Here’s a wonderful smackdown of the brainless neo-Marxist dipshit Naomi Klein. This fills my heart with glee.
[quote]Many people who are, in their own minds, opposed to consumerism nevertheless actively participate in the sort of behaviour that drives it. Consider Naomi Klein. She starts out No Logo by decrying the recent conversion of factory buildings in her Toronto neighbourhood into
Klein, like so many of her ilk, are about the image and not the substance.
Nice article. Thanks PP.
For those who just read the exerpt but did not click on the link – the full piece is worth reading. It’s not just an extended bash of Klein (not that it would necessarily be bad if it were) but rather a very intelligent and interesting commentary on this book and on consumer culture in general. I particularly liked the parts on American Beauty.
Neo-conservatives calling neo-marxists hypocritical has some interesting implications of its own.
Joseph Heath and Andrew Potter are neo-conservatives?
Naomi Klein, whoever she is, sounds like an idiot. Not everybody who seems something terribly wrong with current consumer patterns is an idiot though. If fact, idiot is the word that comes to mind when I want to describe someone who “doesn’t” see mountains of wasted time, money, energy and resources all around them.
Or to put it another way, interesting thread, idiotic title. Quite insulting actually.
Maybe some further info re:definition of the oft bandied about term “Neo-Conservative.”
It seems to be used by some as a means of subtly demeaning a posters comments or views.
from wikipaedia.com. Quite interesting, it means more than I assumed.
Spook, you’re still ringing the bell at the bar.
This excert alone was rather enlightening.
[quote]"As a rule, the term refers more to journalists, pundits, policy analysts, and institutions affiliated with the Project for the New American Century (PNAC) and with Commentary and The Weekly Standard than to more traditional conservative policy think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) and Heritage Foundation or periodicals such as Policy Review or National Review. The neoconservatives, often dubbed the neocons by supporters and critics alike, are credited with or blamed for influencing U.S. foreign policy, especially under the administrations of Ronald Reagan (1981
I like American Beauty too… great album!
Not a very successful album, by commercial standards, however.
I see your point, bob. In defense of PP, however, “Anti-Consumerist” is put in quotation marks. Perhaps part of the idea is that this person (and others like her) claim to be against “mountains of wasted time, money, energy and resources”, but actually use enormous resources (what is the fossil fuel consumption required to heat a huge, high-ceiling loft in Toronto for one person?) and appear to be rather more concerned with feeling superior to others than they are with saving resources?
Thanks Hobbes. I can always count on you for a bit of clarification regarding the finer points of this wonderous medium of ours. No quotation marks here. 
I see your point, bob. In defense of PP, however, “Anti-Consumerist” is put in quotation marks. Perhaps part of the idea is that this person (and others like her) claim to be against “mountains of wasted time, money, energy and resources”, but actually use enormous resources (what is the fossil fuel consumption required to heat a huge, high-ceiling loft in Toronto for one person?) and appear to be rather more concerned with feeling superior to others than they are with saving resources?[/quote]
The title is apropos. Naomi Klein is a holier-than-thou shyster, a poseur who loudly proclaims her anti-consumerist dogma without having put it or herself (as a proponent) to full scrutiny. I particularly like this part, which is like a stake through the heart:
You see, the whole downtown loft-conversion and condo-building boom in Toronto is a very positive thing, as it increases population densities and reduces suburban sprawl. These are, erm…good things. Environmentally, socially, you name it. Postwar suburban sprawl in North America has been devastating by virtually every metric you care to apply to it, save, perhaps, for the fact that little Johnny can swim in his own pool in his own backyard. But that never occurs to Ms. Klein, who is more concerned with her hipster status and the fact that the masses are encroaching upon her beloved avant garde. She is not only a hypocrite, but the fact that this most obvious of criticisms leveled at her flew by her radar when she claims to be an environmentally-conscious, socially active “progressive” renders her, by any reasonable estimation, an idiot.
Or fartknocker, if you will.