Empire of Illusion - The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle

[bridgit]

Chris Hedges’ latest tome is a systematic deconstruction of the matrix of American illusions: the overwhelming ways in which our culture and our lives, are severed from the complexities of reality into the one-dimensional worlds of celebrities, infotainment, pornography, advertising, and nationalism. In Empire of Illusions, this veteran Pulitzer Prize winning journalist takes us from the lurid worlds of World Wrestling Entertainment, Jerry Springer and the annual Adult Video convention in Vegas, to the sanitized halls of the White House and corporate board rooms, the ivory towers of ultra-specialized academia, without missing a beat. Hedges makes the case that as American retreat into worlds of televised and commercial fantasy, the corporate stranglehold on our lives has simultaneously devastated the very fabric of our reality: our homes, our jobs, our civic participation.

http://ia301506.us.archive.org/1/items/DailyDigest-072009/2009_07_20_hedges.mp3

http://uprisingradio.org/home/?p=8933

[NYC_SKP]

1. Spot on. K and R. n/t

[Lorien]

2. Sounds like an interesting, if depressing, read

I often wonder about the people who beat their chests and go on and on about America's greatness. Do they ever feel unsettled, like things have gone horribly wrong and that life is not supposed to be like this- of do they honestly love the superficial consumer driven corporate owned culture we all live in? Over 290 million prescriptions for anti-depressants were written last year-nearly enough for the entire country. I'm depressed and I don't have one, and I suspect that millions feel the same way. They just don't know why they're depressed; they think that more money and "stuff" would fix everything. That's not it at all; it's the lack of substance, meaning, purpose, and close relationships that gets so many of us down.

[XemaSab]

3. I would guess that people who crow the most loudly about the greatness of America

are some of the people who are the most concerned that our country isn't all that great. :shrug:

[snagglepuss]

5. The Daily Digest interview is a must hear. It sounds like a radio interview.

The interviewer gives Hedges so much space and he just is fascinating to listen to. His observations about pornography, wrestling, Oprah, positive thinking, academia are all spot on.


I can definitely relate to what you have said so well in your post Lorien. I suppose someone like Hedges helps me re-focus my attention on the larger picture. He actually addresses the points you have raised.

[lastinline]

14. Hi Lorien - Reality Is Often Depressing - Watch Chris's Speech This October

IMHO he nails so many aspects of our current political, business, and cultural situation that the wall of facts and observations is hard to argue against.

http://essentialdissent.blogspot.com/2009_10_01_archive.html

It is up to us to change things and the first step is honestly admitting that things are broken for most citizens.

Even this first step will be very difficult for most Dems since many are still clinging to the vision of FDR or the veneer of Bill Clinton as channeled through Obama.

Chris would probably say "don't hold ones breath".

[snagglepuss]

4. The Daily Digest interview is phenomenal. I can't recommend it enough.

Hedges addresses pornography, consumerism, positive thinking, the moral and intellectual ineptitude of the elites as well as a number of other things including MJ.


I have yet to listen to the second one. Thanks so much for posting.

Bookmarked and RECOMMENDED.


brigit who is the interviewer and what is her web-site?





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[Warren DeMontague]

6. Many things are not what they seem. Many people, too.

Certainly, there's a lot of flim-flam on the internet.

[Dogmudgeon]

7. Come on. This could have been written in 1930 -- BCE.

We intellectuals have been wringing our hands about the "Booboisie," the "Great Unwashed," the "Hoi Polloi,' and other instantiations of public vulgarity since the Golden Age of the Greeks -- which ended 2300 years ago last Wednesday.

The great ranters and satirists have each weighed in. Mencken. Twain. Franklin. Erasmus. Scotus. Ovid. Aristophanes. And a thousand others.

And before that, too -- the ancient Mesopotamians recorded their disdain for the unintelligent. Why should the USA, circa Today, be any different? And why do we, in every age, never realize just how arrogant we sound?

I deeply respect Chris Hedges. Occasionally, though, he goes off the rails, as with this rant.

--d!
The preening intellectual elitism! It burns!

[bridgit]

13. Sure, and likely why for many Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine wasn't really all that shocking...

when you stop to realize the crucifixions of Roman Caesars on the way to everywhere including Jerusalem and back; were the 'shock & awe' tactics of their day. Hedge's, however, doesn't seem to be reaching past Noah to get to Gilgamesh or some lotus pedal floating on vast, undulating, scriptural floods 6,000+ years ago for that matter either. Nor suggesting that after having been crushed by Pharaoh's Stone one's family is now better-able to seek remedy by introducing OSHA standards and collective bargaining in the workplace 3,939 years after the fact, eh, you're right - Let's just view it as yet another missed opportunity, I'm sure it's better that way. I do agree: Hedge's is cool enough, he just maybe should be looking more like Robert Langdon

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

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[snagglepuss]

10. Thanks for posting. This is one of those books I've always mean to read.

Your post has convinced me not to put ir off any longer.

[bridgit]

12. The way he applies the larger model is worth taking a peek at...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-ynBNK1sIY :kick:

[earth mom]

9. Thanks, will check it out! nt

[HamdenRice]

11. It was interesting till he criticized Jerry Springer, who is THE MAN!!! nt