The global ruling class is cementing into place a world where they govern without accountability, we are reduced to serfdom, the climate crisis accelerates, and mass death is normalized.
Amazing how beautifully Mr. Hedges writes on the crumbling of our society. Since I was told to "Duck and Cover" as a way to avoid death by nuclear war as a child and the realization that it would in no way protect me after watching "Hiroshima" in elementary school, the collapse seemed slow. No longer. Now it seems to be gathering speed. Thank you.
I find the image Chris paints of a cultural glorification of death in the US to haunt me in sort of a low burn. The WWWF or mad max-I fication of this culture precursors the experience we are now entering of actual global apocalypse. Culture, shaped by the elite, condition us to allow, stay quiet and remain docile as we lose our homes, are forced back into serfdom, and lose to corporations the last bits of access to the materials needed to sustain a family. I am at a loss as to how to get out of this relationship to a corporate landlord since every factor of my society is preventing a move. My rent was raised twice in 2022. My buying power is reduced and my meagre savings lose value.
The Bible also describes how those who advance death in this age will be judged by Jesus: as you have done to the least of these my kin, so you have done it unto me.
Yes, we all are suffering the consequences of having allowed our elected politicians to run our country and we are now facing the truth after such a long period of watching reality shows and fake news. Perhaps this is an appropriate time to meditate on the question that Friedrich Nietzsche left for us:
It’s a provocative question in line with John Calvin’s negative assessment of humanity’s ‘fallen’ state. Redemption and reconciliation are possible, he held. Proudhon meanwhile had higher hope that we can actually cooperate around mutual need as a means of resistance to enclosures and the “property” driving the industrial Revolution. Property is indeed theft.
I Agree with your take on the first part of Nietzsche's question. Certainly, with all our defects and failures we could have been created only, at best, as a practical joke from some deity. But the second part is the tricky one. Our German philosopher, although the son and grandson of Lutheran ministers, during his early youth chose to grow up instead of being born again and became an atheist. In most of his works he rejects the idea inherited from the axial age that "although we are in this world, we are not of this world" and therefore he rejected all religions. In light of this, and interpreting God as an organized religion, I consider the second part of the puzzle, that God is only man's mistake, as a true statement too. We only have to think of all the unjust persecutions, inquisitions, crusades, pogroms and numerous religious wars to understand it. I know nothing about Pierre Joseph Proudhon except that being the first anarchist and being suspicious of any type of authority he probably also rejected the impositions of organized religion
Mr Hedges is far more intellectual than I am. But I do pay attention. And know, or it seems, that all of what he is saying is true. The only issue I have is in painting such a bleak future, pointing out the darker side of most politicians and leaders, is that one is left with a feeling of "why bother." I , to be clear, am left with a feeling of why bother. Might as well rant and grumble and drink myself silly. Numb myself. Many of us are circling the abyss during this time of great upheaval, and there is a risk of falling into that abyss and becoming part of the problem..It maybe that the answer will come as other answers have come to generations of humans in the past; we will evolve into a different way of thinking. Looking at some of the advertisements from the turn of the century, it is encouraging to see that we have evolved. Not sure if I believe in the collective unconscious, I am very careful with throwing out words that I am not sure of, but I have read much of what Joseph Campbell has written about; about the untethering of a society not joined together by a common story; about the capacity of humans when under duress and feeling alienated to blame the "other", rather than deal with their own despair and loneliness. So, it may be that out of this despair, this malaise, this darkness something will rise up; something that will join us together. But the birthing process will be fraught with anguish. I thought that something would be the planet. In closing, I do refuse to just give in to my despair and will continue to make art and write locally; not from a self-righteous pulpit, although I am capable, but from the desire to understand and find that vanishing common ground. Because I believe that is the only thing that will save us. The edge of hope and despair is narrow and requires emotional work, but it is the only way, I believe, forward and I am tired of the divide that flourishes in my own brain.
Ahh thank you Chris and Eunice for really making me want to scream.. another brutally honest assessment of the world.. uhhh.. I ask... why are we not changing anything??? the ones that understand everything you are saying and conveying in your articles, books, speeches... and i feel we just sit on our hands and wait for the savior to come. Double thinkers, the 85% who are ignorant ?? <reference to your book- chap 6?? Our Class? :| long day at work Chris.. thank you for your work. I appreciate it.
painfully accurate but hopeless. Clearly change can not come through any mechanism outside the change that is required in each of us to see this horror and perhaps be free of our part in it..... This would mean an ending of our dependence on anything social, pyschological or pseudo-spiritual. This is essentially a need to let our sense of 'self' with all its narcissism 'die'. This may be the very definition of love.
Thank you so much for what you do and who you are. You paint such a depressing picture of where we are. Sadly it's also true. It's also true that anyone who was paying attention could see this evolving. I go back to the Powell Memorandum of 1971. He laid out the playbook and the Rs have been following it. Others have further corrupted the system. I've been involved with the Sarasota, FL school board fiasco. One could also see this coming. My question. Is there any hope? I see a few local people running for office who are not "politicians". I recently met Matthew Hoh who is running for the Senate in NC. An amazing, intelligent, caring person. Reminiscent or the old statesman as opposed to a politician. Can the path we are on be reversed? Rhana Bazzini
Very dark, Chris, but, as far as I can see, largely correct. The Great Reset is a desperate effort to cement into place the coup d'etat that was initiated with COVID-19, and now the wheels are coming off the project as the unforeseen consequences of this coup unfold. Now the corporatists and their government allies are on the run, knowing that those such as yourselves see what's going on and are hot on their tail. All the lawsuits, the FOIA's, the mushrooming alt-media calling the criminals out, and even some truth leaking into the MSM has them worried that we are not going away. They don't know how to wriggle out of the desperate position they have painted themselves into, knowing that although they have all the money and the power, the will of the people can not forever be denied.
We are now seeing the wild flailing about of a moribund Godzilla that knows the end is near. The corporate/government fascist hegemony is not sustainable as it is not compatible with democracy, and we live in a culture of democracy. How long until the end? I fear it will be years, and a lot of harm will come before the monster destroys itself and turns belly up. The good news is that the evil-doers will self-destruct, as Desmet has pointed out in The Psychology of Totalitarianism, because self-destruction is baked into the story. Totalitarianism is against the Natural Order, and must give way to it eventually. The bad news is that it will be a long slow death and many will be taken out as it goes down.
We have to organize to finish the killing of Godzilla because I don't see that "Now the corporatists and their government allies are on the run" on the contrary, all reports indicate that their wealth has skyrocketed during the pandemic and our politicians continue to help them.
Chris Hedges is one of the only sane journalists left.
Amazing how beautifully Mr. Hedges writes on the crumbling of our society. Since I was told to "Duck and Cover" as a way to avoid death by nuclear war as a child and the realization that it would in no way protect me after watching "Hiroshima" in elementary school, the collapse seemed slow. No longer. Now it seems to be gathering speed. Thank you.
I find the image Chris paints of a cultural glorification of death in the US to haunt me in sort of a low burn. The WWWF or mad max-I fication of this culture precursors the experience we are now entering of actual global apocalypse. Culture, shaped by the elite, condition us to allow, stay quiet and remain docile as we lose our homes, are forced back into serfdom, and lose to corporations the last bits of access to the materials needed to sustain a family. I am at a loss as to how to get out of this relationship to a corporate landlord since every factor of my society is preventing a move. My rent was raised twice in 2022. My buying power is reduced and my meagre savings lose value.
The Bible also describes how those who advance death in this age will be judged by Jesus: as you have done to the least of these my kin, so you have done it unto me.
Yes, we all are suffering the consequences of having allowed our elected politicians to run our country and we are now facing the truth after such a long period of watching reality shows and fake news. Perhaps this is an appropriate time to meditate on the question that Friedrich Nietzsche left for us:
Is man only God's mistake
or God only man's mistake.
It’s a provocative question in line with John Calvin’s negative assessment of humanity’s ‘fallen’ state. Redemption and reconciliation are possible, he held. Proudhon meanwhile had higher hope that we can actually cooperate around mutual need as a means of resistance to enclosures and the “property” driving the industrial Revolution. Property is indeed theft.
I Agree with your take on the first part of Nietzsche's question. Certainly, with all our defects and failures we could have been created only, at best, as a practical joke from some deity. But the second part is the tricky one. Our German philosopher, although the son and grandson of Lutheran ministers, during his early youth chose to grow up instead of being born again and became an atheist. In most of his works he rejects the idea inherited from the axial age that "although we are in this world, we are not of this world" and therefore he rejected all religions. In light of this, and interpreting God as an organized religion, I consider the second part of the puzzle, that God is only man's mistake, as a true statement too. We only have to think of all the unjust persecutions, inquisitions, crusades, pogroms and numerous religious wars to understand it. I know nothing about Pierre Joseph Proudhon except that being the first anarchist and being suspicious of any type of authority he probably also rejected the impositions of organized religion
We will have to sit down over books and coffee at some point. As long as the coffee holds out.
Mr Hedges is far more intellectual than I am. But I do pay attention. And know, or it seems, that all of what he is saying is true. The only issue I have is in painting such a bleak future, pointing out the darker side of most politicians and leaders, is that one is left with a feeling of "why bother." I , to be clear, am left with a feeling of why bother. Might as well rant and grumble and drink myself silly. Numb myself. Many of us are circling the abyss during this time of great upheaval, and there is a risk of falling into that abyss and becoming part of the problem..It maybe that the answer will come as other answers have come to generations of humans in the past; we will evolve into a different way of thinking. Looking at some of the advertisements from the turn of the century, it is encouraging to see that we have evolved. Not sure if I believe in the collective unconscious, I am very careful with throwing out words that I am not sure of, but I have read much of what Joseph Campbell has written about; about the untethering of a society not joined together by a common story; about the capacity of humans when under duress and feeling alienated to blame the "other", rather than deal with their own despair and loneliness. So, it may be that out of this despair, this malaise, this darkness something will rise up; something that will join us together. But the birthing process will be fraught with anguish. I thought that something would be the planet. In closing, I do refuse to just give in to my despair and will continue to make art and write locally; not from a self-righteous pulpit, although I am capable, but from the desire to understand and find that vanishing common ground. Because I believe that is the only thing that will save us. The edge of hope and despair is narrow and requires emotional work, but it is the only way, I believe, forward and I am tired of the divide that flourishes in my own brain.
Ahh thank you Chris and Eunice for really making me want to scream.. another brutally honest assessment of the world.. uhhh.. I ask... why are we not changing anything??? the ones that understand everything you are saying and conveying in your articles, books, speeches... and i feel we just sit on our hands and wait for the savior to come. Double thinkers, the 85% who are ignorant ?? <reference to your book- chap 6?? Our Class? :| long day at work Chris.. thank you for your work. I appreciate it.
painfully accurate but hopeless. Clearly change can not come through any mechanism outside the change that is required in each of us to see this horror and perhaps be free of our part in it..... This would mean an ending of our dependence on anything social, pyschological or pseudo-spiritual. This is essentially a need to let our sense of 'self' with all its narcissism 'die'. This may be the very definition of love.
Thank you so much for what you do and who you are. You paint such a depressing picture of where we are. Sadly it's also true. It's also true that anyone who was paying attention could see this evolving. I go back to the Powell Memorandum of 1971. He laid out the playbook and the Rs have been following it. Others have further corrupted the system. I've been involved with the Sarasota, FL school board fiasco. One could also see this coming. My question. Is there any hope? I see a few local people running for office who are not "politicians". I recently met Matthew Hoh who is running for the Senate in NC. An amazing, intelligent, caring person. Reminiscent or the old statesman as opposed to a politician. Can the path we are on be reversed? Rhana Bazzini
Very dark, Chris, but, as far as I can see, largely correct. The Great Reset is a desperate effort to cement into place the coup d'etat that was initiated with COVID-19, and now the wheels are coming off the project as the unforeseen consequences of this coup unfold. Now the corporatists and their government allies are on the run, knowing that those such as yourselves see what's going on and are hot on their tail. All the lawsuits, the FOIA's, the mushrooming alt-media calling the criminals out, and even some truth leaking into the MSM has them worried that we are not going away. They don't know how to wriggle out of the desperate position they have painted themselves into, knowing that although they have all the money and the power, the will of the people can not forever be denied.
We are now seeing the wild flailing about of a moribund Godzilla that knows the end is near. The corporate/government fascist hegemony is not sustainable as it is not compatible with democracy, and we live in a culture of democracy. How long until the end? I fear it will be years, and a lot of harm will come before the monster destroys itself and turns belly up. The good news is that the evil-doers will self-destruct, as Desmet has pointed out in The Psychology of Totalitarianism, because self-destruction is baked into the story. Totalitarianism is against the Natural Order, and must give way to it eventually. The bad news is that it will be a long slow death and many will be taken out as it goes down.
We have to organize to finish the killing of Godzilla because I don't see that "Now the corporatists and their government allies are on the run" on the contrary, all reports indicate that their wealth has skyrocketed during the pandemic and our politicians continue to help them.