Thanks for this very moral piece. It amazes me that Gaza is not the only thing talked about in the news and on the street.
Israel’s cruelty, a longstanding property, is not surprising. Our partnership with them is. We can thank the billionaires’ ownership of our politicians and media for that. We are now very clearly a vassal state of our great friend , dearest ally and the only democracy in the middle east.
Short of a revolution I don’t see how this changes.
A revolution in our America will not last. It will be suppressed by the power of our government: they have drones, control the internet and complete surveillant capacity. They also have a military already trained to kill. In my opinion a revolution or civil war will only accelerate the impending dictatorship of the Christian right
The Christian right? I don’t think it is Christians that are the problem.
Zionism is the problem and, while there are some useful Christian idiots doing the bidding of this bunch, the central problem is Israel and the billionaire class behind it.
Ultimately the political class responds to money. The billionaires have it, not the evangelical congregation out in the sticks looking forward to the Rapture.
That said, you are right that the fight won’t be easy.
However, "evangelicals out in the sticks" are part of the problem because they vote. Their recruitment took decades and was financed by Big Business organizations vehemently opposed to the New Deal. In the '50s, biz orgs sold the idea of "free enterprise" (formerly known as private enterprise) to conflate it with political freedom. But selfishness and greed aren't very marketable, so they allied with far right wing evangelical preachers. The poor are poor because they don't try hard enough and lack sufficient faith; known as the Gospel of Prosperity. It's derived from Calvinist belief in God's predestination, thus success and wealth are signs of God's favor. Standard stuff from all those TV preachers.
The old Social Gospel and voices like Reinhold Niebuhr, influential for Chris Hedges and many other Christians, are anathema to the Christian fascist right.
You are right, Chester, The Zionist and the billionaires are the problem, but it happens that most of them are part of the Christian right, just look our congresspeople and most of our presidents including the current lunatic. You are more optimistic than me. An open confrontation with the government will not be successful and I think that we can win by voting intelligently while following a secret insurrection with well trained and committed antifascists assassins pursuing the leaders in the government and military. Something like in the middle ages the order founded and leaded by the old man of the mountain, save for their religious goals
Thank you, Chris, you have taken us on a badly-needed walk through the Valley of Death. There is only one way in, and no way out. PEOPLE! Never take that first step! That includes people working in armaments factories - Go Home! Enough!
Putting god aside for a moment. The genocide of humans by humans is inhumane. The ecoside of our planet by humans is an existantial threat to all extant species.
The current path we are on is an existantial threat to earth and all that share its bounty.
I have read somewhere that a journalist has not practiced journalism unless they have covered a war. True or not, you have experienced quite a bit of these in your lifetime, Chris. I am grateful that you have emerged from these assignments sufficiently intact to bear witness to the horrors of the living and the dead, the murdered and the murderer.
One often reads and hears about the “innocent” starry-eyed sons and daughters of the unfortunate classes going off to war as if it’s a trip to summer camp, only to return home aged, broken and soulless. They say you can see the emptiness in their eyes like the soulless eyes of a serial killer.
For those that are on the frontlines of war, there can never be a victory. All wars are pyrrhic in nature for the soldier. War can ever only benefit the wealthy and powerful. Monuments erected to exalt these empty victories serves as nothing but reminders of the hubris of the few. That inhumane 2%.
I wonder what form war monuments would take if those soulless soldiers were afforded the opportunity to sculpt.
The citizens of the Global North will have to rise up and defeat the leaders of our countries. We simply cannot allow the killing machine to continue. It is a daunting task but we must find a way
Gut wrenching. All your share. The intimacy of it. The reality of it. The factness.I put it down. Lay down. And had an image of the the city streets in all the cities of the USA crammed so full of people in protest that you could not see the actual streets. May it be so. As it has been observed by others. This is like no other time where life has been sorely threatened. Climate and the nuclear bomb. Both render passivity unacceptable. Life =miracle.
Thank you. The part about the nightmare of the killer is harrowing. The devastation and no end in sight is heartrending. Prayers. Obviously we in the USA are not going to help with DT in power. Ongoing prayers for the Israeli people to rise up in a miraculous way, for peace and justice and humane treatment of their neighbors.
"So, they want love, but death has made a Faustian bargain. It is this. It is the hell of not being able to love." I have a vague memory of posting something like this earlier in response to one of Chris Hedges' columns, but lordy, it sounds like something right out of Dostoevsky! An excellent piece. Almost too much, when you realize you have to take it very seriously indeed.
It is time we saw the governments that support Israeli genocide not as republican or democrat, or liberal or conservative, or any of the other nice names they dream up for themselves. They are Racist. The Racist Government of the United States, the Racist Government of the United Kingdom, the Racist Government of France, the Racist Government Of Germany, the Racist Government of Italy. It is impossible to support a racist ethnic cleansing, via a racist genocide, via racist war crimes and racist atrocities, without being racist. The idea that we are all human beings together, and that no-one is automatically special, or worth more, or deserves more, has been consigned to the scrap heap. The racist notion that uber-menschen exist, and can ride rough-shod over unter-menschen, is back on the table. How shocking is that? Countries that once proudly stood against racism, and proclaimed it the enemy of civilisation, now proudly not only stand with one of the most openly-racist regimes on earth, but send it weapons, money, and political support. They have become the evil they once said racism was. They are confirming the religitard notion that some people become extra-ordinary human beings just because their idiot superstition says they do. Ignoring the self-evident fat that an ordinary human being with a religion becomes nothing more than an ordinary human being with a religion. Encouraging, at government level, as Mr. Hedges says, the Curse of Cain. The Racist Governments of the West. Perhaps a good way to prevent genocidal land grabs becoming the norm (not least in Canada, Panama and Iceland) is to start letting our racist governments know how contemptible we think they are?
You are an author and your summation is exceptional. Thank you. It speaks to me and confirms so much of what Mr Hedges outlines. To know there are others as outraged and disgusted by the open and proud racists governments as I am gives me room to exhale.
As I emotionally zoom out from this article and its stunning truth, the only “solace” I could capture was knowing those killed by the sniper’s bullet knew Love in their lives from the family they lived with and the community they embraced. Despite immense suffering put upon them, they were loved. That their lives were never to be long because the soulless war mongers were always going to make it so. Life never guarantees us a long existence. But oh the demonstration playing out before us…. We get to choose … to have awareness and act in love and service and reject such evil or, suffer the soul of the killer working hard to justify the darkness of the path he/she has taken on or off the battlefield. What color is our heart? What “food” do we feed our human soul? What are we swallowing and what are we unwilling to acknowledge… reading this piece means you are not ignoring the Truth of humanity’s thirst for destruction and dominance…. It’s impossible to turn your back on past or current history. Exhaling is painful.
In the 1970's I taught English at a state university laboratory school, k-12, 350 students total. I created a class, The Literature of War:"Dulce et Decorum Est," "More Light, More Light," "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner." When "The Confessions of Lt. Calley" was published in Esquire, I typed it out on the purple dittos that pre-date copy machines. I remember using an article by an anthropologist which compared primitive tribal practices of decontaminating warriors to our contemporary practice of leaving them to the self-destruction you so painfully describe. I read you and know that schools have a lot to answer for in the evolution of now. We could have done so much more to make truth known.
The rise of fascism in Israel began as you have outlined but we must "never forget" that the seeds were planted with the Nakba, just as the genocides of the many indigenous people of the Americas began with the settlement of our white ancestors.
So many people I know want to bury their heads in the sand. Maybe the hasbara is taking its toll. Thank you Chris for showing us with your experience and knowledge the path the world must resist. So poignant and pertinent. 🙏🏼
Yes Chris, we are punished by what we do, not because of it.
We are all brought up under, and are products of, the white western patriarchy (a system that rewards dominance (or submission) over women, non-whites, animals and the Earth). Western politicians and killers are its biggest victims. It teaches young boys (and some girls) how to crush their souls and natural compassion for these illusory rewards of money and power- it is a con. It is a living death. The things that make life worth living- connection between humans, animals and our planet, of which we're an inseparable part- are denied them.
There is forgiveness, even self-forgiveness, for all of us. I hope they find it. It's worth bearing in mind that if we eat animal products we are all killers, by proxy. And that over 90% of animal products are produced on unconscionable factory farms where extreme abuse is just part of the system, but that's hidden away from our eyes. Remember the credentials that we need before we cast the first stone.
This is why I don't join in with 'fighting' the oppressor or resisting the system. This energy makes it stronger. It gives us, and reinforces, an 'identity' as a resistor.
The answer is let go all the 'identities' that we've been taught. To be open in every moment to our innate love and compassion that we had as children, before the conditioning got hold.
Have you considered that had the suffragettes not risen up and opposed the laws forbidding women’s right to vote and own property, your womanly life would be significantly different? And that it was deep love that stirred the outrage of women at these restrictions? Even Jesus got pissed off and threw the money changers out of the temple. Too bad he’s still not around! We probably have to carry the light these days ourselves and do what serves life when it is being crushed.
Yes, my gran was one of those suffragettes and I’m deeply grateful. Hamas action on Oct 7th was also motivated by love. I’m not saying don’t get angry or don’t strongly express your view point. I’m saying that if we take sides, us against them, it will make the problems worse. What we resist persists. It gives it greater energy- as we have seen with the response to Oct 7th. The hope is that now it has been brought to the attention of the world, things will change.
The very obvious problems with our world are OUR problems. I imagine it as sitting across a table seeing each other as the problem is much less helpful than sitting on the same side of the table and looking across at the problem. Those in the patriarchy who kept women down or who abuse Palestinians are just as trapped by the Patriarchy as those who are physically trapped by it. We want to release then not oppose them.
Thanks for this very moral piece. It amazes me that Gaza is not the only thing talked about in the news and on the street.
Israel’s cruelty, a longstanding property, is not surprising. Our partnership with them is. We can thank the billionaires’ ownership of our politicians and media for that. We are now very clearly a vassal state of our great friend , dearest ally and the only democracy in the middle east.
Short of a revolution I don’t see how this changes.
A revolution in our America will not last. It will be suppressed by the power of our government: they have drones, control the internet and complete surveillant capacity. They also have a military already trained to kill. In my opinion a revolution or civil war will only accelerate the impending dictatorship of the Christian right
The Christian right? I don’t think it is Christians that are the problem.
Zionism is the problem and, while there are some useful Christian idiots doing the bidding of this bunch, the central problem is Israel and the billionaire class behind it.
Ultimately the political class responds to money. The billionaires have it, not the evangelical congregation out in the sticks looking forward to the Rapture.
That said, you are right that the fight won’t be easy.
Don't forget the role of AIPAC in this horror
Sure, the AIPAC have exploited successfully the weakness or our politicians with bribes.
However, "evangelicals out in the sticks" are part of the problem because they vote. Their recruitment took decades and was financed by Big Business organizations vehemently opposed to the New Deal. In the '50s, biz orgs sold the idea of "free enterprise" (formerly known as private enterprise) to conflate it with political freedom. But selfishness and greed aren't very marketable, so they allied with far right wing evangelical preachers. The poor are poor because they don't try hard enough and lack sufficient faith; known as the Gospel of Prosperity. It's derived from Calvinist belief in God's predestination, thus success and wealth are signs of God's favor. Standard stuff from all those TV preachers.
The old Social Gospel and voices like Reinhold Niebuhr, influential for Chris Hedges and many other Christians, are anathema to the Christian fascist right.
You are right, Chester, The Zionist and the billionaires are the problem, but it happens that most of them are part of the Christian right, just look our congresspeople and most of our presidents including the current lunatic. You are more optimistic than me. An open confrontation with the government will not be successful and I think that we can win by voting intelligently while following a secret insurrection with well trained and committed antifascists assassins pursuing the leaders in the government and military. Something like in the middle ages the order founded and leaded by the old man of the mountain, save for their religious goals
Israel is the only democracy in the ME? Israel is a democracy?
I was being sarcastic
Thank you, Chris, you have taken us on a badly-needed walk through the Valley of Death. There is only one way in, and no way out. PEOPLE! Never take that first step! That includes people working in armaments factories - Go Home! Enough!
Putting god aside for a moment. The genocide of humans by humans is inhumane. The ecoside of our planet by humans is an existantial threat to all extant species.
The current path we are on is an existantial threat to earth and all that share its bounty.
Refuse Fascism
Oppose Oppression
People
Planet
Peace
dear comrades
I have read somewhere that a journalist has not practiced journalism unless they have covered a war. True or not, you have experienced quite a bit of these in your lifetime, Chris. I am grateful that you have emerged from these assignments sufficiently intact to bear witness to the horrors of the living and the dead, the murdered and the murderer.
One often reads and hears about the “innocent” starry-eyed sons and daughters of the unfortunate classes going off to war as if it’s a trip to summer camp, only to return home aged, broken and soulless. They say you can see the emptiness in their eyes like the soulless eyes of a serial killer.
For those that are on the frontlines of war, there can never be a victory. All wars are pyrrhic in nature for the soldier. War can ever only benefit the wealthy and powerful. Monuments erected to exalt these empty victories serves as nothing but reminders of the hubris of the few. That inhumane 2%.
I wonder what form war monuments would take if those soulless soldiers were afforded the opportunity to sculpt.
The citizens of the Global North will have to rise up and defeat the leaders of our countries. We simply cannot allow the killing machine to continue. It is a daunting task but we must find a way
I think the best way to accomplish that is to inform them first since many if not most don't think about this issue at all, unfortunately.
Gut wrenching. All your share. The intimacy of it. The reality of it. The factness.I put it down. Lay down. And had an image of the the city streets in all the cities of the USA crammed so full of people in protest that you could not see the actual streets. May it be so. As it has been observed by others. This is like no other time where life has been sorely threatened. Climate and the nuclear bomb. Both render passivity unacceptable. Life =miracle.
Thank you. The part about the nightmare of the killer is harrowing. The devastation and no end in sight is heartrending. Prayers. Obviously we in the USA are not going to help with DT in power. Ongoing prayers for the Israeli people to rise up in a miraculous way, for peace and justice and humane treatment of their neighbors.
"So, they want love, but death has made a Faustian bargain. It is this. It is the hell of not being able to love." I have a vague memory of posting something like this earlier in response to one of Chris Hedges' columns, but lordy, it sounds like something right out of Dostoevsky! An excellent piece. Almost too much, when you realize you have to take it very seriously indeed.
It is time we saw the governments that support Israeli genocide not as republican or democrat, or liberal or conservative, or any of the other nice names they dream up for themselves. They are Racist. The Racist Government of the United States, the Racist Government of the United Kingdom, the Racist Government of France, the Racist Government Of Germany, the Racist Government of Italy. It is impossible to support a racist ethnic cleansing, via a racist genocide, via racist war crimes and racist atrocities, without being racist. The idea that we are all human beings together, and that no-one is automatically special, or worth more, or deserves more, has been consigned to the scrap heap. The racist notion that uber-menschen exist, and can ride rough-shod over unter-menschen, is back on the table. How shocking is that? Countries that once proudly stood against racism, and proclaimed it the enemy of civilisation, now proudly not only stand with one of the most openly-racist regimes on earth, but send it weapons, money, and political support. They have become the evil they once said racism was. They are confirming the religitard notion that some people become extra-ordinary human beings just because their idiot superstition says they do. Ignoring the self-evident fat that an ordinary human being with a religion becomes nothing more than an ordinary human being with a religion. Encouraging, at government level, as Mr. Hedges says, the Curse of Cain. The Racist Governments of the West. Perhaps a good way to prevent genocidal land grabs becoming the norm (not least in Canada, Panama and Iceland) is to start letting our racist governments know how contemptible we think they are?
You are an author and your summation is exceptional. Thank you. It speaks to me and confirms so much of what Mr Hedges outlines. To know there are others as outraged and disgusted by the open and proud racists governments as I am gives me room to exhale.
As I emotionally zoom out from this article and its stunning truth, the only “solace” I could capture was knowing those killed by the sniper’s bullet knew Love in their lives from the family they lived with and the community they embraced. Despite immense suffering put upon them, they were loved. That their lives were never to be long because the soulless war mongers were always going to make it so. Life never guarantees us a long existence. But oh the demonstration playing out before us…. We get to choose … to have awareness and act in love and service and reject such evil or, suffer the soul of the killer working hard to justify the darkness of the path he/she has taken on or off the battlefield. What color is our heart? What “food” do we feed our human soul? What are we swallowing and what are we unwilling to acknowledge… reading this piece means you are not ignoring the Truth of humanity’s thirst for destruction and dominance…. It’s impossible to turn your back on past or current history. Exhaling is painful.
In the 1970's I taught English at a state university laboratory school, k-12, 350 students total. I created a class, The Literature of War:"Dulce et Decorum Est," "More Light, More Light," "The Death of the Ball Turret Gunner." When "The Confessions of Lt. Calley" was published in Esquire, I typed it out on the purple dittos that pre-date copy machines. I remember using an article by an anthropologist which compared primitive tribal practices of decontaminating warriors to our contemporary practice of leaving them to the self-destruction you so painfully describe. I read you and know that schools have a lot to answer for in the evolution of now. We could have done so much more to make truth known.
The rise of fascism in Israel began as you have outlined but we must "never forget" that the seeds were planted with the Nakba, just as the genocides of the many indigenous people of the Americas began with the settlement of our white ancestors.
So many people I know want to bury their heads in the sand. Maybe the hasbara is taking its toll. Thank you Chris for showing us with your experience and knowledge the path the world must resist. So poignant and pertinent. 🙏🏼
A great article.
Wow!
Yes Chris, we are punished by what we do, not because of it.
We are all brought up under, and are products of, the white western patriarchy (a system that rewards dominance (or submission) over women, non-whites, animals and the Earth). Western politicians and killers are its biggest victims. It teaches young boys (and some girls) how to crush their souls and natural compassion for these illusory rewards of money and power- it is a con. It is a living death. The things that make life worth living- connection between humans, animals and our planet, of which we're an inseparable part- are denied them.
There is forgiveness, even self-forgiveness, for all of us. I hope they find it. It's worth bearing in mind that if we eat animal products we are all killers, by proxy. And that over 90% of animal products are produced on unconscionable factory farms where extreme abuse is just part of the system, but that's hidden away from our eyes. Remember the credentials that we need before we cast the first stone.
This is why I don't join in with 'fighting' the oppressor or resisting the system. This energy makes it stronger. It gives us, and reinforces, an 'identity' as a resistor.
The answer is let go all the 'identities' that we've been taught. To be open in every moment to our innate love and compassion that we had as children, before the conditioning got hold.
Have you considered that had the suffragettes not risen up and opposed the laws forbidding women’s right to vote and own property, your womanly life would be significantly different? And that it was deep love that stirred the outrage of women at these restrictions? Even Jesus got pissed off and threw the money changers out of the temple. Too bad he’s still not around! We probably have to carry the light these days ourselves and do what serves life when it is being crushed.
Yes, my gran was one of those suffragettes and I’m deeply grateful. Hamas action on Oct 7th was also motivated by love. I’m not saying don’t get angry or don’t strongly express your view point. I’m saying that if we take sides, us against them, it will make the problems worse. What we resist persists. It gives it greater energy- as we have seen with the response to Oct 7th. The hope is that now it has been brought to the attention of the world, things will change.
The very obvious problems with our world are OUR problems. I imagine it as sitting across a table seeing each other as the problem is much less helpful than sitting on the same side of the table and looking across at the problem. Those in the patriarchy who kept women down or who abuse Palestinians are just as trapped by the Patriarchy as those who are physically trapped by it. We want to release then not oppose them.