Politics – Page 67 – Rock Salted

Loïc Wacquant – Crafting the Neoliberal State

Link to an article on the substitution of prisons for social welfare programs in the USA by Loïc Wacquant, author of Punishing the Poor: The Neoliberal Government of Social Insecurity (2009), which came out around the same time as Michelle Alexander’s similar (but more well-known) The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (2010).

“Crafting the Neoliberal State: Workfare, Prisonfare, and Social Insecurity”

William Blum – Yankee Blowback

Link to an article by William Blum that puts the recently reported influx of Latin American immigrants to the USA in context:

“Yankee Blowback”

Don Fitz – How Green is the ‘Green New Deal’?

Interesting article from Don Fitz critiquing various aspects of so-called “green new deal” proposals:

“How Green is the ‘Green New Deal’?”

Alfred McCoy – Surveillance and Scandal

Link to an article by Alfred McCoy:

“Surveillance and Scandal: Time-Tested Weapons for U.S. Global Power”

Global Capitalism Is In the Midst of Its Most Severe Crisis

Interview with Prof. William I. Robinson:

Global Capitalism Is In the Midst of Its Most Severe Crisis

Chomsky vs. Žižek

Under the category of “old news”, there was a long-distance argument back in 2013 between Noam Chomsky and Slavoj Žižek on the significance (or lack thereof) of each other’s work.

It began with Chomsky describing Žižek’s work as empty “posturing”. Asked about the comments during a Q&A session for an unrelated presentation, Žižek responded (sort of). Žižek’s initial “response” seemed rather stupid and full of baseless attacks. So, Chomsky responded substantively, calling Žižek’s positions “fantasy”. At that point, Žižek finally prepared a substantive written response.

The winner of this “debate”? Žižek, clearly. The early comments from Žižek were gibberish, but also possibly misquoted and certainly “improvised” as he later acknowledged. But his final response points out some serious flaws in Chomsky’s “philosophy” and some clear hypocrisies. Chomsky never responded thereafter, as best as can be seen.

For worthy summaries of the debate, and how it really represents a generic one between analytic philosophy (Chomsky) and continental philosophy (Žižek), see The Guardian and The Partially Examined Life. This is much like the distinction between Isaac Newton’s (analytic) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s (continental) views on color.