Reddit reviews Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle

Most have no clue what's really going on in the world... the elites are afraid of political awakening.

This (mass surveillance) by the NSA and abuse by law enforcement is just more part and parcel of state suppression of dissent against corporate interests. They're worried that the more people are going to wake up and corporate centers like the US and canada may be among those who also awaken. See this vid with Zbigniew Brzezinski, former United States National Security Advisor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttv6n7PFniY

Science on reasoning, reason doesn't work the way we thought it did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYmi0DLzBdQ

Brezinski at a press conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kmUS--QCYY

The real news:

http://therealnews.com/t2/

http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Incorporated-Managed-Inverted-Totalitarianism/dp/069114589X/

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Government-Surveillance-Security-Single-Superpower/dp/1608463656/r

http://www.amazon.com/National-Security-Government-Michael-Glennon/dp/0190206446/

Look at the following graphs:

IMGUR link - http://imgur.com/a/FShfb

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/images/wealth/Actual_estimated_ideal_wealth_distribution.gif
http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/images/wealth/Net_worth_and_financial_wealth.gif
http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

And then...

WIKILEAKS: U.S. Fought To Lower Minimum Wage In Haiti So Hanes And Levis Would Stay Cheap

http://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-haiti-minimum-wage-the-nation-2011-6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnkNKipiiiM

Free markets?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHj2GaPuEhY#t=349

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/

"We now live in two Americas. One—now the minority—functions in a print-based, literate world that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other—the majority—is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. To this majority—which crosses social class lines, though the poor are overwhelmingly affected—presidential debate and political rhetoric is pitched at a sixth-grade reading level. In this “other America,” serious film and theater, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of society.

In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges navigates this culture—attending WWF contests, the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, and Ivy League graduation ceremonies—to expose an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion."

Important history:

http://williamblum.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcA1v2n7WW4

> I'm hoping a more left leaning red liberal like Trudeau would say something about this in his platform. Was it under Paul Martin's watch when this program was expanded?

You need to figure out what has been really going on...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnkNKipiiiM

Free markets?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHj2GaPuEhY#t=349

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/

Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle

Just finished that book...it was mostly a long essay. I'm looking for another one now while I work towards finishing To Save Everything, Click Here: The Folly of Technological Solutionism.

I toy with the idea of reading Discrimination and Disparities...but I just don't hate myself enough...

Danke für den Buchtipp und vor allem den Kauftipp beim BPB! Mehr über das Thema und die Einordnung in den größeren Kontext der USA gibts in Klassikern wie The Working Poor von Shipler und mein persönlicher Favorit Empire of Illusion von Hedges (welches auch einen Pulitzerpreis gewann) nachzulesen.

Week Twelve of the Russian Intervention in Syria:

(via https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVUGQ8VS_Rk)

By The Saker | Dec 29, 2015

In last week’s review of the Russian military intervention in Syria I wrote that Kerry had lost every single negotiation he ever had with the Russians and that he had a record of agreeing to A only to come back to the US and then declare non-A.

This time again, the Americans did not change their modus operandi, except that it was Obama himself who declared, yet again, that Assad must go, resulting in some commentators speaking of a “White House Schizophrenia”.

[http://original.antiwar.com/daniel-mcadams/2015/12/22/white-house-schizophrenia-kerry-assad-can-stay-obama-assad-must-go/]

Others, however, noted that this could be simply a case of face saving denials.

[https://www.rt.com/shows/crosstalk/326846-syrian-civil-war-washington/]

Personally, I think that both of these explanations are correct.

There is no doubt that Obama is an exceptionally weak, and even clueless, President.

The man has proven to have no vision, no understanding of international relations, his culture is minimal while his arrogance appears to be infinite – he is all about form over substance.

This is the ideal mix to win a Presidential election in the USA, but once in the White House this is also a recipe for disaster.

When such a non-entity is placed at the top of the Executive branch of government, the different part of government do not get a clear message of what the policy is and, as a result, they each begin doing their own thing without worrying too much about what the POTUS has to say.

The recent article by Sy Hersh “Military to Military” is a good illustration of that phenomenon.

[http://www.lrb.co.uk/v38/n01/seymour-m-hersh/military-to-military]

Being weak and lacking vision (or even understanding) Obama’s main concern is conceal his limitations and he therefore falls back on the oldest of political tricks: he tells his audience whatever it wants to hear.

Exactly the sames goes for Kerry too.

Both of these man will say one thing to the Russian rulers or during an interview with a Russian journalist, and the exact opposite to an American reporter.

That kind of “schizophrenia” is perfectly normal, especially in the USA.

To use the expression coined by Chris Hedges, the USA is an “Empire of Illusion”. [http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132]

The US society has an apparently infinite tolerance for the fake as long as the fake looks vaguely similar to the real thing.

This is true on all levels, ranging from the food Americans eat, to the way they entertain themselves, to the politicians they elect and to the putative invincibility of the armed forces their taxes pay for.

It is all one gigantic lie, but who cares as long as it is a fun, emotionally reassuring lie.

In the Syrian context, this ability to ignore reality results in the support of terrorism in the name democracy, the conduct of an “anti-Daesh” campaign which results in Daesh dramatically increase it’s territory, the accusation that Assad used chemical weapons and now the “Assad can stay but he must go” policy.

This ability to completely decouple rhetoric and reality can sometimes have a positive side-effect.

For example, even if this week saw a Zag!

From the US Administration in terms of rhetoric, this does not necessarily mean that the USA will continue to attempt to overthrow Assad.

The opposite is also true, however.

The fact that the US has said that Assad can stay in no way implies that the US will stop trying to overthrow him.

The bottom line is this: yes, there was definitely a Zag! this week, but only time will tell how much of a zag we are dealing with.

In this context I highly recommend the recent article by Alexander Mercouris entitled “Russian diplomacy achieved a trio of Security Council Resolutions over the last month which give Russia a decisive advantage” in which he explains how Russia has achieved victory after victory at the UN Security Council.

[http://thesaker.is/russian-diplomacy-achieved-a-trio-of-security-council-resolutions-over-the-last-month-which-give-russia-a-decisive-advantage/]

What is important here is that with each of these Russian-sponsored Resolution the number of available options for the USA are gradually being reduced.

Another factor also reducing the US options are all the tactical successes of the Syrian military whose progress is slow, but steady.

The intensive pace of Russian airstrikes is having an effect on Daesh and the Syrians are slowly advancing on all fronts.

There has been no Daesh collapse yet, but if the Syrians continue to advance as they have done so far their offensive will eventually reach a critical point when the quantity of their small (tactical) victories will end up triggering a qualitative (operational) reaction and Daesh will begin to collapse.

Of course, the Daesh fighters will have the option of finding safety in Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and elsewhere, but the psychological impact of a Daesh defeat in Syria will be huge.

So far there are no signs of a possible Turkish invasion of northern Syria, no signs that anybody is still thinking about imposing a no-fly zone, and besides the murder of Samir Kuntar in an Israeli airstrike, it appears that the S-400s are achieving the desired deterrent effect.

In other words, while US leaders have their heads stuck deep up into their own delusions, the events on the ground are slowly but steadily reinforcing the Russian position and vindicating Russia’s stance.

In the meantime, the Syrian Christians who follow the Gregorian Calendar are celebrating Christmas in the streets of Latakia in a clear sign that a multi-confessional Syria still exists and has a future.

>He refuses to admit to that dark part of porn.

That's just delusional. Is he at all interested in literature or ideas? If so, make him read David Foster Wallace's "Big Red Son" or the "Illusion of Love" chapter in Chris Hedges "Empire of Illusion. Either will slap him straight. Or, you know, make him watch this.

If he refuses to make any real effort to fight his porn addiction, you really should find someone at least brave enough to try. They are out there.

Salaam,

I think I understand what you're experiencing, but we are all going through different things. I can only speak from experience. I can't assure you that my advice will help you.

I always had faith but the doubts were never fully silenced.

"Are the sacrifices I'm making really necessary? What about those who live without having religion to guide them? Do we truly need religion to guide us in this advanced post modern age? Don't we have it all figured out by now?"

These are the doubts I had growing up. It was never questions having to do with Islam specifically, but more so with religion and ideology as a whole. It's very difficult justifying ideology in a self-professed post-ideological age. And it's tough living in this society when we're constantly tempted to stray from the straight path. We are constantly tempted by that which has been engineered to be desirable to us.

And we are deprived of advanced cultural criticism that can connect the dots with a society that allows for those temptations, and the other major problems that we face as individuals, as a result.

For me, I had to educate myself with social criticism of post-modern society. I had to understand where ideology exists for those who claim to have none.

Some of the thinkers that helped me are:

-Slavoj Zizek (check out his talks on ideology in postmodern society, and on Bhuddhism)

-Neil Postman "Amusing Ourselves to Death" (intro on youtube)

-Fyodor Dostoyevsky "Notes from Underground [pdf]"

-Chris Hedges "Empire of Illusion"

and probably the most

www.thelastpsychiatrist.com

The blog is by an anonymous psychiatrist and features incredibly insightful analysis of current events and the impact of popular media on society. This blog helped me make sense of the post-modern society we live in and it's pitfalls. The writing style can be difficult to adapt to, and it takes some effort but I started with the movie reviews/analysis and got hooked. Let me know if you'd like any specific post recommendations.


So that covers a lot of reading. Check out Rick Roderick's excellent lecture series on youtube, The Self Under Siege. This series introduced me to many of these thinkers and their views on the self in modernity. I recommend starting with Foucault, Kierkegaard, Heidegger, and Roderick's own views on philosophy and postmodern culture. He's an excellent speaker.

And this BBC documentary series Sea of Faith is very interesting. I like Kierkegaard but his writing is so difficult to grasp.

All that is personal advice that may or may not be helpful. Some general things that you should not forget: Stay strong akh! Keep talking to your friends and family about the issues on your mind. Be patient. Don't fret. Seek refuge in your Lord. Read the Qur'an. Insha'Allah things will get better!

TV...

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335361195&sr=8-1

Read chapter 2 from this book
Chris Hedges - Empire of Illusion
https://youtu.be/vOZLdw6n2L4
https://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132

You can get it on Kindle. This will probably give you everything you need. It really helped my husband. The one ex porn actress explains how she got into porn and why. It also looks at the porn industry since the 70's and how the unscrupulous pieces of shit have started targeting children.

If anything could possibly give you sympathy for women in porn, it is chapter 2 from this book.

> Yeah, it's counter-intuitive. Why would you go against consumers this way?

You're not seeing the larger picture.... this isn't about consumers, this is about control of world markets. You're missing the larger historical context, the NSA is all about control and management of information for corporate profits.

Most have no clue what's really going on in the world... the elites are afraid of political awakening.

This (mass surveillance) by the NSA and abuse by law enforcement is just more part and parcel of state suppression of dissent against corporate interests. They're worried that the more people are going to wake up and corporate centers like the US and canada may be among those who also awaken. See this vid with Zbigniew Brzezinski, former United States National Security Advisor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ttv6n7PFniY

Science on reasoning, reason doesn't work the way we thought it did:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYmi0DLzBdQ

Brezinski at a press conference

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kmUS--QCYY

The real news:

http://therealnews.com/t2/

http://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Incorporated-Managed-Inverted-Totalitarianism/dp/069114589X/

http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Government-Surveillance-Security-Single-Superpower/dp/1608463656/r

http://www.amazon.com/National-Security-Government-Michael-Glennon/dp/0190206446/

Look at the following graphs:

IMGUR link - http://imgur.com/a/FShfb

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

And then...

WIKILEAKS: U.S. Fought To Lower Minimum Wage In Haiti So Hanes And Levis Would Stay Cheap

http://www.businessinsider.com/wikileaks-haiti-minimum-wage-the-nation-2011-6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnkNKipiiiM

Free markets?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHj2GaPuEhY#t=349

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/

"We now live in two Americas. One—now the minority—functions in a print-based, literate world that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other—the majority—is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. To this majority—which crosses social class lines, though the poor are overwhelmingly affected—presidential debate and political rhetoric is pitched at a sixth-grade reading level. In this “other America,” serious film and theater, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins of society.

In the tradition of Christopher Lasch’s The Culture of Narcissism and Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death, Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges navigates this culture—attending WWF contests, the Adult Video News Awards in Las Vegas, and Ivy League graduation ceremonies—to expose an age of terrifying decline and heightened self-delusion."

Important history:

http://williamblum.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcA1v2n7WW4

> Even the townhall, while I'm glad it happened, was staged like it was a WWE event.

Hahaha I read a book about that in college. Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. Hahaha ^^oh ^^no

> Or they're bad at it.

from my perspective, doctor peterson is not particularly good at challenging the commisars; it is a testament to how far fallen we are as a society that "men and women are, on the whole, similar but different," "gender ideology is bonkers," and "Christianity actually has some wisdom to impart" are considered controversial, heroic positions to adopt in the public sphere

i was not impressed with doctor peterson's recent bob-and-weave routine when he was asked give his thoughts on the bolsheviks, the holodomor, and ethnic/religious/cultural warfare; his eventual concession that he "[couldn't] do it" was admirable in its honesty, though not in its display of intellectual courage

> However, I was more lamenting are inability to have a certain reach even if we are brilliant.

i am reminded of two things:

this

and

this

a chapter in chris hedges book empire of illusion is about the porn industry. It made me feel so guilty for taking pleasure in that shit.

The Long Emergency - James Howard Kunstler

Empire Of Illusion - Chris Hedges

The Collapse of Complex Societies - Joseph Tainter

The End Of Growth - Richard Heinberg

(from another thread) Note that canada is not different from america, since they are on the same continent.

Who got bailed out in 2008? Was it ... the capitalists????? Think about that, there was endless money to be spent when billionaires and banks gambled and lost. But when we need money for infrastructure and education, somehow we are given lines and bullshit that "we can't afford it"? Where's the missing trillions?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVjz1OyBJCc

More sites on the distribution of wealth and power in North america (since Us and canada's economy are basically one and the same).

The distribution of power in america:

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/images/wealth/Net_worth_and_financial_wealth.gif

http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/wealth.html

Go do some reading and get educated

http://www.amazon.com/Empire-Illusion-Literacy-Triumph-Spectacle/dp/1568586132/.

Here's some more:

http://www.straight.com/life/chris-hedges-harper-venal-us-politics-totally-rigged

http://www.amazon.com/Manufacturing-Consent-Political-Economy-Media

Google: Chris hedges

Richard wolf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF2g26mTV7w