Updated: July 30, 2009 added link to transcript
Interviews with Chris Hedges
Featured Writer
Dandelion Salad
thomhartmann
July 21, 2009
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Author Targets Pop Culture’s ‘Empire Of Illusion’
Image by Dandelion Salad via Flickr
NPR
Talk of the Nation, July 21, 2009
In his new book, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, Chris Hedges describes the polarities of the two societies he says we are now living in: One side is based in reality and able to separate illusion from truth; the other side is rooted in fantasy. The latter, Hedges says, is the growing majority. The Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist talks about Empire of Illusion and what he views as the erosion of American culture.
Guest: Chris Hedges, author of Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, and foreign correspondent for the New York Times for 15 years.
Listen at: NPR
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Updated
Transcript: Chris Hedges, “Empire of Illusion”
21 July 2009
Thom interviews Chris Hedges about his book “Empire of Illusion”, 21 July 2009
Thom: Is the world dying? Is our culture dying? Is this mess one that we have created ourselves? Is this something that is unique to the United States? Is it planet wide? What’s going on here? Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize winner, his new book, “Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle.” And for our listeners in Portland, listening on AM 620 KPOJ, Chris is going to be at Powell’s tonight on Burnside, the legendary bookstore, at 7:30 tonight, and it should be a lot of fun. But he’s in the studio with us live here today. Chris, welcome to the show.
Chris Hedges: Thank you, Thom.
[…]
via Transcript: Chris Hedges, “Empire of Illusion”, 21 July 2009 | Thom Hartmann.
see also:
OpEdNews – The end of American empire — closer than we think?
from the archives:
Dandelion Salad 
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Many so-called primitive people like the Native Americans had a great reverence for Mother Earth, other species, life itself, and the ecosystem, realizing that all life was tied together in one vast web. They believed ardently in “the sacred” as Chris Hedges expressed it. Now, as our scientific progress has increased and our knowledge of life and DNA has progressed, I am, having been trained as a scientist, even more impressed with life as something sacred. However, corporations and the capitalist system do not and see everything as a commodity, including life. They would privatize the sun and charge for sunshine if it were possible. The only possible answer is to get rid of the capitalist system and place reverence back on the unique and sacred quality of life.
Hear, hear!
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What a frightening, but all too real vision and analysis.