Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #ThereIsNoAlternative
Most recents (4)
You know how "#realist" is a synonym for "#asshole?" As in, "I'm not a racist, I'm just a #RaceRealist?" That same "realism" is used to discredit democracy, among self-styled "#LibertarianElitists," who claim that social science proves democracy doesn't work - and can't work.
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If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2023/05/04/ana…
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pluralistic.net/2023/05/04/ana…
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You've likely encountered elements of this ideology in the wild. Perhaps you've heard about how our #CognitiveBiases make us incapable of deliberating, that "reasoning was not designed to pursue the truth. Reasoning was designed by evolution to help us win arguments."
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In a @TheProspect op-ed, "What Comes After Neoliberalism?" @rkuttnerwrites writes "we’ve just about won the battle of ideas. Reality has been a helpful ally…Neoliberalism has been a splendid success for the 1%, an abject failure for everyone else":
prospect.org/economy/2023-0… 1/
prospect.org/economy/2023-0… 1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2023/03/28/ima… 2/
pluralistic.net/2023/03/28/ima… 2/
Kuttner's op-ed is a report on the @Hewlett_Found's recent "#NewCommonSense" event, where Kuttner was relieved to learn that the idea that "the economy would thrive if government just got out of the way has been demolished by the events of the past three decades." 3/
This week on my #podcast, I read #Twiddler, a recent @Medium column in which I delve more deeply into #enshittification, and how it is a pathology of digital platforms, distinct from the rent-seeking of the analog world that preceded it:
doctorow.medium.com/twiddler-1b5c9… 1/
doctorow.medium.com/twiddler-1b5c9… 1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2023/02/27/kno… 2/
pluralistic.net/2023/02/27/kno… 2/
Enshittification, you'll recall, is the lifecycle of the online platform: first, the platform allocates #surpluses to end-users; then, once users are locked in, those surpluses are taken away and given to business-customers. 3/
So @NaomiAKlein made some important points on the @PitchforkEcon podcast about neoliberalism and the #GND. She said that while the popularity of purist neoliberal doctrine is not as popular pervasive, its success has been in convincingly asserting that #thereisnoalternative /1
This is because neoliberalism has effectively captured the public imagination in two critical ways. 1) Framing debates about Capitalism under the assumption that it is an immutable indivisible totality, while they themselves understand and act on the assumption it is not /2
Considerable energy is spent debating under the premise that the only contributions towards systemic alternatives must clearly guarantee the overcoming of the capitalist totality from the onset. Neoliberals however have spent 40 years shaping institutions to their liking /3
