Kalle Lasn
Author of Culture Jam: How to Reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge--And Why We Must
About the Author
Image credit: Kalle Lasn
Works by Kalle Lasn
Culture Jam: How to Reverse America's Suicidal Consumer Binge--And Why We Must (1999) 852 copies, 11 reviews
Adbusters: Journal of the Mental Environment: May/June 2004, No. 53. Hope and Memory. (2004) 2 copies
Associated Works
Everything You Know Is Wrong: The Disinformation Guide to Secrets and Lies (2002) — Contributor — 1,026 copies, 6 reviews
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1942
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- activist
- Organizations
- Adbusters Media Foundation (co-founder)
Blackspot Anticorporation (CEO) - Nationality
- Canada
- Places of residence
- Tallinn, Estonia (birth)
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - Associated Place (for map)
- Canada
Members
Reviews
Where was this book ten years ago? I really needed it when I was eighteen, fresh from being frustrated by the blinkered stupidity of A-level economics and disappointed that the economics paper in my undergraduate course seemed little better. 'Meme Wars' is intended as an antidote to standard neoclassical economics textbooks, such as bloody Mankiw (the unchallenged assumptions in that book drove me mad). As such, I think it works well. 'Meme Wars' uses the same format as Adbusters magazine, show more which is well worth reading if you can find it in a newsagent. This intersperses pieces on heterodox economic thought and politics with full-page art pieces. I like this approach, which gives the book a satisfying heft as well as keeping the eyes and mind stimulated. As a warning, though, the absence of contents page or index means you can't go back and find a particular piece without leafing through the whole thing. There aren't any page numbers, either, so you have to rely on the distinctiveness of the imagery. Which, admittedly, is very distinctive.
I thought the range of critiques of neoclassical economics were well chosen as an introduction to the heterodox field. In addition to well-known theorists like Herman Daly, E. F. Schumacher, Joseph Stiglitz, and George Akerlof, the work of many others is covered, most of whom were new to me. I also appreciated the thoroughness of the critique of GDP, which really deserves to be abandoned as a useful metric. It is fair to say, however, that the perspective of this book is largely white, male, and American. On the one hand, not again. On the other hand, it is also white, male, and American voices who do the most to promulgate neoclassical economics and thus have the strongest need to critique their assumptions. So I am ambivalent about this point.
I cannot let one piece pass without mention, though, as it is perhaps the most jaw-droppingly ironic thing I've ever read. Here is a quote:
This seems like a very laudable utopian ideal, does it not? But consider the earlier context for the above statement:
Yes, this is the view of the Chinese government. The same government that has shown how the largest and fastest-growing market economy in the world can also profess communism. The same government that has energetically refuted Fukuyama's notion that market economics and representative democracy require one another to thrive. The same government that fosters vast inequalities in wealth, corruption at a gigantic scale, and the denial of any democratic freedoms to its citizens. The sad thing is, the developed world is vastly hypocritical in its criticism of China for these things, as well as the extent to which China is blamed for increases in world carbon emissions. (Looking at the total stock of carbon shoved into the atmosphere by the industrialisation of Europe puts this in perspective.) In America, Republican politicians express admiration for China's lack of social security and wage protection. The UK's democratic freedoms certainly aren't what they once were. The level of irony can hardly be encompassed in words.
Essentially, I think that this particular piece needs a caveat that it is, like the vast majority of the rest of the book, aspirational. Communist China is not actually a utopia and the millions who starved or were killed in China during Mao's regime did so in the name of totalitarianism, not 'a selfless society'. Nowadays, those dying prematurely due to terrible rates of pollution might say the same, except that the totalitarian idol has shifted to an abstraction of economic progress. Thanks, neoclassical economics.
That aside, 'Meme Wars' is definitely thought-provoking and very much worth reading. I think I'd have appreciated it more when I was a member of its target audience - undergraduate students dissatisfied with the neoclassical economics being rammed down their throats. I'll recommend it to the undergrads that I sometimes teach, in fact. show less
I thought the range of critiques of neoclassical economics were well chosen as an introduction to the heterodox field. In addition to well-known theorists like Herman Daly, E. F. Schumacher, Joseph Stiglitz, and George Akerlof, the work of many others is covered, most of whom were new to me. I also appreciated the thoroughness of the critique of GDP, which really deserves to be abandoned as a useful metric. It is fair to say, however, that the perspective of this book is largely white, male, and American. On the one hand, not again. On the other hand, it is also white, male, and American voices who do the most to promulgate neoclassical economics and thus have the strongest need to critique their assumptions. So I am ambivalent about this point.
I cannot let one piece pass without mention, though, as it is perhaps the most jaw-droppingly ironic thing I've ever read. Here is a quote:
To be fair, no matter how much wealth a person possesses, each person's consumption is equal. [...] A Bill Gates or Steve Jobs can still soar and be heroes of civilisation and celebrated by all, but they will live just like everyone else in a one-planet footprint. Thus we will guide and transform the whole society from a "selfish" society to a "selfless" society.
This seems like a very laudable utopian ideal, does it not? But consider the earlier context for the above statement:
In the past two hundred years of the vigorous international communist movement and the ninety years of history of the Communist Party of China, millions of people have sacrificed their lives for the realisation of a communist ideal [...] The international communist movement is not defeated by capitalism but defers [sic?] to develop its own theory. Socialism with Chinese characteristics is still pressing ahead.
Yes, this is the view of the Chinese government. The same government that has shown how the largest and fastest-growing market economy in the world can also profess communism. The same government that has energetically refuted Fukuyama's notion that market economics and representative democracy require one another to thrive. The same government that fosters vast inequalities in wealth, corruption at a gigantic scale, and the denial of any democratic freedoms to its citizens. The sad thing is, the developed world is vastly hypocritical in its criticism of China for these things, as well as the extent to which China is blamed for increases in world carbon emissions. (Looking at the total stock of carbon shoved into the atmosphere by the industrialisation of Europe puts this in perspective.) In America, Republican politicians express admiration for China's lack of social security and wage protection. The UK's democratic freedoms certainly aren't what they once were. The level of irony can hardly be encompassed in words.
Essentially, I think that this particular piece needs a caveat that it is, like the vast majority of the rest of the book, aspirational. Communist China is not actually a utopia and the millions who starved or were killed in China during Mao's regime did so in the name of totalitarianism, not 'a selfless society'. Nowadays, those dying prematurely due to terrible rates of pollution might say the same, except that the totalitarian idol has shifted to an abstraction of economic progress. Thanks, neoclassical economics.
That aside, 'Meme Wars' is definitely thought-provoking and very much worth reading. I think I'd have appreciated it more when I was a member of its target audience - undergraduate students dissatisfied with the neoclassical economics being rammed down their throats. I'll recommend it to the undergrads that I sometimes teach, in fact. show less
Charmingly naive, just like I was in the 90s! History has shown that the methods in this book haven't really done anything to improve the quality of our lives and the safety of the natural world, yet they are still being advocated by liberal campaigners today. Desperate to avoid having to advocate any form of communism, they repeat the same errors that we made in the 90s, which repeated errors made back in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. This book is full of sensible information surrounded by show more nonsense, category errors next to solid facts, citation requirements next to well evidenced horrors, and good plans next to underpants gnomery. Despite all this Lasn is correct about so much stuff, even if he has a tendency to wrap it liberal magical thinking, and like all of us back in the 90s who were ignored and vilified for our predictions of future society, we were only wrong in that things are worse now than we thought they'd be. show less
A little rabid, and may have needed more rigorous fact-checking, but philosophically brings up some interesting questions.
Interesting if you want to read a Situationist manifesto, not so much if you're looking for a book detailing why America's consumer culture is, economically, heading to a bad end.
I found it somewhat funny that this is a booklong ad for AdBusters. It's made me go from loving them to somewhat hating them for their disingenuity.
I found it somewhat funny that this is a booklong ad for AdBusters. It's made me go from loving them to somewhat hating them for their disingenuity.
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