Anyone listen/read Chris Hedges?

[Mogambo Guru]

I personally just "discovered" him today.. Seems very interesting. Anyone else have any history with his stuff?

http://www.truthdig.com/chris_hedges

[Mogambo Guru]

Well, I see he is a socialist... too bad. He is very knowledgeable in some areas. But some of the things he gripes against, are socialist problems.. I dont get it... I guess he places the blame in the wrong places with many things.

Sucks, here I thought I came across a breath of fresh air... I still do like his recent column on education, and the destruction of "thinking" and "knowledge" in our system.

When I am reading some of his stuff, it seems as if he is bashing the socialist collective dumbed down agenda... but he isnt.

Socialist or not, he does make some good points.

Anyone else familiar with him?

[TheeJoeGlass]

Hedges is a clown. He is a hardcore socialist.

Edit: I was thinking of a different writer. Hedges is not a clown. He is however, a socialist.

[TheeJoeGlass]

This is a good read.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/hedges8.html

[Mogambo Guru]

This is a good read.

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig4/hedges8.html

Hey thanks, I'll check it out..

Here was the first thing I ever read from hedges.

By Chris Hedges

A nation that destroys its systems of education, degrades its public information, guts its public libraries and turns its airwaves into vehicles for cheap, mindless amusement becomes deaf, dumb and blind. It prizes test scores above critical thinking and literacy. It celebrates rote vocational training and the singular, amoral skill of making money. It churns out stunted human products, lacking the capacity and vocabulary to challenge the assumptions and structures of the corporate state. It funnels them into a caste system of drones and systems managers. It transforms a democratic state into a feudal system of corporate masters and serfs.

Teachers, their unions under attack, are becoming as replaceable as minimum-wage employees at Burger King. We spurn real teachers—those with the capacity to inspire children to think, those who help the young discover their gifts and potential—and replace them with instructors who teach to narrow, standardized tests. These instructors obey. They teach children to obey. And that is the point. The No Child Left Behind program, modeled on the “Texas Miracle,” is a fraud. It worked no better than our deregulated financial system. But when you shut out debate these dead ideas are self-perpetuating.

Passing bubble tests celebrates and rewards a peculiar form of analytical intelligence. This kind of intelligence is prized by money managers and corporations. They don’t want employees to ask uncomfortable questions or examine existing structures and assumptions. They want them to serve the system. These tests produce men and women who are just literate and numerate enough to perform basic functions and service jobs. The tests elevate those with the financial means to prepare for them. They reward those who obey the rules, memorize the formulas and pay deference to authority. Rebels, artists, independent thinkers, eccentrics and iconoclasts—those who march to the beat of their own drum—are weeded out.

[lester1/2jr]

I read his book "war is a force that gives us meaning." It was good, about how governments would turn on the war talk when they were on the outs with their people and so forth.

Some of these counterpunch type leftists are okay on some things.

[Mogambo Guru]

I read his book "war is a force that gives us meaning." It was good, about how governments would turn on the war talk when they were on the outs with their people and so forth.

Some of these counterpunch type leftists are okay on some things.

This was a pretty good interview. I am going to check out his book "Empire of Illusion" from the library.


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


Thanks for the input guys.

[raiha]

Why do people think that anyone who leans left is automatically socialist? In this country, you would even call our right wing parties, socialist.
It's all a spectrum. I also notice on the forum that anyone who manifests any humanitarian impusle is at risk of being labelled socialist.
It seems a rather silly impulse.

Chris Hedges wrote a great book called "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America." I guess that makes him a socialist.

[Mogambo Guru]

Why do people think that anyone who leans left is automatically socialist? In this country, you would even call our right wing parties, socialist.
It's all a spectrum. I also notice on the forum that anyone who manifests any humanitarian impusle is at risk of being labelled socialist.
It seems a rather silly impulse.

Chris Hedges wrote a great book called "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America." I guess that makes him a socialist.

He is an open, admitted, socialist... That doesnt mean you cant listen to anything he says, because like I said, he has some VERY good points. I like a lot of the things he says but, sometimes I am left scratching my head with him too.

[TheeJoeGlass]

He is an open, admitted, socialist... That doesnt mean you cant listen to anything he says, because like I said, he has some VERY good points. I like a lot of the things he says but, sometimes I am left scratching my head with him too.

Yea, Hedges does not shy away from the socialist banner. He is a Lawrence O'donnell guy. But I actually like the fact that they claim they are socialist, instead of trying to hide it like all the rest do.