(view here: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/second-reading/gerald-caplan/the-world-after-911-naomi-klein-prevails-again/article2159689/singlepage/#articlecontent)
The article was written by Gerald Caplan, but the title drops Naomi Klein's name for a reason never mentioned in the article. I suspect the point of the name drop was to gain an audience through search engine news readers. Kind of a shabby thing to do and not very good ethics on the part of the publisher if you ask me.
But assuming these views are shared by Naomi herself, my response would be as follows:
I am a fan if Naomi Klein's work. I loved No Logo. I have The Shock Doctrine on my ever-expanding "to buy" list.
While I see the underlying point of this article, and agree that tax reform for the wealthy is long overdue in this country, I struggle to see the correlation between that fact and the events of 9/11. Using the two topics in juxtaposition seems like more use of emotionally driven propaganda - the kind we have been getting all week long from just about every source under the sun.
Again, I love Naomi's works on globalization and hyper-capitalism and I agree with most of her philosophies, but I am always disappointed when writers and critics with such valid points bring the conservative/liberal, republican/democrat paradigms into the argument because I see these things as basically two sides of the same coin. (Again - this is assuming Ms. Klein has anything to do with this article at all.)
In my own opinion, people who strongly defend or attack specific parts of this "coin" are either products of naiveté (most likely from a long line of brainwashed culture) or just very subtle, cunning party propagandists.
That being said, I disagree with the statement (which has now become popular cliché) in blaming conservatives for the plummet of America in respect to the economy, civil liberties, or anything along those lines.
It states in the article, "conservative politicians have been able to have their way with us – us being the vast majority of the world’s population." It also says, "conservatives intensified the culture wars."
While I was an avid critic and protester of Bush and his circle of tyrants, I always maintained the memory of Bill Clinton as the pied piper who brought us such gems as NAFTA, the fuel for the financial crisis, the repeal of the Glass–Steagall Act, bombings in Yugoslavia, a major terrorist attack of civilians in Afghanistan, etc....
Furthermore, as much as I detested G.W.Bush's horrific arrogance and outright disregard for America (i.e. robbing an election and unconstitutional warfare against Iraq) - there is one thing much too often omitted in the constant blaming of the conservative party for every ailment the country faces - and that is the blatant way that the Obama administration has extended and reinforced just about every atrocity to our civil liberties and horrible foreign policy blamed eternally on the Bush admin. One merely has to look at the men "behind the curtain" in all these administrations to find the same familiar faces throughout any range of presidencies. Upon doing so, it is plain to see that the democrat/republican paradigm is nothing more than clever marketing schemes.
Often Barack Obama does not receive the criticism that is always aimed at Bush for his invasion and occupation of Iraq. America's longest war in Afghanistan, was supported by Obama even before American forces had set foot in Iraq. Why is he not regularly criticized as a war monger or for the drone attacks on civilians in Pakistan, a war criminal? Instead he gets a Nobel Prize.
One theory is that he is protected from such criticism because he is a Democrat or our first black-skinned president?
When a product once bought regularly begins to wobble in the market, re-branding is necessary to get consumers to continue buying. It is disheartening when writers I admire begin to read like such marketers. (again assuming that Naomi Klein even had anything to do with Gerald Caplan's published opinion.)
On similar topics:
On Blackwater:
http://www.thenation.com/blog/36756/blackwaters-new-sugar-daddy-obama-administration
http://thebabylonresistancemovement.blogspot.com/2011/06/jeremy-scahill-obama-blackwater-war.html
On Obama defending Bush
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/09/08/obama
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