Regarding Each Other

Introduction

“As corporate power replaces political sovereignty, politics becomes an extension of war and all public spaces are transformed into battle zones” (Evans and Giroux 12).

Disposable Futures is a book that seeks to emphasize and redefine the meaning of violence in a modern day capitalist society. The authors raise questions as to how neoliberalism creates an “ethical gaze” which normalizes genocidal violence. The tone is sometimes pessimistic and prescriptive of a world of economic profit. The book builds off a dystopian view of neoliberalism that creates what the authors call “disposable humans” inside a system of constant violence. In part, this violence is done through the burden of guilt that is placed at the feet of those made disposable. This guilt and sense of disassociation (from productive society) made to purposefully make one feel disposable, embracing their oppression as a fault of their own while paradoxically being told that partaking in the system is in fact the only logical solution to their precarious situation. To briefly unpack parts of the book we will first start with a conversation about how neo-liberalism is defined in the book to then move onto how this specific definition of neoliberalism is tied together with the notion of disposable humans. Ending with an analysis of how neoliberalism and the disposable creates a logic of “at-least its not me” as a justification for a neutral reaction to violence.

Neoliberalism

… is “much more than a system of economic organization and reasoning. It makes overt political, ethical, moral, and cultural claims to authenticate forms of individual subjectivity premised on the purity of profit maximization rationales, along with claims to rightful stewardship over the global domain and its resources as no less than a matte of security, peace, and prosperity”. Unlike more traditional definitions of neo-liberalism the authors prefer a broadened understanding of it which departs from solely the ideas of a free market, private property rights, and rule of law. The neo-liberalism wielded here is a variety that inflicts violence through an everyday rational that makes productive those which fit within definitions of profit. Neoliberal violence being a result of the normalization and prioritization of privatization, commodification, deregulation, and militarization as the only pathways to progress. This violence cannot tolerate co-operative culture where non-market values such as solidarity, civic education, community building, equality, and justice are prioritized (Evans and Giroux 11).

The resulting neoliberal society only values human activity which in a sense does violence onto others as to avoid violence on themselves. In this way enjoying the violence and admitting to the fetishization of violence. The neoliberal structure often disseminating genocidal practices, while reinforcing the self-deficiency of those being made disposable. This inability to see the structure as the culprit establishes privileged positions for observers to revel in the fact that they are not the deficient. Observers enjoying their status. Those made disposable envying it. Neither rejecting the preposterous violence. Both being conditioned to it. “Poverty being a deserved condition” made a spectacle (Evans and Giroux 14). A futile performance for those acting in it and an entertaining past time for those observing the tragic struggles.

Disposable Humans

Disposable humans are those which are not capable of meaningfully preforming anything useful for the market. Order-making functions re-imagined as vehicles to “designate those lives that simply don’t belong to the privileged social order as a result of their perceived identities and attributes” (Evans and Giroux 48). Meaning that for there to be order then there must be those which are disposable. Without this collateral then the neoliberal ordering system simply does not function as it can no longer create arbitrary value based on exclusion. This is done purposefully by the neoliberal structure to create a logic of disposability and a justification for it. The very word used is rooted in “dispose” which requires a purposeful action. This willful casting aside of human beings is made into a spectacle. The overlooked violence reconstituted as individual deficiency becomes a spectacle to behold, being reinforced on every screen and by every self identified resilient person fighting in an almost comical way against the forces which oppress them. Their disposable distinction creating story lines for pop culture, justifications for cutbacks, and opportunities for an extreme disassociation between humanity. Life replaced by economic progress. Humanity then being as disposable to the economy as the plastic cup. Ultimately, only by uncovering the inherent violence of the neoliberal structure can we begin to uncover its ‘abilities to strip life of any political, ethical, and human claim” (Evans and Giroux 16).

“At least its not me”

What motivates activity in neoliberalism is the fear of being disposable. Productive activity in neoliberalism being defined in contrast to human co-operation. All then being disposable at the end of its “use”. When faced with this exploitative set up then each disposable human is merely in the progress of prolonging its use. Not to pave progress but to avoid the trash can. While neoliberal logic will always try to dispose/exploit productive units as quickly as possible, those units are actors which will themselves always seek to maximize their “use”. Ideally for their entire lives. This leads to others being made disposable before you, a very positive phenomenon, even something one could take relief or happiness in. Together the pressure coming from both sides pushes people into a neutral mentality where “at least its not me” becomes most rational. This induced thought process rationalizes violence and degrades co-operative qualities that make up what is essential to fulfilling the human condition. The disposable human becomes a spectator in order to prolong its use.

With this in mind we can see how neoliberal violence is not merely a result of innocent dupes being unknowingly manipulated, but actually a desirable outcome of the structure and its actors. Thinking in this way allows us to think about our own selfish compromises that we make in order to escape the forms violence we perpetrate ourselves onto others. “At least its not me” being then “openly recruited into everyday forms of passivity, inactivism, subjugation, intolerance, and a denial of our humanity” (Evans and Giroux 28).

Conclusion

At times the book reads likes an informed, intellectual, pop culture zombie (much like capitalism itself). Other times it exemplifies and draws our attention to the connections between violence in our media and every day lives. The process of neoliberalism normalizing the complicity of every actor. Both suffering from the violence but desensitized to the point of non-action. The book puts on full exposition the contradictions of capitalism and the neoliberal mindset. Showing the non-nonsensical nature of the neoliberal project of infinite progress as made possible and defined by the logic of economic growth. This structure of oppression takes away the freedom of individuals to live, lives that diverge from neoliberal definitions of productivity. A productivity that always prioritizes the production of more over the necessary conditions for human life.

Works Cited

Evans, Brad, and Henry A. Giroux. 2015. Disposable futures: the seduction of violence in the age of spectacle.