Naomi Klein, one of the anti-globalization movement’s favorite writer’s, has decided she will disaffiliate herself with UK Channel 4’s upcoming film rendition of her best-selling book The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. The Independent reports:

A source at Channel 4 said the [Klein] was so disappointed with [their] vision of her book – which she reportedly felt did not carefully lay out the thesis or explain the economics but instead made unproven assertions – that she sought to distance herself from the film after seeing the early cuts.

Sadly, for those of us who’d love to hear her voice narrate overdramatic and inaccurate juxtapositions of Milton Friedman quotes with dying children, we’ll have to stick to a short video she made before.

For those who don’t know, Klein’s book argues that liberalizations of markets are remarkably unpopular and come about only in times of crises. Among her many flaws, she uses Milton Friedman quotes horribly out of context and bases her entire book on the idea that free market ideology only succeeds when people are in a state of shock. One terrible inaccuracy, as many critics pointed out, was when she revised history by claiming Tiananmen Square showed students’ unwillingness to accept market reforms – when, in reality, the opposite is true.

I don’t think anyone would disagree that people, in a state of shock, accept some change that they wouldn’t otherwise. That was Friedman’s point. Where Klein goes berserk is by assuming that moves towards free trade or ending of price controls were never popular and came about only through undemocratic means. I have to hand it to her: of all the anti-globalization writers, Naomi Klein manages to be both the least insightful and most popular.

Tyler Cowen bashes the book here. Read Johan Norberg’s excellent rebuttal of Naomi Klein’s book here. Or, for a short teaser on his paper, check out this video:

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