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Scarmoge posted an update 7 years, 6 months ago
A talk by Chris Hedges … Corporate Totalitarianism: The End Game (approx. 1 hour and 30 minutes)
… a consideration of our current situation.
The Giza Forum (Legacy)
Closed Archive of The Old Forum
It helps if you believe that “Global Warming” means the end of humanity and you also believe that socialism works. His arrogance is almost as intolerable as his ignorance but he is absolutely dead on when it comes to corporatism and what it has done to destroy the financial system and the social fabric of our country. I lived through the era of Ralph Nader… please.
He also is right about the 26 trillion stolen by corporate manipulation so with the 21 trillion of undocumented adjustments, you can see how CAF is correct in saying there are $50trillion dollars stolen from us. Hedges presents many correct facts but his conclusion to resist is frustrating at the least.
I must admit that I have mixed feelings, not only about Hedges, but about most of what I read and hear. To hold practical fallibilism is as it should be. Dr. Farrell often talks about owning the culture. What actions can we actually take toward doing so? In a discussion between CAF and JPF they suggested that we might take it upon ourselves to weaponize our minds in opposition to the prevailing culture. I would like to suggest that one of the specific actions that we could take would be to arm ourselves with the tools of critique. What are those tools? While they are many, certainly the kind of analysis that you (Dave Truman) and Justawhoaman performed on the Hedges video would be one example of those tools. We should question the validity and soundness of arguments. We should attempt to discern, both the explicit and implicit, presuppositions of arguments. Maybe we can begin to own the culture by honing our own skills of analysis, and as you both have done here, make those analyses public.
I have mixed feelings on this too. He certainly makes a good point about Durkheim and anomie – we can see the lack of any morality derived from the Transcendent everywhere in the West these days , but I think there’s a deep-seated contradiction in his thinking too. On the one hand he espouses the need – and potency – of mass political action in order to rid us of oppressive corporate oligarchies – ie to make socio-political progress. On the other, he cites Plato and others to point out that history is cyclical. Which is it? I certainly don’t think that Plato would have agreed with him about democracy, either. Indeed, Plato thought that democracy would lead to the very kinds of tyranny that Chris Hedges so rightly despises.
I must admit that I have mixed feelings, not only about Hedges, but about most of what I read and hear. To hold practical fallibilism is as it should be. Dr. Farrell often talks about owning the culture. What actions can we actually take toward doing so? In a discussion between CAF and JPF they suggested that we might take it upon ourselves to weaponize our minds in opposition to the prevailing culture. I would like to suggest that one of the specific actions that we could take would be to arm ourselves with the tools of critique. What are those tools? While they are many, certainly the kind of analysis that you and Justawhoaman performed on the Hedges video would be one example of those tools. We should question the validity and soundness of arguments. We should attempt to discern, both the explicit and implicit, presuppositions of arguments. Maybe we can begin to own the culture by honing our own skills of analysis, and as you both have done here, make those analyses public.
I agree with you. A practical template for what you suggest might be to apply grammar, logic and rhetoric to many of the statements that are used with abandon these days in the mainstream media.
To Justawhoaman – I am certainly in agreement with you, if I am understanding your comments correctly, in that Hedges comes across as somewhat self-righteous. That aside, I am curious as to the source of the frustration that you mention. (I find it difficult to communicate in forums such as these without the ability to see body language, hear tone of voice and so forth. However, given that this is what we have I want you to know that there is no intention in my question for it to be understood as being asked in either a snide or snarky way).
I too have many frustrations not only with his conclusions, but also with the conclusions of many others (sometimes even with my own conclusions about such things) who discuss our current cultural (I prefer this term in this context over “social”) situation. Is it the frustration of Neil Postman that we when we watch the “news” and hear of some terrible thing that we are left frustrated in that there is nothing we can do in response due to the scale of the event?
To Dave Truman – You mention Hedges talking about mass political action as a response. Justawhoaman mentioned Ralph Nader who also still recommends mass political action as a means of response. It seems, despite their experience and sophistication, that they exhibit a naivete in their understanding of the current ability (or inability) of “organizations” to have access to power that can (or would allow itself) to possibly be influenced. While I am not sure what response(s) might succeed it appears there are strictures within our society that prevent groups from achieving a critical mass capable of effecting any real change. Yes, frustration.