Empire of Illusion

by Hedges, Chris

• ISBN13: 9781568584379
• ISBN10: 1568584377
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-07-13
• Publisher: HACHETTE

Summary

The more we sever ourselves from a literate, print-based world-a world of complexity and nuance, a world of ideas-for one informed by comforting, reassuring images, fantasies, slogans, and a celebration of violence, the more we implode. We ask, like the wrestling fans or those who confuse love with pornography, to be fed lies. We demand lies. The skillfully manufactured images and slogans that flood the airwaves and infect our political discourse mask reality. And we do not protest. The lonely Cassandras who speak the truth about our misguided imperial wars, the global economic meltdown, and the imminent danger of multiple pollutions that are destroying the ecosystem that sustains the human species, are drowned out by arenas full of fans chanting "Slut! Slut! Slut!" or television audiences chanting "Jer-ry! Jer-ry! Jer-ry!" The worse reality becomes, the less a beleaguered population wants to hear about it and the more it distracts itself with squalid pseudo-events of celebrity breakdowns, gossip, and trivia. These are the debauched revels of a dying culture. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Chris Hedges is a senior fellow of The Nation Institute.

Table of Contents

The Illusion of Literacy	p. 1
The Illusion of Love	p. 55
The Illusion of Wisdom	p. 89
The Illusion of Happiness	p. 115
The Illusion of America	p. 141
Notes	p. 195
Acknowledgments	p. 205
Bibliography	p. 209
Index	p. 217
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.