Oct 10, 2008
More Naomi Klein Bashing
Well with the economy going nuts, there's always time for a little fun and frolic. In a recent blog post, Will Wilkinson quotes this lovely nugget from Naomi Klein, arguing why Milton Friedman and his ideas are still responsible for the crisis and other evils of corporatism even though he rejected said corporatism:
So Friedman and his ideas are guilty because people who supposedly believed them put them into practice in ways that utterly contract them, but that are nonetheless, in her warped logic, predictable applications of said ideas.
Well I'm glad to see that it's now fair game to pin the deaths of 100 million people in the 20th century on Marx. After all, just substitute Marx for Friedman in the above and then just add"and leads to 100 million innocent dead" and see if it isn't just the same.
Even on Klein's own whacked, but now even playing field, I'd say Milton still comes out ahead.
Now, I admit to being a journalist. I admit to being an investigative journalist, a researcher, and I’m not here to argue theory. I’m here to discuss what happens in the messy real world when Milton Friedman’s ideas are put into practice, what happens to freedom, what happens to democracy, what happens to the size of government, what happens to the social structure, what happens to the relationship between politicians and big corporate players, because I think we do see patterns.
So Friedman and his ideas are guilty because people who supposedly believed them put them into practice in ways that utterly contract them, but that are nonetheless, in her warped logic, predictable applications of said ideas.
Well I'm glad to see that it's now fair game to pin the deaths of 100 million people in the 20th century on Marx. After all, just substitute Marx for Friedman in the above and then just add"and leads to 100 million innocent dead" and see if it isn't just the same.
Even on Klein's own whacked, but now even playing field, I'd say Milton still comes out ahead.