The Shock Doctrine
The Shock Doctrine yells out to me shockingly when I first saw it a couple of weeks ago on the newcomers’ section of book stores. This is the first book I bought in months. I usually prefer to borrow them from the library (or from friends and forget to read - let alone return - them). It’s written by a Naomi Klein who also wrote No Logo, a maiden book that criticised Nike so much that it prompted a response from the company.
People say you can’t change City Hall. No one person can effect any kind of change - be it for the better or worse - without being challenged usually by narrower-minded peers, ridicule, bureaucracy or other factors which can be summed up as ‘the tyranny of the status quo bred by an addiction to (sometimes harmful) comfort zones’.
When I said that the book yelled out to me shockingly, I meant visually and aesthetically, referring to its cover, which is yellow with the title in bold, black text. In comparison, The God Delusion was uglier (white title against crimson background with what appeared to be emanating lines supposedly suggesting ‘revelation’ or ‘epiphany’) and more expensive.
And the reason I had been talking about anything but the actual content of the book in the last 3 paragraphs is that I am not an instantaneous speed reader (although I can read and absorb fast if necessary), hence, having only bought it today, I have yet to complete all 500+ pages of it. Rest assured, upon completion, there will be ample ammunition for future blog posts.
Anyway, just to give you an idea of what the book is about, I present you (yet another) video - a short movie, actually, made by Alfonso Cuaron (who made the beautiful Children of Men), who made it as his ‘blurb’ for the book. Enjoy:-
To end this post, I’d like to insert what Naomi quoted from the words of Gandhi in “Non-Violence - The Greatest Force” (1926): “An armed conflict between nations horrifies us. But the economic war is no better than an armed conflict. This is like a surgical operation. An economic war is prolonged torture. And its ravages are no less terrible than those depicted in the literature on war properly so called. We think nothing of the other because we are used to its deadly effects… The movement against war is sound. I pray for its success. But I cannot help the gnawing fear that the movement will fail if it does not touch the root of all evil - human greed”.
The Shock Doctrine, Naomi Klein, No Logo, Nike, The God Delusion, Alfonso Cuaron, Children of Men, Gandhi, Non-Violence - The Greatest Force, root of all evil, human greed