Skip to main content

THE SHOCK DOCTRINE

Hello Earth!


Indeed, the almighty important one has been missing in action for a substantial period of time. But they all say- absence makes the heart grow fonder aye? =D I'M SURE.


So here i am, attempting to, once again, resurrect and keep to the commitment of updating this place. Hopefully. =)


Anyways, I'm currently reading this book called THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, by Naomi Klein. A background on this book: SHOCK. Yes, shock is the all and everything that embodies the contents of this book. No, it's not what I'll class as fiction. It revolves around events that are occuring in the here and now of the world today. Having said that it is not fiction, i must say, that the contents of the book is about as unreal and shocking, if not more, than fiction. In fact, the reality of the situation is what enhances the sense of shock one should feel when one reads the book. She reports to us the dirty little secrets of the real world that people, or rather, I, dont pay much attention to.


As someone once said to me before- and this someone used to be a student of mine mind you- I have effectively said a lot of nice sounding words that dont carry much meaning. True. But in this case, i call it suspense! read the book to find out yourself k! =)


I'm barely at the first chapter, but I'll say it's a worthwhile read so far. Here's a short preview:


Disaster Capitalism: "He( Milton Friedman) observed that "only a crisis - actual or perceived- produces real change." [...] once a crisis had struck, the University of Chicago professor was convinced that it was crucial to act swiftly, to impose rapid and irreversible change before the crisis-racked society slipped back into the "tyranny of status quo" "


Here, crisis refers to any sort of disaster that befalls on a country, be it economic, or natural etc.


Doesn't sound too evil right? I thought so too, until things were put in perspective- think tsunami 2004, Sri Lanka.


"I(Naomi Klein) travelled to Sri Lanka, several months after the devastating 2004 tsunami, and witnessed another version of the same maneuver: foreign investors and international leaders have teamed up to use the atmosphere of panic to hand the entire beautiful coastline over to entrepreneurs who quickly built large resorts, blocking hundreds of thousands of fishing people from rebuilding their villages near the water."


"In a cruel twist of fate, nature has presented Sri Lanka with a unique opportunity, and out of this tragedy will come a world class tourism destination."


Personally, other than the loss f lives itself, i never really thought about what other troubles await after the disaster. It was a sort of assumption that things will eventually go back to normal. But apparently not.


=o.


ok, i'm not really doing justice to the book. =.= But hopefully I've ignited a tiny candlelight of interest somewhere! Just read it! I don't think you'llbe disappointed! =)


ANYWAY, I AM AN UNDERGRAD. and *(%(, i don't particularly enjoy the new system, where everything is up to you. I suppose i enjoy having a direction to follow. I've always been more of the person to set a goal and slog towards it. Now, the goal is a bit blurred, because the scope of study is so wide. Bu ah well, i suppose the ultimate is to LEARN AS MUCH AS YOU CAN- no wait, change that to- LEARN AS MUCH AS THE SMARTEST PERSON IN YOUR COURSE CAN! yea. It's fierce competition yo!


=D you probably can tell i ran out of things to say. So i stop HERe-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

this is really bad.

I have officially lost interest in sleep. (Or work, for that matter.) Came across an old blog post where i did this huge list of personality tests and decided to do sth immensely useless: hahha THEN & NOWW! XD so here we go, really quick! 1) THEN: Your Brain is 47% Female, 53% Male Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve What Gender Is Your Brain? NOW:  Your Brain is 67% Female, 33% Male Your brain leans female You think with your heart, not your head Sweet and considerate, you are a giver But you're tough enough not to let anyone take advantage of you! 2) THEN:   You Are Pretty Logical You're a bit of a wizard when it comes to logic While you don't have perfect l...
3 comments
Read more

Limited time

We all have limited time on this Earth,  and a limited 24 hours in a day. What you choose to pack into that 24 hours, will decide what your life portrait will look like at the end of your road. (Yes, I think a lot about the end of the road nowadays.) I was just thinking to myself yesterday, if i applied the "rise of the guardian" concept to myself, what would my core be? I had wanted it to be love. I had thought that love shouldn't be limited. I had thought, that I would be able to dedicate a certain share of love to all the people in my life, who needed the care at the point in time when they do. I had thought, that my heart should be big enough to welcome as many people in as possible. Because ultimately, at the end of my road, I want to breath my last breath smiling, knowing that I have made a difference to people. I had thought that was possible, but i forgot that while my heart can be limitless, my time can't. In trying to be everybody's friend, I have fa...
2 comments
Read more

End of exams.

i don't feel much about the end of exams actually- i guess that is a signal that perhaps i didn't work hard enough and build up the hunger for relaxation while mugging, hence i don't feel the surge of relief. Ah- i miss that feeling much actually. next sem will be a better sem. YES IT WILL BE. -------------------------- Preceptorship will commence on the coming Monday. I am rather excited about it, and I look forward to a time of learning and actually applying the knowledge that i have learnt in school. I believe if you ever meet a pharmer undergrad, you will hear the same unanimous complain about how there doesn't seem to be a meaning in doing what we are doing. How it feels like we are simply dead memorising the cold, hard, facts. How we all disagree with the system and feel that university education should be about thinking- and how it's been a long time since we last did more of that. For me, the curriculum has honestly entrenched certain doubts in this career p...
1 comment
Read more