No, not Rome. Hedges thinks they lead to
a post-democratic America.
We await the crisis. It could be economic. It could be a terrorist attack within the United States. It could be widespread devastation caused by global warming. It could be nationwide unrest as the death spiral of the American empire intensifies. It could be another defeat in our endless and futile wars. The crisis is coming. And when it arrives it will be seized upon by the corporate state, nominally led by a clueless real estate developer, to impose martial law and formalize the end of American democracy.
When we look back on this sad, pathetic period in American history we will ask the questions all who have slid into despotism ask. Why were we asleep? How did we allow this to happen? Why didn’t we see it coming? Why didn’t we resist?
...The failure of our capitalist democracy was collective. It was bred by ignorance, indifference, racism, bigotry and the seduction of mass propaganda. It was bred by elites, especially in the press, the courts and academia, who chose careerism over moral and intellectual courage. Our rights as citizens were taken from us one by one. There was hardly a word of protest.
5 comments:
Hedges is getting more and more apocalyptic, Moumd. He sees very little hope for the United States -- and the world.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs5hOhI4pEE
You've touched on something I've also noticed, Owen. I'm wondering if Hedges hasn't lost just a bit of perspective. Then again, in so many ways we're sailing through uncharted waters today - societally, economically, environmentally - that no one can tell how dire the reality may be. I'm finding it increasingly more difficult to make sense of developments, to string facts together and glimpse the greater picture.
On the other hand - what other perspective is there given what we know about our various and sundry self-inflicted predicaments?
Dana, I decided to expand that comment into a separate post, "The Thing Is, We Don't Know."
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