Produced by:
KBOO
Program::
Air date:
Wed, 09/01/2010 - 9:00am to 10:00am
Chris Hedges on how our celebrity culture obscures the real issues of our society
Journalist and author Chris Hedges speaks on “EMPIRE OF ILLUSION: THE END OF LITERACY AND THE TRIUMPH OF SPECTACLE."
CD-2130
Comments
A Leftist Attempt at Being Right
<P>That's my summation of Chris Hedges' "reading" on today's "Political Perspectives".</P>
<P>I found it remarkable that someone who clearly hasn't researched his subject matter would feel the need to share his "insight". He criticised the nature of "Corporations" for creating the monster that is this "Celebrity Culture", then continued into a misinformed, denigrating "outline" of Michael Jackson's "life and death".</P>
<P>Really? The only example of the machinations of "Celebrity-ism" was Michael Jackson?</P>
<P>Fair enough. I'm sure Hedges took time to listen to the song lyrics to understand the trials and tribulations of living within the "Celebrity" machine. Sure of it.</P>
<P>Oh, wait. No. Hedges' painful Shatner-esque "reading" is a compilation of every tabloid headline during Jackson's life and after his death.</P>
<P>Thank goodness Hedges was able to provide us with this unique insight.</P>
<P>How does that relate to economics? I've no idea. I've been subjected to more -isms "socialism, communism", yet other than tossing about buzzwords, Hedges has left me with nothing more.</P>
<P>Perhaps no one could better epitomise an "empire of illusion" and ILliteracy better than Hedges. He's created an illusion that he knows of what he speaks.</P>
<P>~Paula</P>
Nail on head
<p>I agree.</p>
<p>I have always found Hedges off-putting in the way that he's the classic, effete liberal that gives the intellectual left a bad image. And the way he intones from up high like a pontiff is even more embarrassing, almost to the point of parody.</p>
<p>And I say this, having read and rather enjoyed a few of his articles and found his book <em>War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning</em> rather profound.</p>
<p>Don't know why he'd take pot-shots at a cultural icon like Michael. There are plenty of other, more valid sitting ducks in our pop-culture shooting gallery. Maybe it's a personal dislike of Hedges. Why not pick on someone like Elton John, who can buy his way above the predations of class and sexual discrimination in our society by playing at Rush Limbaugh's wedding? But maybe it's just me loathing Elton's music.</p>
<p>Hedges' lectures make me cringe, though. It reminds me why so many leftist's attempts to transmit propaganda fail and why a simpleton like Glenn Beck can pack Washington DC.</p>
<p>Most liberals can't get over themselves trying to sound morally and intellectually superior. They can't resist throwing in quotes by or name-checking ostentatious names like Theodor Adorno (I just did it, but am embarrassed to admit that I did it much more frequently and unironically when I was younger), Noam Chomsky and others. I think lots of people find it off-putting, rather than illuminating.</p>
<p>I'm just saying there needs to be a middle ground between high-brow intellectualism and lowbrow pandering, I guess. Unibrow? I don't know.</p>
<p> </p>
It comes down to that, yeah
Yeah, more unibrow! LOL!