Jason C. Romero's Website

The Shock Doctrine

I watched a good video of Naomi Klein talking about her new book The Shock Doctrine, where she argues that governments use disasters to establish equally if not more disastrous neoliberal economic policies. It was inspiring to think about history as “shock resistance,” but I am so pessimistic about the world right now that it is difficult to believe there is much if anything we can do, especially because of the need for collective action. Maybe the best we can do is to simply get through this.

De-Stress

I got a response from the IRB, which helped to reduce a lot of my stress.

Experiencing Nowhere

I found it amusing that everyone used their weak or non-existent cell phone reception as an index for how removed we were at the lake house.

Minutiae

• Mailed some documents, shot a video journal at the mall, bought a Nintendo DS, got a haircut, and drove to the lake house — I played lots of Pokemon Diamond on the way.

Links

• So, I’ve known about R. Kelly’s 22-part Trapped in the Closet epic for a long time — but it looks like the final push for me to watch it has come from NPR of all places!
• This American Life has an episode about the mortgage scandal.