjugating the people in the name of the people's own ultimate happiness under the assumption that they know better than the people what that happiness is and how to reach it. and you can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs (or in this case, Chilean dissidents, people driven into poverty by austerity, etc).
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