The Empire of Illusion

Hello all.

I just wanted to share a fantastic radio interview I heard the other day.

In this interview, Chris Hedges talks about a variety of things. He addresses what he calls our "empire of illusion". He compares our societies distractions to the circus in Rome, how we posture as celebrities and are generally clueless about the world around us.

He also discusses the fact that capitalism itself is not a democratic ideology, and what that means for us.

The interview is about an hour, but to all all who have the time or interest, it is definitely worth every moment. I think you can download the episode directly, but if not, the podcast is free.
CBC Ideas

Normally I dont give much credit to CBC, but this time, its well deserved.

Mods: Im not sure this is the right forum, but honestly I cant think of another place to put it. The issues discussed are key to understanding our social circumstances.



I also want to add, even though CBC is canadian, the interview focusses more on the US.

reply to post by osirys


Funny, Im actually readying his book right now on my kindle. Its good so far, he gets very in depth with the fake world that surrounds most of us, depriving us of a true sense of reality.

Check it out

www.amazon.com...

reply to post by Skerrako



Cool, thanks for the link. Ill have to check out the book.

That sounds interesting, I"ll check it out, thanks!

I have often considered that our world is an idealized world, one where people have all these "expectations" of how things "should" be......and our frustration lies in the fact our mental images often do not line up with reality.

This can lead to disorientation, loss of identity, lack of faith in our society and generally a sense of being detached from the world, as our isolation grows so does our distrust and fear.

Here is a quote from a poem, I think expresses this idea very well:


"between the idea
and the reality
Between the motion
and the act
Falls the shadow"

--TS Eliot
"The Hollow Men"

reply to post by Mijamija


Thats a good observation. I think your right in the sense that we have this ideal world we imagine, that isnt really there.

That could explain the roots of a lot of social issues.

Good poem to.