Haven't heard another overview of the situation this profound. Everyone in the US should hear this, first of all the Congress. Then they should be forced to memorize it, word for word. Thank you, Chris, and Eunice, too.
With all due respect, Mr. Hedges, your 'final diagnosis' of civilizational suicide feels less like an analysis and more like an act of theological grandiosity.
I appreciate your moral sermons, but many of us are not here for ideological masochism or to be told the train has zero chance of avoiding the cliff. To claim that a global society armed with instant communication, AI, and boundless creative potential is inextricably doomed is to deny the very human agency you call us to reclaim.
History is not just a list of suicides like Rome; it is full of 'radical transitions' where civilizations like the Indus Valley or the Byzantines reorganized into smaller, accountable, and sustainable forms. While you yell from the back of the train and others argue over the conductor's seat, a growing number of frustrated intellectuals and builders are focused on the functional imperative: decoupling from the parasitic ruling class and building the lifeboats now.
I refuse the 'Duty of Witness' if it means passive acceptance of a crash. Our modern tools and collective creativity are not just 'spectacles'.. they are the means to switch tracks. It is time to move beyond the finality of inevitable doom and provide space for the protocols of survival and reorganization that history shows are possible.
Problem is, we can only do that.......let alone be 'moved' to do that.......once we accept the futility of the current casino capitalist class and their ideas of 'wealth creation'.
I studied in the USA as a girl....back then, with Vietnam still raging, I saw how little the socialism I'd grown up with had penetrated your republic. Everyone knew better than anyone else.....rallies happened, university support for Black Panther speakers happened......but in the end, we graduated and went on to struggle for promotion in the system that killed or imprisoned those idealistic black boys and girls.
As long as we think money is real and labour cheap.....as long as we believe some of us have merit and others are best used as cannon fodder in dumb imperialistic adventures........we are part of a massive suicide pact.
To get off it.........you have to live quite differently, spend your money on more substantial things than fast fashion and jet set vacate ons.........and you have to find others to live differently together. Its a massive task, given the isolation and growing poverty most people experience daily.
So FOR SURE.....LET'S WORK AS HARD AS WE CAN, AND AS JOYFULLY, TO CREATE, BUILD, PARENT, SOMETHING BETTER. So far, all I see, in my Canada as welll, is tinkering around the hedges of the catastrophe. What's worse, as you try to do so, the opposition or competition you encounter is sometimes soul destroying.
We all want to be good people. Walking that talk is what's often lonely.
And we can't fault Chris for not trying. Last I heard, he even goes into prisons to teach. Can't think of a single one of my former teacher colleagues who would even consider giving that a try.
Would be nice, but do you see any movement into your indicated direction?? Where is a huge peace movement, where are general strikes, where are alternative candidates with any chance to get 'to power' ...
I don't think your reply was meant for me (I personally am more a doom & gloom person, cannot see 'much' positive anywhere, so my view is Mr Hedges solution: general strikes all over the country or just accept what is coming. Every day I congratulate myself that I am already old ...)
Intelligent and/or wealthy people are bound to conspire, we're 2 legged beasts. When a culture of people are conspiring and it leads to excess inequality, bad feelings, and worse, then I think the Native Americans had an answer - boot'em out. I look at El Nino and see we all have an upper wet bulb temperature limit that cooks, as does the food. UNpunished pollution has doomed our existence.
There is no good reason for the US/Israel war on Iran. Iran has not done anything to deserve this monstrous atrocity. It appears to be the product of America's corrupted Christianity, that is Christian nationalism, and Israel's corrupted Judaism, that is Zionism, attacking a Muslim state for expansionist purposes.
Thanks for the character description. Watching "Ready or not here I come" did not entice much empathy, the opposition was evil, rich, out to kill, devoid of empathy, and they started it. Sound similar?
That same 'good luck' was likely directed at the Byzantines when they began radically downsizing and reorganizing an overstretched empire to survive another millennium. Or to the Indus Valley communities as they decentralized to endure climate shifts.
History is made by the people who actually 'did it' while the observers called it impossible. If you were standing in a collapsing Rome or a decaying Ottoman court, would you have told the people building the next sustainable communities to just give up because the 'big system' was failing?
Absolutely not. But please let us know. Where in America are those alternatives flourishing?? Most folks are strained just to keep up with their work lives........and after retirement, many haven't the energy, social capital or money to do much more than survive.
I hope you aren't confusing the Jews with Zionism. Many right wing Christian nationalists hold to the Zionist death cult, and stealing other people's land isn't an alternative to suicide....on the contrary.
in order to correct a problem it's First necessary to identify the root of the problem and own what it exactly is. and have the ability and the nerve to say what it is without being censored or allowing intimidation/censorship.
jews created Zionism Jews are where it came from. Jews have pushed it and hijacked Christianity with it through mega Judeo, Christian churches, and the like.
Jews have their problematic ideology, Zionism; and there are many Jews that reject Jewish nationalism. Jews have nothing to do with the mega-churches. They represent a corrupt capitalism's degradation of Christianity.
Haven't heard another overview of the situation this profound. Everyone in the US should hear this, first of all the Congress. Then they should be forced to memorize it, word for word. Thank you, Chris, and Eunice, too.
With all due respect, Mr. Hedges, your 'final diagnosis' of civilizational suicide feels less like an analysis and more like an act of theological grandiosity.
I appreciate your moral sermons, but many of us are not here for ideological masochism or to be told the train has zero chance of avoiding the cliff. To claim that a global society armed with instant communication, AI, and boundless creative potential is inextricably doomed is to deny the very human agency you call us to reclaim.
History is not just a list of suicides like Rome; it is full of 'radical transitions' where civilizations like the Indus Valley or the Byzantines reorganized into smaller, accountable, and sustainable forms. While you yell from the back of the train and others argue over the conductor's seat, a growing number of frustrated intellectuals and builders are focused on the functional imperative: decoupling from the parasitic ruling class and building the lifeboats now.
I refuse the 'Duty of Witness' if it means passive acceptance of a crash. Our modern tools and collective creativity are not just 'spectacles'.. they are the means to switch tracks. It is time to move beyond the finality of inevitable doom and provide space for the protocols of survival and reorganization that history shows are possible.
Problem is, we can only do that.......let alone be 'moved' to do that.......once we accept the futility of the current casino capitalist class and their ideas of 'wealth creation'.
I studied in the USA as a girl....back then, with Vietnam still raging, I saw how little the socialism I'd grown up with had penetrated your republic. Everyone knew better than anyone else.....rallies happened, university support for Black Panther speakers happened......but in the end, we graduated and went on to struggle for promotion in the system that killed or imprisoned those idealistic black boys and girls.
As long as we think money is real and labour cheap.....as long as we believe some of us have merit and others are best used as cannon fodder in dumb imperialistic adventures........we are part of a massive suicide pact.
To get off it.........you have to live quite differently, spend your money on more substantial things than fast fashion and jet set vacate ons.........and you have to find others to live differently together. Its a massive task, given the isolation and growing poverty most people experience daily.
So FOR SURE.....LET'S WORK AS HARD AS WE CAN, AND AS JOYFULLY, TO CREATE, BUILD, PARENT, SOMETHING BETTER. So far, all I see, in my Canada as welll, is tinkering around the hedges of the catastrophe. What's worse, as you try to do so, the opposition or competition you encounter is sometimes soul destroying.
We all want to be good people. Walking that talk is what's often lonely.
And we can't fault Chris for not trying. Last I heard, he even goes into prisons to teach. Can't think of a single one of my former teacher colleagues who would even consider giving that a try.
Would be nice, but do you see any movement into your indicated direction?? Where is a huge peace movement, where are general strikes, where are alternative candidates with any chance to get 'to power' ...
yes
Never mind collective projects for alternative living. Anyone close to you working to bring clean energy to their community??? If so, let us know.
We need positive examples of alternatives to the American way of living beyond our means.
I don't think your reply was meant for me (I personally am more a doom & gloom person, cannot see 'much' positive anywhere, so my view is Mr Hedges solution: general strikes all over the country or just accept what is coming. Every day I congratulate myself that I am already old ...)
I'm 80 and my massage therapist admitted today that he thinks I'm going to live to see the collapse......optimistic young 56 year old that he is.
My theory is he just want company when the big slide starts.
Very sweet theory - I like it!
We have to believe we're lucky when we find a young mind going down the same clear eyed path you've walked......most often alone....these many years.
I talk to everyone now, looking for the future.
Thank you for telling the truth. I agree with Rob Roy. Everyone in the U.S. should read this.
Intelligent and/or wealthy people are bound to conspire, we're 2 legged beasts. When a culture of people are conspiring and it leads to excess inequality, bad feelings, and worse, then I think the Native Americans had an answer - boot'em out. I look at El Nino and see we all have an upper wet bulb temperature limit that cooks, as does the food. UNpunished pollution has doomed our existence.
There is no good reason for the US/Israel war on Iran. Iran has not done anything to deserve this monstrous atrocity. It appears to be the product of America's corrupted Christianity, that is Christian nationalism, and Israel's corrupted Judaism, that is Zionism, attacking a Muslim state for expansionist purposes.
Thanks for the character description. Watching "Ready or not here I come" did not entice much empathy, the opposition was evil, rich, out to kill, devoid of empathy, and they started it. Sound similar?
Ok, let's see you decouple. Good luck with that.
That same 'good luck' was likely directed at the Byzantines when they began radically downsizing and reorganizing an overstretched empire to survive another millennium. Or to the Indus Valley communities as they decentralized to endure climate shifts.
History is made by the people who actually 'did it' while the observers called it impossible. If you were standing in a collapsing Rome or a decaying Ottoman court, would you have told the people building the next sustainable communities to just give up because the 'big system' was failing?
Absolutely not. But please let us know. Where in America are those alternatives flourishing?? Most folks are strained just to keep up with their work lives........and after retirement, many haven't the energy, social capital or money to do much more than survive.
yeah, I agree…
(((It's the Jews))) for sure
now what. ???
I hope you aren't confusing the Jews with Zionism. Many right wing Christian nationalists hold to the Zionist death cult, and stealing other people's land isn't an alternative to suicide....on the contrary.
in order to correct a problem it's First necessary to identify the root of the problem and own what it exactly is. and have the ability and the nerve to say what it is without being censored or allowing intimidation/censorship.
Zionism is Jewish.
jews created Zionism Jews are where it came from. Jews have pushed it and hijacked Christianity with it through mega Judeo, Christian churches, and the like.
Jews have their problematic ideology, Zionism; and there are many Jews that reject Jewish nationalism. Jews have nothing to do with the mega-churches. They represent a corrupt capitalism's degradation of Christianity.