Chris Hedges won a scholarship to a top school and he says that the elite are even stranger in person. They are pompous, full of their own importance, selfish, narcissistic, psychopathic, and perverted ( probably due to their inbreeding, I might add - lizard people!).
Book review:
Chris Hedges’s profound and provocative examination of America in crisis is “an exceedingly…provocative book, certain to arouse controversy, but offering a point of view that needs to be heard” (Booklist), about how bitter hopelessness and malaise have resulted in a culture of sadism and hate.
America, says Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter Chris Hedges, is convulsed by an array of pathologies that have arisen out of profound hopelessness, a bitter despair, and a civil society that has ceased to function. The opioid crisis; the retreat into gambling to cope with economic distress; the pornification of culture; the rise of magical thinking; the celebration of sadism, hate, and plagues of suicides are the physical manifestations of a society that is being ravaged by corporate pillage and a failed democracy. As our society unravels, we also face global upheaval caused by catastrophic climate change. All these ills presage a frightening reconfiguration of the nation and the planet.
Donald Trump rode this disenchantment to power. In his “forceful and direct” (Publishers Weekly) America: The Farewell Tour, Hedges argues that neither political party, now captured by corporate power, addresses the systemic problem. Until our corporate coup d’état is reversed these diseases will grow and ravage the country. “With a trademark blend of…sharply observed detail, Hedges writes a requiem for the American dream” (Kirkus Reviews) and seeks to jolt us out of our complacency while there is still time.
6 comments:
“Chris Hedges won a scholarship to a top school and he says that the elite are even stranger in person. They are pompous, full of their own importance, selfish, narcissistic, psychopathic, and perverted (probably due to their inbreeding, I might add - lizard people!).”
I have often heard Hedges describe this phenomenon. It is typical for adolescents and early twenty-something people to cope with their anxieties by forming gangs and cliques. The behavior of a gang depends on factors such as race, gender, national origin, physical location, socioeconomic status, religious background, childhood history, and so on.
The cliques of kids born to the very rich exhibit rampant debauchery, pathological narcissism, and deranged perversions. Their illness may sometimes include sexual ordeals such as forced sodomy and fellatio. Such depravity is a kind of mutual hazing that elitist groups use to maintain cohesiveness, and to seal group membership. This illness continues until their deaths.
“Chris Hedges’ examination of America in crisis is about how bitter hopelessness and malaise have resulted in a culture of sadism and hate.”
I see sadism, hate, and stupidity on all sides. Human society is breaking down worldwide. This is partly the result of alienation caused by at-will divorce, the dissolving of nuclear families, people’s ability to move to cities far away, and so on.
Alienation has been further accelerated by social media. People at public events stare at their phones instead of talking to each other. They stare at their phones inside museums, at spectator events, and while driving, eating, and screwing. They take selfies while sitting on the toilet. They feel naked without their phones, like a baby without its pacifier. Their addiction to dopamine fixes makes them constantly check their emails and Twitter accounts, and frequently hear phantom ringtones. It makes them desperate for constant reassurance that they exist.
As a result, average people’s self-esteem is lower than ever. This makes some people grab a gun and open fire, e.g. the shooting at YouTube headquarters by Nasim Najafi Aghdam on 3 April 2018.
(People look at Ms. Aghdam’s photos and think, “She was good looking. I don’t understand.” That’s what social media does to self-esteem.)
Social media creates nationwide echo chambers that sustain tribes which compete with each other for the coveted status of “victim.” Tribal bickering and rampant narcissism in turn keep the peasants from uniting against their rich owners, and from collectively addressing things like climate change and runway pollution. It makes leftists scream “Fascist!” while right-wingers scream, “Communist!”
All sides have regressed to infantile dream worlds. All sides cheer for wars that make rich people richer, and poor people into homeless refugees.
All this is furthered by public schools and by higher education (college etc.) which champions neoliberalism. Chris Hedges tells Jimmy Dore that in 2003 while giving a commencement speech at Rockford College in Illinois, the students all booed Hedges and forced him off the stage because he told the truth about the war on Iraq.
You can see it here (begin at about 5:00)…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BAmkMndtH24
Transcript…
https://www.reddit.com/r/antiwar/comments/1ik5sc/text_of_the_rockford_college_graduation_speech_by/
Chris Hedges also says that the ruling elites use fake progressives to silence true progressives. It’s like the owners of a prison who order “trustee” inmates to torture regular inmates.
If the “trustees” don’t torture, they are tortured themselves after being thrown to the regular inmates. Hedges says the liberal establishment’s function is to protect the rich.
Konrad: I remember when Chris Hedges was booed. There is the problem, people don't want to hear reality they only want to hear the fantasy that is provided for them in the media. If you give them reality then you are booed. I agree with the things you say but how well are you received? I have said most of the same things over the years and I haven't been well received at all.
I told my brother that Putin is a good guy and he got angry with me saying, but he murders his opponents. Then I asked him , where's the proof, and who killed David Kelly here in the UK, someone in UK intelligence did? Anyway, he sees me as some kind of conspiracy theorist.
Then I started posting serous politics on Facebook, with some articles warning about WW3. Most of my fb friends are my girlfriend's friends, some old school friends, and people I have met at dancing. They were posting pictures of their children, their holidays, and one lady fills my fb page with photos of her cakes, chocolates, and sweets, which she loves, and there I had articles about how the US was supplying chemical weapons to the jihadist, head chopping terrorists in syria, but no one ever said a thing.
Theresa May said that only the Russians had the formula for Novichok, and I posted saying that she was lying and that the formula was available in a book that Amazon sold. Then someone did get mad, my brother, who emailed me accusing of conspiracy theories and asking me to prove my claims, so I sent him the formula as I had it on my phone, but he did not reply.
I stopped posing on fb because I was concerned about the data it was collecting, but also, no one was responding to my posts.
I can say that all of your warnings are from naught. People don't won't to awaken from their slumber. By the way, that interview with Hedges was really good. Thank for posting it.
@ GLH:
“People don't want to hear reality. They only want to hear the fantasy that is provided for them in the media. If you give them reality then you are booed.”
Yes, people only want fairy tales, both positive and negative. They want to hear fantasy, even when fantasy is more painful than reality. For example, many people would rather hear that the US government is “broke,” than hear that the US government can easily afford to pay for Universal Medicare and free college. Many people would rather hear that they might go to hell than to hear that they should simply be kind to their fellow man, and let the chips fall where they may.
Most peasants become worried if they’re not suffering. The slaves become frightened if they are not toiling. With most people, suffering is the last thing they are willing to give up.
“I agree with the things you say but how well are you received? I have said most of the same things over the years and I haven't been well received at all.”
If I had a dollar for every time my comments were deleted, and I have been banned from blogs, I could retire wealthy. I no longer comment on any blog except this one.
Kaivey says, “I told my brother that Putin is a good guy and he got angry with me saying, but Putin murders his opponents. Then I asked him where's the proof, and who killed David Kelly here in the UK, someone in UK intelligence did? Anyway, he sees me as some kind of conspiracy theorist.”
This is common in families. I have a twin sister, and my younger brother has a twin sister. They all know where I live, but I do not know where they live, and I do not care. Are they alive? I don’t care. Are they in the USA? I don’t care. Are they dying of cancer? I don’t care. They are not worthy of my attention. I have not spoken with any of them in 25 years. Our parents are dead, and I'm the only one that misses them.
It's a long story. Is it an interesting story? No. I don't care.
“I stopped posing on fb because I was concerned about the data it was collecting, but also, no one was responding to my posts.” ~ Kaivey
No loss. I have never been on Facebook, or even visited Facebook. I have no smart-phone, and there are no TVs in my house. I’m all the better for it.
GLH says: “I can say that all of your warnings are from naught. People don't won't to awaken from their slumber.”
I interpret spiritual evolution to be a gradual process of awakening from our slumber.
Konrad
I admire your tenacity.
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