In the news today, being called a liberal in some instances can be a derogatory term, especially on the Fox News Channel which is owned by Rupert Murdoch. Neo-liberalism, which can be categorized as a form of economic liberalism, is the distinction of free market principles based on entrepreneurial endeavors to maximize capital for enhanced profit. It is a privatization of trade with the might of the military as a buffer zone to let the wheels roll without damaging product and stifling labor reforms (CorpWatch: What is Neo-Liberalism). On paper, the theory of Neo-Liberalism sounds promising and worthwhile; it is survival of the fittest. On the other end of the spectrum, the exploiting part of the equation, you have humans as commodities working with low paying wages and inhumane working conditions brought about by the Neo-Liberals looking for profit over the welfare of the common citizen. Another way of looking at this is through a website called “Global Issues- A Primer on Neoliberalism”. It states the following:
“Liberalism” can refer to political, economic, or even religious ideas. In the U.S. political liberalism has been a strategy to prevent social conflict. It is presented to poor and working people as progressive compared to conservative or Right wing. Economic liberalism is different. Conservative politicians who say they hate “liberals” — meaning the political type — have no real problem with economic liberalism, including neoliberalism (Global Issues).
One of the problems of Neo-Liberalism is that it doesn’t take into consideration that poverty is born through the use and implementation of capitalistic Neo-Liberalism. Another glaring issue present today and decades before, is the function of class and race in the day to day of everyday society about which mainstream journalism misinforms or skirts matters to the public. Removing public works in lieu of liberalization of trade, and the lack of regulation of businesses, privatization of government run programs and other Neo-Liberal changes releases the corporate identities to run rampant over the labor force. They view human capital as numbers on a spread sheet rather than real people with real lives, just trying to make ends meet and having more difficulty doing it as time moves on.
The real issue raised here is the way the mainstream news media glosses over the way poverty exists, and has no proper, concrete ways to address the problem in a social and meaningful method which is needed to eradicate or at least lessen poverty. The disparity of rich to poor is widening at an alarming rate that reminds me of the Old Robber Barons of the industrial age using the backs of the people to enrich themselves. The World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization says something about this:
The gap between rich and poor countries has widened, as has the divide between rich and poor within some nations. In sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, for example, more people lived in poverty at the end of the 1990s than at the beginning of that decade. Despite the creation of fantastic wealth, half of the world’s workers and their families, or about 3 billion people, live below the $2-a-day poverty line (World Commission, 2004).
All the talk on the news about how Wall Street is struggling while CEOs make millions per year leads me to believe that we, as a country, need to seriously look at how we, as a people, a collective whole run things. The news pundits tell us the government is working on spreading the wealth through Neo-Liberalism without actually saying it. One instance in today’s society concerns Fox News running a story of the GOP (Grand Old Party) Republicans admonishing President Obama about his proposal to issue an order to disclose government contractors’ political contributions for transparency to the American public domain. Last year a similar bill ended up being squashed by a Supreme Court ruling of 5-4, claiming it was constitutionally protected by the first amendment as free speech. This article in the mainstream news media detracts from the real reason and glosses over the real facts, thus making the viewer wanting to make a critical decision impossible. Back room politics and funneling monetary contributions to government officials without factual representation seems a bit dishonest to anyone looking at this from a critical viewpoint. In this is one article, which the true power is Neo-Liberal demands, it wants the government to back off from business and uses government officials, like Representative Kevin McCarthy and Senator Mitch McConnell, to express their Neo-Liberal preferences to Fox News in the name of constitutional rights. Fox News disseminating these concerns as true American rights is simply a caricature of news misleading the public viewer. If the viewer seen both sides of the argument, they might be able to use their own critical thinking and come to a sensible and logical conclusion.
The mainstream news tends to look away from American poverty, and a number of people are joining the poverty level while the affluent minority is massively increasing their wealth in a most inauspicious way. Other non-American news agencies’ such as Al Jazeera are leading me to believe that certain aspects of the mainstream American news agencies are tipping the scale to the Neo-Liberal side of the argument, I mean, who wants to see a bunch of poor people crying for a living means when the government officials and the military are waging a war to help American interests abroad. News agencies themselves are run by people of power and sometimes and the stipulation how you deliver the news to the American people in a coherent, truthful light rather than vaguely ambiguous way the public might end the journalist’s career. The American mainstream news agencies that I’m speaking about besides Fox News are CNN, CBS, NBC, and ABC, and big time newspapers like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and others mainstream publications. There was a time in history where the stock market ticker wasn’t mentioned in mainstream news agencies’. To go even further, complete shows and complete stations are financially operated by Neo-Liberal businessmen such as CNBC and Bloomberg News, truly using Neo-Liberalism as a tool to interpolate into the viewer as good, hard facts. Other unconventional agencies, like Democracy Now, aren’t so one-sided and different forms of media show a broader view, not to mention a critical and thought provoking approach to the way journalism is supposed to be.
Over the last thirty years, since the election of Ronald Reagan into the office of the President of the United States, mainstream news media, specifically prime time television, address the word of “Reaganomics” and the “trickle down effect” as a way to enrich the common people. He was very convincing to the American people, especially since after he got elected the hostages held in Iran for over a year got released on the same day of his inauguration, thus giving him high approval rating marks. This form of economic and political liberalism states that the government removes certain regulatory institutions to free up the market to attain more wealth, thereby using the funds to trickle down to the labor force otherwise known once again as Neo-Liberalism. The media showed him as the wrangling cowboy that loved jelly beans and would get the country back on its feet again. He was a hero in the media, a true American patriot with good moral fiber. The end result, in practice, didn’t work out as projected by Reagan, but seems to actually trickle up from the working class and the impoverished poor to the wealthy minority. In today’s world the wealthiest people are augmenting more wealth and the rest are suffering. Neo-liberalism and the rising of the poverty level are intertwined in a most ominous and shocking way. It became popular elsewhere as England’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher became enamored with this feeling of power through the market and started deeming it TINA- There Is No Alternative. This type of mentality from people of power in the USA and United Kingdom relating their views as the best way and the only way, changed the dynamics’ of the world and the mainstream journalist’s disseminating the information in a positive light to coerce the populace through a hegemonic recourse. The higher ups in the US and British government, plus the corporate magnates, fueled the fire to spread the possibility that loosening the trade restrictions might help boost the economy of countries and increase the wealth of nations. These top leaders used their power to stop the labor force with Reagan destroying the air traffic controllers union in 1980 and Thatcher’s defeat of the British miners in 1984, which helped the cause of Neo-liberal politics. The mainstream media followed the stories and helped the leaders through air time using the media as way to spread the message.
There is a distinct correlation between Neo-Liberalism and issues of poverty, class and race in society. Many articles have been written debunking Neo-liberalism. David Harvey discusses these issues an article called “Neo-Liberalism as a Creative Destruction”. His discourse raises important questions on the validity of Neo-Liberalism as good for the world in a global sense:
Neoliberalization has swept across the world like a vast tidal wave of institutional reform and discursive adjustment, entailing much destruction, not only of prior institutional frameworks and powers, but also of divisions of labor, social relations, welfare provisions, technological mixes, ways of life, attachments to the land, habits of the heart, ways of thought, and the like. To turn the neoliberal rhetoric against itself, we may reasonably ask: in whose particular interests is it that the states take a neoliberal stance and in what ways have these particular interests used neoliberalism to benefit themselves rather than, as is claimed, everyone, everywhere?
Neoliberalism has spawned a swath of oppositional movements.
The more clearly oppositional movements recognize that their central objective must be to confront the class power that has been so effectively restored under neoliberalization, the more they will likely themselves cohere. (Harvey, 145)
He writes on the subject of Neo-Liberalism as destroying the world in bits and pieces in the name of trade agreements to strengthen nations through free markets and capitalistic production without limits by government entities except when these neo-liberalistic coercions are met with passive or violent resistance to these neo-liberalistic views. Labor unions, poverty stricken people, left-wing entities, crime and other forms are repressed by various methods even though neo-liberalism exacerbates it. He also speaks of how the media was bought by corporations to “effectively change the discursive climate” (150). He claims the Neo-Liberal thinking was based on loss of capital gains in the 1970’s and that the upper classes were frightened by losing their monetary power base. Independent “think tanks”(150) fueled by big business individuals and corporations came up with how to save the elite class from utter destruction by applying neo-liberalistic thoughts and spread by media outlets and republican government officials to change the public opinion, to the detriment of the working class, by believing that socialism and liberalism will hurt the populace. To further his claim the Republican’s used the leaders of the Christian Right.
“A large segment of a disaffected, insecure and largely white working class was persuaded to systematically vote against its own material interests on cultural (anti-liberal, black, feminist and gay), nationalist and religious grounds.(Harvey150)
This looks like a calculated risk that brought welcome results to the wealthy elite. So far, in today’s society, the end result is a direct disservice to the whole of society except for the elitist class. This article was difficult to read due to the wholesale destruction of human dignity reduced to animal level. This Neo-Liberal system doesn’t back up the claims that it “stimulates worldwide growth” (World Commission, 2004).
The World Bank (WB) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) seemed to go hand in hand with these governments, making the globalization of Neo-Liberalism popular and causing the world to run this way today. In 1995 a new organization was formed called the World Trade Organization (WTO), truly a globalization of neo-liberal theory used to activate a system by which the governments of the world are underneath the power of the WTO, WB, and the IMF. These elitist people think that trade is game where human life is disposable. The voting rights of these organizations are regulated towards financiers’ and big business moguls deciding the trade agreements.
The result of the 2008 financial crash was felt by everyone, rich and poor alike. While the middle class and lower class are suffering today, the upper class has picked up and re-righted itself to do the same thing again. The news agencies have lost many viewers due to misleading information, and the internet is giving young people a different, more concrete version of real journalism than the mainstream’s short news clips and the hubbub type of infotainment. Active resistances are popping up to try and change the hegemonistic Neo-Liberalist globalization in the world today to better the lives of the working class. One instance is the Wisconsin protests and the protesters that stayed in the capitol building for weeks showing their displeasure at the way their law making officials were using union busting tactics to hurt the working class. It’s an uphill battle and the only way to stop the spread of more neo-liberal ways is through the solidarity of people to squash the elitist minority group, otherwise they suffer agony and disillusion. Some of the media outlets are real news but fake news brought on by Comedy Central entitled The Daily Show and The Colbert Report are there to parody the supposed real news. Some of the antics of Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert have real meaning in the big picture albeit they are humorous. This doesn’t change the fact that things are not getting better, but as least we have something to laugh about.
In conclusion, my research has shown that the Neo-Liberal tendencies of the globalization of free trade in the name of the moral right detract from the real big picture. The mainstream media doesn’t do the American people good justice with fair and impartial reporting. It’s a dog eat dog world in the news industry, with entertainment holding sway over real, concrete matters of state and the welfare of the American people. The Fox news portrays Liberal Democratic government officials as corrupt, back-biting swine that shouldn’t be watching everything a citizen does and stealing the tax payers’ money to feed the welfare state. The Neo-Liberals want the country to be divided and in constant upheaval. It’s good for business and affects the Gross Domestic Product which in turn puts more money into the rich elite. The discrepancies between rich and poor will continue until the populace will revolt in one form or another and the cyclical circle will remain. The colonial system, the capital system, the feudal system, the Neo-Liberalism system, it’s all the same with a different name. The upper classes are holding the lower classes in check to keep the power they need to prolong the simple facts of living on the world. When will we ever learn?
Works Cited
"Al Jazeera English: Live Stream - Watch Now - Al Jazeera English." AJE - Al Jazeera English. Web. 10 May 2011. <http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/>.
"America’s Middle Class Crisis: The Sobering Facts - Yahoo! Finance." Yahoo! Finance - Business Finance, Stock Market, Quotes, News. Web. 09 May 2011. <http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/america-middle-class-crisis-sobering-facts-141947274.html>.
Bloomberg - Business & Financial News, Breaking News Headlines. Web. 09 May 2011. <http://www.bloomberg.com/>.
CNBC Mobile Home. Web. 10 May 2011. <http://www.cnbc.com/>.
Colbert Nation | The Colbert Report | Comedy Central. Web. 10 May 2011. <http://www.colbertnation.com/home>.
"CorpWatch : What Is Neoliberalism?" CorpWatch : Index. Web. 09 May 2011. <http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=376>.
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Official Website | Current Events & Pop Culture, Comedy & Fake News. Web. 10 May 2011. <http://www.thedailyshow.com/>.
""GOP Warns Obama Not to Issue Executive Order for Government Contractors "" Explore the Latest Popular Stories from the Top Social News Sites. Web. 09 May 2011. <http://dailykix.com/9fd7db0e-938f-43c8-af8b-0deb59c1588d/story/gop-warns-obama-not-to-issue-executive-order-for-government-contractors>.
"Harvey, David. "Neo-Liberalism as Creative Destruction." Geografiska Annaler, Series B: Human Geography 88.2 (2006): 145-58. Abstract. Print." Web.
"Naomi Klein on Global Neoliberalism | Naomi Klein | Big Think." Big Think | Blogs, Articles and Videos from the World's Top Thinkers and Leaders. Web. 09 May 2011. <http://bigthink.com/ideas/3197>.
"A Primer on Neoliberalism — Global Issues." Global Issues : Social, Political, Economic and Environmental Issues That Affect Us All — Global Issues. Web. 09 May 2011. <http://www.globalissues.org/article/39/a-primer-on-neoliberalism>.
"Wisconsin Protests : Pictures, Videos, Breaking News." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington Post. Web. 09 May 2011. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/wisconsin-protests>.
--------------------------------------------
[ 1 ]. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05/06/gop-warns-obama-issue-executive-order-government-contractors/#comment
[ 2 ]. http://english.aljazeera.net/watch_now/
[ 3 ]. http://www.cnbc.com/
[ 4 ]. http://www.bloomberg.com/
[ 5 ]. http://www.democracynow.org/
[ 6 ]. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/wisconsin-protests
[ 7 ]. http://www.thedailyshow.com/
[ 8 ]. http://www.colbertnation.com/home
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
The description of a set of beliefs as "liberal" or "conservative" is a task that, in history, has changed in its requirements and protocol. We would now consider beliefs to be conservative that were at the onset of the American experiment considered liberal. Free markets, limited government, and federalism were ideas that were ridiculed throughout most of the civilized countries of the west up until recent history. On the other hand, what we would now consider to be modern liberalism can’t well be described in a similar fashion: Hobbes’ style of conservatism and its antidemocratic and autocratic impulses, while always the end result of collectivist tendencies such as modern liberalism, don’t translate completely into FDR’s style of governance and the Left’s penchant for social democracy (though Hobbes would appreciate the control that central planning entails). Modern liberalism, like modern conservatism, can be traced to a form of liberal thought. In modern liberalism’s case, though, it is rooted in continental European thought such as French Revolution radicalism and subsequent collectivist ideologies (devoted more to equality and a concept of "change") than in conservatism’s bedrock, more individualist Anglo Saxon thought. Thus, when referring to "conservative" and "liberal", the reference will be to the modern manifestations of such.…
- 978 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The word ‘neoliberalism’ itself would suggest that the neoliberal ideology contains some particular account of the development of the liberal ideology, or at least that they come from the same family tree. Thorsen and Lie (2009) suggests that liberalism grew to be an influential political ideology from when it began but at some point it lost its significance, only to re-emerge in the twenty-first century in a new form. When Liberalism first emerged around the time of Adam Smith and his book ‘The Wealth of Nations’ in 1776, liberalism appeared to be revolutionary but the charm soon faded so much that the term neoliberalism had to be coined, according to Thorsen and Lie (2009).…
- 222 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
- Liberals: one who favors governmental involvement in the economy and in the provision of social services and who takes an activist role in protecting the rights of women, the elderly, minorities, and the environment.…
- 1432 Words
- 6 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Neoliberalism – Political and economic policies promoting free trade, individual initiative, and minimal government regulation of the economy and opposing state control or subsidy to industries and all but minimal aid to impoverished individuals…
- 1485 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
American liberalism argues that the government needs to act to ensure equality among its citizens. In current politics many liberals are pushing for gay rights, affirmative action, open immigration, and similar policies. Conservatism argues that the government’s main job is to protect freedom and…
- 1198 Words
- 5 Pages
Good Essays -
Through their views on the individual comes their view on society. Neo-Libs view society as an implication of their view on the individual. As Thatcher said “There is no such thing as society, only individuals and their families.” People are atomistic, they only interact to promote self-interest. This differs from the Neo-Cons who see society as an Organic whole, that society is a collection of different parts and that these parts represent different organs when one fails or become damaged the others areas also suffer. Society has become like this through our imperfections as because we are imperfect we seek a sense of security and belonging shaping society. This shows that the New Right is again incoherent as the two ideologies clash and disagree with each other.…
- 689 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
The people of Liberalism “defined themselves in opposition to conservatives on one end of the political spectrum and revolutionaries on the other” (page 680). It supported freedom of religion, movement, conscience, assembly, and the press. In ensured equality for every man before law and God. In person has an equal opportunities for success or failure. Even though Liberalism was not a political movement, followers still believed that a good government had a balance of power between branches, property restrictions for representative government, and representatives were educated and successful.…
- 715 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Liberalism, in general, was an ideological movement that emerged out of the ideas of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution in the early 19th century. It embraced the ideas of individualism which were established in the Renaissance and Reformation era. The Renaissance period sparked a belief in the importance of the individual in society. It helped promote the beliefs of classical liberalism which gradually formed into the liberal ideology of the 19th century. Individuals that were waiting to get their individual rights and freedoms were allowed to finally gain liberty and power through this period of time. Classical liberalism developed from the ideologies of individuals such as Locke, Mill and Smith who were concerned with protecting the rights and freedoms of citizens. The Industrial Revolution strengthened the ideas of classical liberalism and allowed people to gain economic freedom, self-interest and private property. Classical liberalism transformed British into a society based on agriculture and the landed classes, interventionist government, and humanitarianism into a society based on industry and the middle classes, laissez-faire government and pursuit of industrial efficiency (Fielding, 2009). People flourished with great amount of wealth and power but there were others whose lives had been changed for the worse. Resistance to liberalism is justified to a great extent because it did not affect the lives all people. Liberalism disregarded the rights and civil liberties of the working class, lead to a discrepancy in the economic structure of society, and set its political values merely on the basis of individualism.…
- 1172 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
Classical liberalism is much like individualism. Classical liberalist believes that the government should have a limit and that individual liberty it what matters most. Individual liberty including freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and free markets are all good examples of what classical liberalism would consist of. Classical liberals do not like for the government to interfere with their personal lives. They stress instead reliance on private initiatives or the free market to determine the best outcomes. (p. 3) Classical liberals are individuals who like to put themselves before anything or anyone. Therefore, when I think classical liberalism, I think about a saying my sister always say “let me do me while you do you”. Classical liberals do not trust the government 100%, but they respect the government.…
- 590 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Liberalism is a political philosophy which emphasizes on the rights of an individual, and usually the rights will assure by the government. Liberalism has turned up for around 300 years, and the complexity to explain and define liberalism is increasing as there are several forms, including classical liberalism, neo-liberalism, conservative liberalism, social liberalism, libertarianism and libertarian socialism (Mastin, 2008). Although anarchism, communism, democratic socialism, social democracy, communitarianism and liberal conservatism have the same objective with liberalism which support for democracy as well as basic equality and against authoritarianism, but it does not consider as liberalism (Haar, 2015).…
- 209 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
In America, there is media bias because ratings tend to increase when the attention span is more focused on the issues at hand. For instance, people would much rather documentaries or visuals involving chaos and violence rather than a humanly interview. Therefore, media becomes biased because the chosen headliners and stories are consumed with drama which draws larger audiences. On the other hand, political views as portrayed in the news are more likely to be liberal than conservative. Although there is little evidence to support this claim, the political views in different forms of media are usually liberal dependent on social issues such as feminism, gay rights, and welfare. Depending on the carrier of media, a company such as Fox News or CBS might edit the actual news in order to fit their persona or political views behind the company.…
- 283 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
On September 11, 2001, the citizens of the United States witnessed a horrific attack on two symbolic buildings in New York City. These tragic events have galvanized the creation and implementation of a myriad of prejudicial and unconstitutional policies designed to provide the illusion of national security while simultaneous creating more instability and animosity between the West and the Middle East. In the wake of 9/11, a multitude of Americans have been overtaken by hysteria and fear. These emotional responses have been generated and intensified by the virtually unanimous Islamophobic propaganda that has been perpetuated by the main stream media. As a result of the media’s anti-Islam campaign, Americans have been persuaded to distrust Muslims, instinctively categorize Muslims as terrorist or potential terrorist, as well as sacrifice essential civil liberties. Scapegoating theorist may argue that this portrayal of Arabs and Muslims is one of the ways the U.S. government is attempting to blame this group of individuals for the economic and societal woes that plague 21st-century-America. In addition, many would argue that decades of excessive Western consumption, along with globalization have contributed to a complicated, unjust, and turbulent geopolitical and economic climate, which has created a Western need for Middle Eastern dominance. Regardless of their true motives, we can clearly witness the media’s hostile categorization of Arabs and Muslims as predominately terroristic or potentially terroristic.…
- 699 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
When reading the media one must always consider that media may be bias, people may have incentives or hidden agendas and the facts may be conflicting. In order to properly evaluate and decide what information makes sense and what seems like a lie the audience should practice critical reading. A critical reader is able to separate fact from interpretation; to a critical reader the facts provide portrayal.…
- 517 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Same-sex marriage has been an on-going battle for many years. California’s opposition to same-sex marriage, Proposition 8, barely passed in the 2008 election. Same-sex marriage has been a news-worthy topic since 1997 when Hawaii passed a Domestic Partnership policy which triggered other states to change policies as well. This issue started a state-to-state debate of whether same-sex couples should have the same rights that heterosexual, married couples have. This debate between states has reached a Congressional level. The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases surrounding this on-going debate. The cases the Court will hear are related to allowable benefits for same-sex partners, and California’s ban on gay marriage.…
- 640 Words
- 3 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Throughout history the news media has an important role in society by providing information for the general public and each individual. Regarded as the "fourth branch" of government, the influence that media has on political affairs is extremely powerful because it enable citizens to form opinions on certain issues. To many politician, media is an instrument of manipulation and enables them to persuade large masses of people. With power follows responsibility, which the public believe it is the responsibility of the press to "accurately" inform the populace. The public believe that an ideal relationship between the media and government is with checks and balances, therefore insuring a functioning democracy. However, over these past few decades…
- 930 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays