chris hedges
intro’d to Chris here..
and here:
If a hundred of us work together and use our social networks for the same message we can reach as many people as the second-largest newspapers in town, The Washington Examiner or The Washington Times. If a thousand of us do, we can meet the circulation of The Washington Post. We can certainly reach the circulation of most cable news TV shows. The key is to recognize this power and weaken the media structure.”
This demented “war on terror” is as undefined and vague as such a conflict is in any totalitarian state. Dissent is increasingly equated in this country with treason. Enemies supposedly lurk in every organization that does not chant the patriotic mantras provided to it by the state. And this bill feeds a mounting state paranoia. It expands our permanent war to every spot on the globe. It erases fundamental constitutional liberties. It means we can no longer use the word “democracy” to describe our political system.
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find/follow Chris:
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book links to amazon
… reporting from what he calls “sacrifice zones” — places destroyed by capitalism
..last chapter is about occupy and how it flourished
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jun 2015:
It’s with us already, … but we haven’t articulated something to take its place.
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Is there a revolutionary consciousness building in America?
Well, it is definitely building. But until there is an ideological framework that large numbers of people embrace to challenge the old ideological framework, nothing is going to happen. Some things can happen; you can have sporadic uprisings as you had in Ferguson or you had in Baltimore. But until they are infused with that kind of political vision, they are reactive, in essence.
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..it’s not so much that [revolutionaries] have a vision, it’s that they are possessed by it. I think that’s right. They are often difficult, eccentric personalities by nature, because they are stepping out front to confront a system of power [in a way that is] almost a kind of a form of suicide. But in moments of extremity, these rebels are absolutely key; and that you can’t pull off seismic change without them.
deep/simple/open enough – a nother way
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@alnoorladha
The Revenge of the Lower Classes and the Rise of American Fascism (from @Truthdig)@ChrisLynnHedges truthdig.com/report/item/th…and emotionally driven mass movements. Hannah Arendt, echoing Durkheim, noted that “the chief characteristic of the mass man is not brutality and backwardness, but his isolation and lack of normal social relationships[..]
The language and symbols of an authentic American fascism would, of course, have little to do with the original European models. They would have to be as familiar and reassuring to loyal Americans as the language and symbols of the original fascisms were familiar and reassuring to many Italians and Germans, as [George] Orwell suggested. Hitler and Mussolini, after all, had not tried to seem exotic to their fellow citizens. No swastikas in an American fascism, but Stars and Stripes (or Stars and Bars) and Christian crosses. No fascist salute, but mass recitations of the pledge of allegiance. These symbols contain no whiff of fascism in themselves, of course, but an American fascism would transform them into obligatory litmus tests for detecting the internal enemy.
Fascism is about an inspired and seemingly strong leader who promises moral renewal, new glory and revenge. It is about the replacement of rational debate with sensual experience. This is why the lies, half-truths and fabrications by Trump have no impact on his followers. Fascists transform politics, as philosopher and cultural critic Walter Benjamin pointed out, into aesthetics. And the ultimate aesthetic for the fascist, Benjamin said, is war.
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As Arendt noted, the fascist and communist movements in Europe in the 1930s “… recruited their members from this mass of apparently indifferent people whom all other parties had given up as too apathetic or too stupid for their attention. The result was that the majority of their membership consisted of people who had never before appeared on the political scene. This permitted the introduction of entirely new methods into political propaganda, and indifference to the arguments of political opponents; these movements not only placed themselves outside and against the party system as a whole, they found a membership that had never been reached, never been ‘spoiled’ by the party system. Therefore they did not need to refute opposing arguments and consistently preferred methods which ended in death rather than persuasion, which spelled terror rather than conviction. They presented disagreements as invariably originating in deep natural, social, or psychological sources beyond the control of the individual and therefore beyond the control of reason. This would have been a shortcoming only if they had sincerely entered into competition with either parties; it was not if they were sure of dealing with people who had reason to be equally hostile to all parties.”
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Check out the fireworks with Chris Hedges’ appearance today on @democracynow with Robert Reich: (@RBReich) youtube.com/watch?v=jr4cXH…
message=fear. we have no time left. future of children is being destroyed’- @ChrisLynnHedges
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obey (doc) – 2013 – 52 min
http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/obey/
This is a film based on the book “Death of the Liberal Class” (published 2010) by journalist and Pulitzer prize winner, Chris Hedges.
It charts the rise of the Corporate State, and examines the future of obedience in a world of unfettered capitalism, globalization, staggering inequality and environmental change.
The film predominantly focuses on US corporate capitalism, but the the author hopes that the viewer can recognize the relevance of what is being expressed with regards to domestic political and corporate activity.
It was made completely of clips found on the web.
We’re not only dreamers but also doers. We believe in actions not in violence; we believe in collaboration not in segregation. Numbers, figures, and hash-tags are labels to help us organize this chaotic world. Stories, however, give meaning to our lives and unite us to the shared visions.
notes from doc
our habits shaping a world in which we will no longer wish to live
7 min – it turned the news into the elites echo chamber
12 min – under the guise that democratic debate continues to exist.. but in fact it does not.. this is the world as it is.. it is global and we obey
14 min – the money that could used to house and provide food/health to millions.. will be used.. for weapons…. we will continue to deify our nations leaders..
15 min – you will be employed.. the mass propaganda of the corp elite.. the academic elites… these people will continue to create the jingles.. entertainment.. that keeps us trapped in a corp/political illusion..
16 min – one of the ironies of corp control.. that the corp state needs the abilities of intellectuals to maintain power.. yet outside of this role.. it will continue its refusal to let intellectuals think/function independently
hollywood..news industry.. and tv.. increasingly become instruments of inverted totalitarianism.. they will saturate the airwaves with manufactured controversy… we will confuse knowledge with our potted responses to these non events..
those who continue to resist will become members of the underclass.. as long as they collab w/power elite and merge w instruments of corp oppression.. there will be a few positions of comfort/privilege.. but all those who seek to work as artists/journalists/profs/labor orgs/dissident politicians/clergy.. will increasingly struggle w/o adequate health ins or reliable incomes..
18 min – a populace that can no longer find the words to translate what is happening to it.. is cut off from rational discourse..
perhaps time for a switch/advance in communication.. ie: host-life-bits via self-talk as data.. via a global/universal language of idiosyncratic jargon… freeing us and protecting us both at once..
we will express our reality.. thru the use of selected and isolated facts.. half truths or lies.. that do not make sense..
well.. that’s what we’ve been doing for some time.. ie: science of people et al.. now we have an opp to go beyond that..
19 min – promise of internet.. to open up dialogue.. break down barriers.. is just a utopian dream..
not really.. our illusion ness is the dream.. we have the means to wake up .. to that utopia.. if we’re brave even to embrace two convos.. and disengage from all irrlevants
it will instead accelerate our division… where we’re sucked into .. tribal groups.. that chant the same slogans and hate the same enemies…
true.. all you’re saying is true.. but there is a nother way… completely doable.. it begs a global do-over .. for (blank)’s sake.. with a focus on cure ios city..
20 min – any work that can’t gain corp sponsorship or attract ad revenue.. funding a civilization thru advertising.. is like trying to get nutrition from tube anus to mouth
22 min – subject to the mass deliverance.. from the absurd
23 min – due to the lack of any articulated alt.. in time of fin/environ collapse.. the way is cleared for military values of hyper masculinity.. blind obedience and violence..
alt: a nother way
24 min – it is the militarization of the every day..
alt: rev of everyday life
25 min – we will try to bring the system to its knees.. but will realize as political beings.. it’s too late..
not
we will call for sweeping social transformations.. and for this we will be destroyed..
only if we call for them.. with out an alt..
26 min – the elites have successfully convinced us that we no longer have the capacity to understand the truth.. or to fight back against the chaos caused by econ/environ catastrophe
27 min – will strike out with blind fury against increasing state repression.. (showing protests) .. but will lack ability and self-confidence to challenge in big/small ways the structures of control… the fantasies of a widespread popular revolt is just that..
unless..
29 min – left w/nowhere to turn.. we will choose inaction
38 min – one of the only philosophical positions is revolt..
?
39 min – resistance: we have a choice in how we live.. enslaved… but if dies in refusing to be a slave.. offers another kind of nature..the corp elite does not argue that current system is just/good.. because it cannot.. but it has convinced the majority of its citizens that there is no alt.. but we are not slaves..we have a choice.. we have the moral capacity to refuse to corp…. to say no.. ..any act of civil disobedience ignites the soul of the rebel and exposes the dead hand of authority…. sometimes we must die to be reborn..
40 min – rebellion: corp power elite is no longer concerned with our aspirations.. we cannot appeal to their better nature..
43 min – all who speak with a moral voice.. one tied to facts rather than illusions.. will become freaks..
44 min – the corp elite will label us the enemy.. they will condemn the rebel as impractical… rebel not concerned w public opinion.. rather anger at way things are.. and courage to change them… this capacity to say no..
or rather.. courage to just leap to a do over
45 min – acts of rebellion permit us to be free.. but rebellion not same as revolution… revolution is toward estab of new power structure.. and we cannot repeat mistake of revolution.. rebellion is about perpetual revolt/alienation from power.. only in state of rebellion that we can hold fast/moral imperatives that prevent dissent into tyranny
47 min – hope is a word that is applicable only to those who grasp reality.. however bleak.. and do something meaningful to fight back.. it’s about fighting against the real forces of destruction..
deep enough ness
(plays visuals of film in ff reverse)
49 min – oh my soul.. do not aspire to immortal life, but exhaust the limits of the possible.. – pindar
we will either obey or rebel..
[narration (and film?) by temujin doran @studiocanoe)
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via Peter Schurman fb share:
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/revolt_is_the_only_barrier_to_a_fascist_america_20170122
This is a transcript of a talk Chris Hedges gave at the Inaugurate the Resistance rally in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.
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The destruction of democratic institutions, places where the citizen has agency and a voice, is far graver than the ascendancy to the White House of the demagogue Donald Trump.
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It turns out, 45 years later, that those who truly hate us for our freedoms are not the array of dehumanized enemies cooked up by the war machine—the Vietnamese, Cambodians, Afghans, Iraqis, Iranians or even the Taliban, al-Qaida and ISIS. They are the financiers, bankers, politicians, public intellectuals and pundits, lawyers, journalists and businesspeople cultivated in the elite universities and business schools who sold us the utopian dream of neoliberalism.
We are entering the twilight phase of capitalism. Wealth is no longer created by producing or manufacturing. It is created by manipulating the prices of stocks and commodities and imposing a crippling debt peonage on the public. Our casino capitalism has merged with the gambling industry. The entire system is parasitic. It is designed to prey on the desperate—young men and women burdened by student loans, underpaid workers burdened by credit card debt and mortgages, towns and cities forced to borrow to maintain municipal services.
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Donald Trump is not an anomaly. He is the grotesque visage of a collapsed democracy.
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Howe wrote. “They become presidents of local banks and chairmen of party regional committees, and later, a trifle slicked up, they muscle their way into Congress or the Politburo. Scavengers without inhibition, they need not believe in the crumbling official code of their society; they need only learn to mimic its sounds.”
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Our only hope now is an unwavering noncooperation with the systems of corporate control. We must rebuild … democratic institutions from the ground up.
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Politics is a game of fear. Those who do not have the ability to make power elites afraid do not succeed.
maybe quit playing that game.. no fear in love
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Only when power is threatened does it react. Appealing to its better nature is useless. It doesn’t have one.
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Revolt is a political necessity. It is a moral imperative. It is a defense of the sacred. It allows us to live in truth. It alone makes hope possible.
The moment we defy power, we are victorious. The moment we stand alongside the oppressed, and accept being treated like the oppressed, we are victorious. The moment we hold up a flickering light in the darkness for others to see, we are victorious. The moment we thwart the building of a pipeline or a fracking site, we are victorious. And the moment those in power become frightened of us, we are victorious.
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there’s a nother way.. for all of us..
I do not know if we can build a better society. I do not even know if we will survive as a species. But I do know these corporate forces have us by the throat. And they have my children by the throat. I do not fight fascists because I will win. I fight fascists because they are fascists.
thinking jihad doc
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fb share via Michel
early 2009 treatment of post-truth, by chris hedges , still very much worth watching
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fb nov 2017
Google escalates blacklisting of left-wing web sites and journalists
A Google News search for an article from Thursday’s edition of the WSWS returns no resultsPulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Chris Hedges informed the WSWS Wednesday that his articles had ceased appearing on Google News. Hedges said the change occurred after the publication of his interview with the World Socialist WebSite in which he spoke out against Google’s censorship of left-wing sites.
“Sometime after I gave that interview, they blacklisted me,” said Hedges. “If you go into Google News and type my name, there are six stories, none of which have anything to do with me.”
A Google News search for Chris Hedges returns no relevant results“I write constantly. Previously, Google News listed my columns for Truthdig and my contributions to Common Dreams and Alternet, as well as references to my books,” Hedges said. “But now it’s all gone. And I’m certain it’s because I spoke out against the Google censorship.”
Commenting on the step-by-step nature of the censorship regime being created in the United States, Hedges said, “If you look at any totalitarian system, their assault on the press is incremental. So even in Nazi Germany, when Hitler took power, he would ban the Social Democrats’ publications for a week and then let them get back up. He wouldn’t go in and shut it all down at once.”The changes to Google News mark a new stage in a systematic campaign of censorship and blacklisting that has been underway at least since April, when Ben Gomes, the company’s VP of engineering, said Google was seeking to promote “authoritative” news outlets over “alternative” news sources.
Since then, thirteen leading left-wing web sites have had their search traffic from Google collapse by 55 percent, with the World Socialist Web Site having had its search traffic plunge by 74 percent.
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hannah epperson (@hannah_epperson) tweeted at 7:09 AM on Mon, May 21, 2018:
there are moments of bliss playing music, sweating in the woods, reading exhilarating memoirs, making love. but here’s a succinct and brutal litany of dreads that run as a through line between dawns and dusks https://t.co/6VkoJl5ZKM
(https://twitter.com/hannah_epperson/status/998551478045413377?s=03)As a foreign correspondent I covered collapsed societies, including the former Yugoslavia. It is impossible for any doomed population to grasp how fragile the decayed financial, social and political system is on the eve of implosion. All the harbingers of collapse are visible: crumbling infrastructure; chronic underemployment and unemployment; the indiscriminate use of lethal force by police; political paralysis and stagnation; an economy built on the scaffolding of debt; nihilistic mass shootings in schools, universities, workplaces, malls, concert venues and movie theaters; opioid overdoses that kill some 64,000 people a year; an epidemic of suicides; unsustainable military expansion; gambling as a desperate tool of economic development and government revenue; the capture of power by a tiny, corrupt clique; censorship; the physical diminishing of public institutions ranging from schools and libraries to courts and medical facilities; the incessant bombardment by electronic hallucinations to divert us from the depressing sight that has become America and keep us trapped in illusions. We suffer the usual pathologies of impending death. I would be happy to be wrong. But I have seen this before. I know the warning signs. All I can say is get ready.
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incarcerateds.. unauthorized home less ness
Chris Hedges: “I’ve taught at some of the most elite universities . . . Princeton. Columbia. NYU. And I have found more brilliance, more passion for the life of the mind, more integrity in those prison classrooms than in any of those elite schools.” https://t.co/TGOk41KWpI
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be you. 