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petition to ban the word "neoliberal" from the discourse.
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I've ranted about this before but even though Chicago school deregulationists did not self-identify as "neoliberal" I think it can be a useful world to describe the economic agenda of the 1980s and the latter day consequences of these policy platforms
THE HIGHWAYMAN
yes
THE HIGHWAYMAN
yes people keep using it when it doesn't apply and im so!!! stop using it for everything
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but it's!! a specific thing!! and it's not a word you can use to describe every bad thing reagan did, either.
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it is definitely not a word you can use to mean "everything in the western world I disagree with", for which it has become pseudo-academic synonym
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(and I fully acknowledge that using the word neoliberal for everything is probably the fault of 90s academic language, where a lot of intellectual critiques of "neoliberalism" began)
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I have seen it used to describe everyone from Elizabeth Warren to Donald Trump, always negatively, and when you're using the term that broadly, it becomes meaningless, or worse.
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Like, I can usually guess from context what people mean when they use the term "neoliberal" even if I don't agree with how they're using the word, but, what if I'm wrong. I could be wrong!
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if you're just using it as a placeholder for "my own complaints against capitalism as it exists today", people will fill in their own complaints, and they won't necessarily be the same ones!
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I don't know why people can't say "deregulation" when they mean deregulation, or the "washington consensus" when they speak about free trade/capitalism as a post-WWII world order, or "the carceral state" when that's what they mean to talk about.
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generally, I don't like the associated trend of "liberal" becoming a bad word, I think by taint of neoliberalism? but liberal is too shaded with too many meanings to properly complain about.
vex appeal
Seconded. It's definitely high on the list of buzzy words that have all meaning beyond "thing the person saying it doesn't like."
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also baffled by the rebranding of progressive and how I see it used retroactively to describe policies of the twentieth century that have nothing to do with the capital-P progressive movement.
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I am also baffled that this is a word that the contemporary reformist american left has picked to self-describe, because notions of "progress" are certainly loaded and like, one would hope these are the people who'd realize that.
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esp since vocabulary is such a an important part of wokeness. (probably too important, in my opinion, but I think it's sort of a natural consequence of social media as a demonstrative political space)
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(because so much of our public persona is bound up in language, of course language has a heightened importance)
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(which is why you should stop using neoliberal when that's not what you actually mean, goodnight!!)
harrenhalloween
god yes this is so annoying
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ur petition is granted
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it's a very un-liberal petition, admittedly.
harrenhalloween
imo the way they're using has more to do with the 'neoconservative' buzzword of the 2000s than anything else
harrenhalloween
using it as the inverse, unaware that it is an ACTUAL WORD
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yeah, I think it's that ++ 90s academic language that then has been made part of standard university teaching.
harrenhalloween
esp since 'globalist' has become a racist dogwhistle, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT TRADE DEREGULATION
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yes! that too.
harrenhalloween
people should just be more specific!!!
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I don't hate all academic-sounding buzzwords, I liked kyriarchy and wish it made a comeback
harrenhalloween
I think there is also a larger problem, of the left flat-out refusing to engage with economics bc it is 'made up'
harrenhalloween
and that has led to people who are not academics misusing economic terms bc.........they have not bothered to learn them
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I mean, I do think the laffer curve is made up
harrenhalloween
yes it probably is
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but yes, I think it's pretty easy to have a shallow engagement with economic theory, I know that I do!
harrenhalloween
I barely understand it!!! but it's important to my dad!!! who is also a democrat!!!!
harrenhalloween
there are a lot of people who care about human rights and the economy,
harrenhalloween
and they are the people you need to convince to vote for aoc
harrenhalloween
anyway petition to ban the discourse
hotel writing
I like this plurk and also am tired of 'neoliberal' being deployed as a reflexive snarl word
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I am glad others are frustrated, at least we are not alone.
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also I'm happy to report that I do not go to twitter and gazing into the abyss of political plurks has not made me regret that decision one bit lol.
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Lassarina
whew
Lassarina
I have been actively avoiding birdhell and fuckbook
Lassarina
becuase every time I opened them my shoulders immediately flew up to my ears and glued themselves there
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honestly, that seems like a mild and reasonable reaction.
Lassarina
I'm just so much happier not putting my face in the shit-spewing firehose, you know?
Lassarina
(I am also attempting to enforce a news-quarantine of not more than one hour a day and only on my desktop so I don't carry doomscrolling with me)
harrenhalloween
I have turned off a lot of people's rts and muted a lot of buzzwords
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setting boundaries is a good thing, I think it's easy to trick yourself into thinking political anxiety is virtuous
harrenhalloween
some poor fool on the girl scout's social media made the mistake of congratulating amy coney barret and now the entire organization is being roasted
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like, the more you agonize over things the more empathy you have for the most vulnerable. but I suspect this is in fact untrue and deeply unhealthy.
Lassarina
I was just having that conversation with a friend yesterday
Lassarina
telling them that engaging in self-harm is not a required facet of being a good ally or citizen
harrenhalloween
I feel like people have tricked themselves into thinking yelling on twitter is Action
Lassarina
(self-harm here, meaning "fucking your mental health by never being able to look away from Twitter")
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praxis
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please, let's all be on our best vocabularies
Lassarina
XD
harrenhalloween
it's especially annoying when I know they can just call chuck schumer or diane feinstein and yell at them instead
harrenhalloween
god
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subject dianne feinstine to twitter doomscrolling
Lassarina
Also, if I am spending all of my time agonizing and self-flagellating because of past actions or current events, I am not spending my time actually....donating. Or calling my various legislators. Or figurin gout what I can do to make a meaningful difference.
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figurin gout was an obscure 18th century scots philosopher
harrenhalloween
real activists say you can't be a part time activist bc you'll burn out trying to do it in your spare time
Lassarina
lol. Sorry.
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typos are universal one just made me laugh hahah.
Lassarina
That sounds really plausible, re part time activism.
harrenhalloween
I think it's also important just to be a person on the ground, listening to organizers, showing up where you're needed, etc
Lassarina
The reason I am not a lawyer is because I would burn myself out in under 5 years by flinging myself into the shit I care desperately about
Lassarina
Yes. We all have different lanes. And skills.
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and needs!! I think some people find a genuine community among fellow twitter doomscrollers, in a way that is affirmative for them.
Lassarina
you know, that's true
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I do not understand it and it would not be good for me, but I believe I am not everybody
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and like fuck if I understand how mental health works but I believe that having different boundaries and ways of coping is probably necessary.
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treating people with equal respect doesn't mean treating them all the same.
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((that does not mean neoliberal is allowed to mean something different for everyone though.))
Lassarina
Right. Words are only useful insofar as we agree on their definitions, because the purpose of words is to communicate, which....requires us to agree that walk means to move oneself slowly.
Lassarina
for example.
harrenhalloween
harrenhalloween
neoliberal wrong usage is particularly bad bc it is a. so smug b. the nearest equivalent word for neoliberalism, globalism, has been co-opted by the right in a way that makes it hard to complain about
harrenhalloween
or criticize like an adult ig