Thank you, wolfpup. It’s good to see Naomi Klein finally get some discussion here.
I just did a search to see what mentions she’s had here at SDMB. Although she had earlier mentions, throughout all of 2012 there were zero mentions of Naomi Klein – none at all. In 2013 there were only GIGObuster and myself who ever posted on her at all. wolfpup joined in and, in mid-2014, Wesley Clark posted on Naomi Klein, as did UY Scuti. Such a dearth of commentary on this most influential and provocative intellectual makes one doubt that SDMB is particularly intelligent or liberal – certainly it can’t be both.
One other Doper mentions Naomi Klein frequently. For example, from the thread started by Wesley Clark:
One doesn’t need Klein’s book to know that the “Chicago Boys” were a major influence on Pinochet. It’s happily acknowledged by some SDMB libertarians, as well as by a libertarian website:
[QUOTE=The Economist and the Dictator]
For years, the University of Chicago had a program in partnership with the Catholic University of Chile providing scholarships to Chileans to study at Chicago. Pinochet’s economic advisers were thus University of Chicago-trained, and known as the “Chicago Boys.” But Friedman’s only direct connection was when he was invited by fellow Chicago professor Arnold Harberger–who was most closely involved with the Chilean program–to give a week of lectures and public talks in Chile in 1975.
While there, Friedman did have one meeting with Pinochet, for less than an hour. Pinochet asked Friedman to write him a letter about his judgments on what Chilean economic policy should be, which Friedman did . He advocated quick and severe cuts in government spending and inflation, as well as instituting more open international trade policies—and to “provide for the relief of any cases of real hardship and severe distress among the poorest classes.” He did not choose this as an opportunity to upbraid Pinochet for any of his repressive policies, and many of Friedman’s admirers, including me, would have felt better if he had.
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Bravo, Naomi Klein! Bravo, rational thought!