Ordinary citizens are deliberately kept ignorant of the esoteric neoliberal playbook
Evidence
The average person may be encouraged to believe all sorts of things about the government that have no correspondence to the esoteric neoliberal playbook, or untethered from any facts, for instance, and this is a key aspect of the construction of a viable neoliberal self under the sway of the double-truth doctrine. The average citizen severely underestimates the amount of their livelihood that comes from the government; and are utterly deluded about their current place in the distribution of income and wealth. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 300
Categorization
- DEEPTHINKING: The double-truth doctrine — mass delusion as a designed feature of neoliberal governance, not a bug — is a paradigm-shifting claim about how ideological stability is manufactured.
- XREF: Connects to Zamyatin’s We and its double-thought precursors; also to the double-truth theme in the reader’s We reading. — connects to: Feigned ignorance of outcomes is structurally required for neoliberal order — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 276; Neoliberals weaponize performative ignorance to paralyze post-crisis response — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 40; Neoliberalism’s appeal lies in an esoteric knowledge reserved for the Elect — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 2148 (+4 more)
Broader Connections
- Feigned ignorance of outcomes is structurally required for neoliberal order
#corroborates(0.85) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 276 - Neoliberalism’s appeal lies in an esoteric knowledge reserved for the Elect
#expands(0.85) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2148 - Neoliberals weaponize performative ignorance to paralyze post-crisis response
#corroborates(0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 40 - Neoliberal authors produce obfuscating scholarship that disguises the movement’s own practices
#expands(0.80) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 1821 - Neoliberals do not practice the laissez-faire they preach to the public.
#expands(0.75)