How did such a sizeable portion of modern society develop into a post-literate, fantasy-fueled, perma-reality show? Noted reporter Chris Hedges joins us in the studio to discuss his new book: The Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
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One-on-One: Chris Hedges
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Wow. Really good stuff. Gotta check with my brother-in-law soc prof, and see if he’s got Mr. Hedges worked into the curriculum; I’m pretty sure he had some of Hedges’ earlier work re war and meaning; gotta get this latest in also… Thanks very much.
By gannonguckert on July 31st, 2009 at 6:46 pm
I have heard of the desire for spectacle since grade school. It is a famous artifact of the collapse of the Roman Empire. I have also noticed that people are very cynical and dumb, even about major features of their lives. This is possibly the cause or correlated with their looking to trend setters to know how to exist. I have been on the look-out for why.
My guess is that the money content control of the last many decades has kept people confused and dumb. Of particular importance is the lack of culture on fighting. With liberal talk radio and video this situation is changing. Also there is more formal education about fighting, such as conflict resolution classes.
I disagree with Chris’s extreme anti-violence beliefs. I think it is possible to have careful cost benefit risk analyses that result in the awfulness described by war correspondents. He seems to think all war is corporate imperialism. I agree that has nearly always been the case but I don’t see that it’s necessarily always true.
For example, I could imagine the corporate and especially rich people being extremely oppressive and inhibiting progress and education so it seems violence is the only way to get rid of them. With free speech and widespread internet I’d guess that these scenarios are extremely unlikely. The important concept is cost-benefit-risk analysis! I think these attempts to come up with simple pro or anti war belief systems keep people from analyzing carefully the real world details of the scenarios.
By basics on August 3rd, 2009 at 1:55 am
It seems spectacle and illusion are a major part of NASA’s decision making. There is a belief that in order to get funding, they need spectacles. The designs being talked about, eg., in the Augustine panel, aren’t for math and science and long term efficiency in space. I hope people will contact their Reps. and NASA.
By basics on August 16th, 2009 at 3:18 pm