All settler colonial projects, including Israel, reach a point when they embrace wholesale slaughter and genocide to eradicate a native population that refuses to capitulate.
Chris Hedges, you help make this broken world more understandable- thank you for baring your soul and continuing to write in the face of unbearable hypocrisy and ugliness- I appreciate you and your work more than I can say.
“The Smiley Faces of Genocide” is such a potent phrase it deserves to have a book written so it can sit on the shelf alongside “Heart of Darkness.”
Thank you, Chris, for peeling back the rubber clown mask of the propagandists spewing rage-whipping rhetoric to drag the people to the murderous bidding of the leaders per Goering’s timeless formula:
“Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a parliament or a communist dictatorship.… Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
—Herman Goering in conversation with Gustave Gilbert, “Nuremberg Diary”
“Democracy dies in darkness.” Washington Post. The only “only democracy” in the Middle East killed democracy in Gaza under cover of darkness!
“Al Jazeera is funded in part or in whole by Qatar,” -- caveat on YouTube. Translation: Al Jazeera is not credible. Don’t believe your lying eyes as you watch the horrific effects of the rain of Israeli bombs.
How can President Biden complain to President Xi about human rights in China with a straight face?
Western civilization is a hoax and has been for millennia.
The Gaza genocidal situation is sickening, and we feel helpless and hopeless and angry. It is hard to read about . It is difficult to really wrap your mind around the fact that this can happen ; that Israel can continue to tighten the noose of death and destruction on the Palestinians while the rest of the world seems powerless to oppose them.
Chris, did you see hundreds and hundreds of people protested for PEACE in Grand Central Station nyc! It was a thrilling sight. Michael Moore posted a livestream on Substack. I have followed you here and in your podcasts on criminal justice. Thank you for the Truth.
I'm increasingly haunted by the ghoulish, grinning visage of Joe Biden babbling his robotic mantra of "Israel has a right to defend itself" while watching them carpet bomb the defenseless Palestinian population. And by his sneering, cynical babbling about his "humanitarian" concern for the brutalized and increasingly slaughtered Gazans while he pours mountains of weaponry feeding the Israeli genocide. Netanyahu's lickspittle lapdog's only truth is that he's not telling the IDF whast to do or not to do. Netanyahu reportedly brags to his countrymen hao easily he controls US officialdom,
This is hard territory. When my great grandfather loaded his wagon with amo and headed north to support the Canadian Government in their war against the Metis at the battle of Frog Lake what was that? It is a historical reality, and part of my own history.
Undoing the past is not possible, and the virtue signaling that many do does nothing. We can only go forward. Today, I have employee's who are indigenous, my wife's closest friend is Metis, and most people have mostly moved on. This does not change what happened, or make it right, but with time there is some healing, and some justice. What matters today, is how I live today. More to the point, how I live today, is the only thing I have control over.
As a Jew, Israel does not represent me. The individuals perpetrating the atrocities against the Palestinians are pseudo Jews, in name only. The real Jew would never commit such immoral, evil acts against another human being whatever their religion, race or nationality.
Chris, I submitted this comment to your Alma Mater on the topic of NO GUNS, nor BIGGER Weapons:
Dear Stephen [King], I loved Maine since I first went up from Needham Mass. in 1953 as a kid of 5 to Sandy Cove Cottages for 2 weeks on Long Lake off Kansas Road — which BTW was the road that you lived on — and which my cousin and I did until we were driving.
What a beautiful life growing up through the 50’ and 60’s. We learned to swim, played with many other kids, and later self-learned to sail on a Sunfish. Everyone got along great; parents, kids, and older folks from the WW2 generation.
It was a virtual “walk in the park” with no guns, no mass-murders, no vast GINI Coefficient of Wealth Inequality, of which America is now “We’re #1”, “We’re #1”, nor any Billionaire Bastards or never ending Wars.
Chris, I think its time to put aside the gloom and doom commentary. Its poignant, but it is not productive in the immediate sense where genocide is taking place right now. I suggest saving it for testimony before a war crime tribunals that I hope materializes in the near future over the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
I wish you were to talk about productive measures that could be take to end the war in Gaza. Of immediate concern is the unnecessary and current "black out" of news coverage in Gaza and how this should not be happening. We should all demand that placement of a flottia of supporting U.N. vessels that provide working cell towers and humanitarian relief via the Western Mediterranean Sea border. Humanitarian relief to Palestinian civilians should NOT be limited to trucks entering the Rafah land border crossing. Why the press only focuses and covers this effort is a sham. Move beyond it. I believe that the Palenstinian people are resourceful and can use sunlight to power local solar cells that can support cell phone signals (and thus video) and broadcast to sea based broadcast towers supported by the U.N. In turn those signals can be passed through news broadcasting stations like Al Jeezera, who has been the most direct and diligent throughout the conflict. There should be no "black out" of news in Gaza. I believe the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) has programmed the world to accept that premise--which is I believe is false in this day and age of advanced technology.
Of second, but no less immediate, concern is the call for an immediate cease fire in Gaza. I believe all Americans should be writing their 3 representatives in Congress (one House member and two Senators) demanding that they pass a resolution calling for an immediate cease fire in Gaza and an end to war crimes being committed there. I suggest they also demand an end to the $3.8 of military aid the U.S. sends to Israeli annually, plus the freezing of any future supplemental appropriations to Israel under such a time as a lasting cease fire is in effect and all crimes have been investigated and accounted for by any and all international tribunals having jurisdiction in the matter(s). I suggest all U.S. citizens write there representatives on these points often, if not daily. Meaningful and imperative humanitarian relief cannot be brought to the citizens of Gaza without an end to the incessant bombing by the IDF.
Her message is simple: call on your government leaders to advocate for an immediate cease fire to the Gaza-Israeli war and to end the genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli defense forces upon the Palestinian people. That is the first order of business. Please do it the best way you know how. Our collective sense of humanity depends on it.
Chris Hedges, your voice is a light in the darkness. With so many excellent rising independent journalists, I am hard pressed financially to offer support to all, but when I read your words, I am grateful and know again why you are on my short list. You offer journalism with moral authority. Your words are balm in a world gone mad, we can only continue to believe in the message and speak out.
Chris Hedges, you help make this broken world more understandable- thank you for baring your soul and continuing to write in the face of unbearable hypocrisy and ugliness- I appreciate you and your work more than I can say.
“The Smiley Faces of Genocide” is such a potent phrase it deserves to have a book written so it can sit on the shelf alongside “Heart of Darkness.”
Thank you, Chris, for peeling back the rubber clown mask of the propagandists spewing rage-whipping rhetoric to drag the people to the murderous bidding of the leaders per Goering’s timeless formula:
“Why, of course, the people don’t want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don’t want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a parliament or a communist dictatorship.… Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.”
—Herman Goering in conversation with Gustave Gilbert, “Nuremberg Diary”
“Democracy dies in darkness.” Washington Post. The only “only democracy” in the Middle East killed democracy in Gaza under cover of darkness!
“Al Jazeera is funded in part or in whole by Qatar,” -- caveat on YouTube. Translation: Al Jazeera is not credible. Don’t believe your lying eyes as you watch the horrific effects of the rain of Israeli bombs.
How can President Biden complain to President Xi about human rights in China with a straight face?
Western civilization is a hoax and has been for millennia.
The Gaza genocidal situation is sickening, and we feel helpless and hopeless and angry. It is hard to read about . It is difficult to really wrap your mind around the fact that this can happen ; that Israel can continue to tighten the noose of death and destruction on the Palestinians while the rest of the world seems powerless to oppose them.
J’ACCUSE ! ON GAZA
A genocide in any place
And my flesh hangs valueless
On my body’s rack.
I stand, a thing.
For any honest soul
An equation of identity,
So they, so me.
Bodies and rubble,
Not a tree.
“My little bird,
My son that was,
My daughter,
Do they bomb angels now?”
We are shown the girl’s photo,
The boy’s photo,
On the screen,
And the tombs.
And Blinken says,
“Tone it down!”
In his phonograph of war
He turns the dial down
On agony’s pictures and tunes.
Kristin Hedges October 28, 2023
Chris, did you see hundreds and hundreds of people protested for PEACE in Grand Central Station nyc! It was a thrilling sight. Michael Moore posted a livestream on Substack. I have followed you here and in your podcasts on criminal justice. Thank you for the Truth.
I'm increasingly haunted by the ghoulish, grinning visage of Joe Biden babbling his robotic mantra of "Israel has a right to defend itself" while watching them carpet bomb the defenseless Palestinian population. And by his sneering, cynical babbling about his "humanitarian" concern for the brutalized and increasingly slaughtered Gazans while he pours mountains of weaponry feeding the Israeli genocide. Netanyahu's lickspittle lapdog's only truth is that he's not telling the IDF whast to do or not to do. Netanyahu reportedly brags to his countrymen hao easily he controls US officialdom,
This is hard territory. When my great grandfather loaded his wagon with amo and headed north to support the Canadian Government in their war against the Metis at the battle of Frog Lake what was that? It is a historical reality, and part of my own history.
Undoing the past is not possible, and the virtue signaling that many do does nothing. We can only go forward. Today, I have employee's who are indigenous, my wife's closest friend is Metis, and most people have mostly moved on. This does not change what happened, or make it right, but with time there is some healing, and some justice. What matters today, is how I live today. More to the point, how I live today, is the only thing I have control over.
As a Jew, Israel does not represent me. The individuals perpetrating the atrocities against the Palestinians are pseudo Jews, in name only. The real Jew would never commit such immoral, evil acts against another human being whatever their religion, race or nationality.
On Anthony Blinken's demand to Qatar that Al Jazeera "tone it down"
"tone it down"
Sing me a Jewish lullaby,
but "tone it down."
Death is raining from the sky,
two thousand children had to die
in the Blinken of an eye
and more will die before the dawn
but "tone it down," "tone it down."
Inez Hedges October 28, 2023
It is stunning that the world allows this to happen. It makes me want to weep.
Well said as usual, Chris. Thank you.
Chris, I submitted this comment to your Alma Mater on the topic of NO GUNS, nor BIGGER Weapons:
Dear Stephen [King], I loved Maine since I first went up from Needham Mass. in 1953 as a kid of 5 to Sandy Cove Cottages for 2 weeks on Long Lake off Kansas Road — which BTW was the road that you lived on — and which my cousin and I did until we were driving.
What a beautiful life growing up through the 50’ and 60’s. We learned to swim, played with many other kids, and later self-learned to sail on a Sunfish. Everyone got along great; parents, kids, and older folks from the WW2 generation.
It was a virtual “walk in the park” with no guns, no mass-murders, no vast GINI Coefficient of Wealth Inequality, of which America is now “We’re #1”, “We’re #1”, nor any Billionaire Bastards or never ending Wars.
Sincerely,
Alan MacDonald
Wells, Maine
I and the public know
What all schoolchildren learn;
Those to whom evil is done
Do evil in return.
—from September 3, 1939 by W.H. Auden
Chris, I think its time to put aside the gloom and doom commentary. Its poignant, but it is not productive in the immediate sense where genocide is taking place right now. I suggest saving it for testimony before a war crime tribunals that I hope materializes in the near future over the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
I wish you were to talk about productive measures that could be take to end the war in Gaza. Of immediate concern is the unnecessary and current "black out" of news coverage in Gaza and how this should not be happening. We should all demand that placement of a flottia of supporting U.N. vessels that provide working cell towers and humanitarian relief via the Western Mediterranean Sea border. Humanitarian relief to Palestinian civilians should NOT be limited to trucks entering the Rafah land border crossing. Why the press only focuses and covers this effort is a sham. Move beyond it. I believe that the Palenstinian people are resourceful and can use sunlight to power local solar cells that can support cell phone signals (and thus video) and broadcast to sea based broadcast towers supported by the U.N. In turn those signals can be passed through news broadcasting stations like Al Jeezera, who has been the most direct and diligent throughout the conflict. There should be no "black out" of news in Gaza. I believe the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) has programmed the world to accept that premise--which is I believe is false in this day and age of advanced technology.
Of second, but no less immediate, concern is the call for an immediate cease fire in Gaza. I believe all Americans should be writing their 3 representatives in Congress (one House member and two Senators) demanding that they pass a resolution calling for an immediate cease fire in Gaza and an end to war crimes being committed there. I suggest they also demand an end to the $3.8 of military aid the U.S. sends to Israeli annually, plus the freezing of any future supplemental appropriations to Israel under such a time as a lasting cease fire is in effect and all crimes have been investigated and accounted for by any and all international tribunals having jurisdiction in the matter(s). I suggest all U.S. citizens write there representatives on these points often, if not daily. Meaningful and imperative humanitarian relief cannot be brought to the citizens of Gaza without an end to the incessant bombing by the IDF.
BTW, the only person I have seen advocating for the simple message outlined above--and that needs to be repeated as often as possible (as she admirably does in this interview--even when urged off point) is Ms. Ryna Workman. https://www.democracynow.org/2023/10/27/palestine_legal_campus_censorship_ryna_workman
Her message is simple: call on your government leaders to advocate for an immediate cease fire to the Gaza-Israeli war and to end the genocide being perpetrated by the Israeli defense forces upon the Palestinian people. That is the first order of business. Please do it the best way you know how. Our collective sense of humanity depends on it.
Chris Hedges, your voice is a light in the darkness. With so many excellent rising independent journalists, I am hard pressed financially to offer support to all, but when I read your words, I am grateful and know again why you are on my short list. You offer journalism with moral authority. Your words are balm in a world gone mad, we can only continue to believe in the message and speak out.