Anthropologists have recently alerted us to the idea that witchcraft discourses are sometimes reflections of exploitative tendencies in both national and international political economy. Those who suffer from such exploitation are often the already dispossessed who imagine their dispossession in the language of witchcraft. Witchcraft discourses therefore attempt to name the flighty, the complex and the complicated - that which does not lend itself to easy grasp. That international economics, and especially the market, work like invisible phenomena are now no secret, especially since reports are now circulating to the effect that those who engineer the stock market in the United States are intent on making the process look magical, hiding behind the complex process to fleece other traders. This complex, exploitative process which affects the dispossessed all over the world could be calibrated as witchcraft (bad witchcraft).
The presence of witchcraft often leads to the emergence of witch-finders of all stripes. The stock market version of witch-finders is the group of people who have been recently described in Flash Boys. They are intent on demystifying the secretive technological witchcraft in order to limit the rampant exploitation. Just as is to be expected in all cases where witches are exposed, the story goes that the witches of Wall Street have not been happy. The witches seem to be after the witch-finders.
However, it is also the case that the distance between witches and witch-finders is often not a long one, so that witch-finders sometimes become witches themselves. It is our hope that the witch-finders would not become the witches in this case. Because witch-finders may become witches themselves, we often suspect the witch-finders. Such should be the case with the story of Flash Boys. Are they for real or are they in the process of joining the witches?
The presence of witchcraft often leads to the emergence of witch-finders of all stripes. The stock market version of witch-finders is the group of people who have been recently described in Flash Boys. They are intent on demystifying the secretive technological witchcraft in order to limit the rampant exploitation. Just as is to be expected in all cases where witches are exposed, the story goes that the witches of Wall Street have not been happy. The witches seem to be after the witch-finders.
However, it is also the case that the distance between witches and witch-finders is often not a long one, so that witch-finders sometimes become witches themselves. It is our hope that the witch-finders would not become the witches in this case. Because witch-finders may become witches themselves, we often suspect the witch-finders. Such should be the case with the story of Flash Boys. Are they for real or are they in the process of joining the witches?
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