Chris Hedges: "Welcome to the Asylum"

This guy is so freaking smart.

I never really know what to think of him overall. I've read everything from he's ex-C.I.A. to a modern day prophet. He was staunchly behind the Occupy movement and had a lot to say about it, he actually encamped with them at some point I think or at least hung out there.

In this new piece he makes so many amazing connections and comparisons about the end our current type of civilization.

www.truthdig.com...

When civilizations start to die they go insane. Let the ice sheets in the Arctic melt. Let the temperatures rise. Let the air, soil and water be poisoned. Let the forests die. Let the seas be emptied of life. Let one useless war after another be waged. Let the masses be thrust into extreme poverty and left without jobs while the elites, drunk on hedonism, accumulate vast fortunes through exploitation, speculation, fraud and theft. Reality, at the end, gets unplugged...

...The quest by a bankrupt elite in the final days of empire to accumulate greater and greater wealth, as Karl Marx observed, is modern society’s version of primitive fetishism. This quest, as there is less and less to exploit, leads to mounting repression, increased human suffering, a collapse of infrastructure and, finally, collective death...

...When the most basic elements that sustain life are reduced to a cash product, life has no intrinsic value. The extinguishing of “primitive” societies, those that were defined by animism and mysticism, those that celebrated ambiguity and mystery, those that respected the centrality of the human imagination, removed the only ideological counterweight to a self-devouring capitalist ideology. Those who held on to pre-modern beliefs, such as Native Americans, who structured themselves around a communal life and self-sacrifice rather than hoarding and wage exploitation, could not be accommodated within the ethic of capitalist exploitation, the cult of the self and the lust for imperial expansion...

...The demented project of endless capitalist expansion, profligate consumption, senseless exploitation and industrial growth is now imploding...

At the end he makes the fairly remarkable argument that capitalism is fueled by the guilt cult of religion because we all feel chronically inadequate. Can't argue with that! LOL!

The piece is very accurate, compelling and pretty damn depressing. The comments are insightful too. I'm just wondering what others think of the thesis of the article and Hedges himself. Also, what are some of your favorite articles that he has written?

IMHO, I think Hedge's nails it.

To me the world feels like when you have stayed way to long at a party that was a bit to raunchy. People have lost their self-control, they stop pretending. You see who they really are. You see a bit too much in fact. It's all just so over the top, nothing that happens should surprise us. And that's really scary because I really don't want to know how it could get worse...

Nice post...interesting read. The funny thing I was thinking while reading it (and agreeing with its fundamental tenets) is how criticising capitalism is almost forbotten. It's like a different form of societal PC, where if you criticize the capitalist model, you get accused of something that you're not necessarily saying either.

I just recently saw a huge flaw in capitalism with a news story that made the national rounds recently (I'll paraphrase it without finding the specific name of the drug, etc., but most will probably remember the story as it's only a few months old). However, there is a certain form of cancer that only occurs in children, and is easily treatable with a very inexpensive drug. Sounds great, right? Children, easily treatable, inexpensive treatment. Wonderful! Well, the nation ran out of the drug because it was so inexpensive that everyone just stopped making it. That's a failure of capitalism. When money is driving too much such that a child-born cancer that can be easily treated for little money goes unfunded due to lack of profit, the monster is revealed.

Peace...

reply to post by KillerQueen


Well I found this and was going to post it but it looks like you already did.

Starred & Flagged.

I really hope everyone reads this article.



America is dying, our entire planet is dying IF we don't stop being so darn compliant, distracted, dumbed down (gee think it could be the Fluoride in the water or Chemtrails, how about the cell towers?????

When the most basic elements that sustain life are reduced to a cash product, life has no intrinsic value. The extinguishing of "primitive" societies, those that were defined by animism and mysticism, those that celebrated ambiguity and mystery, those that respected the centrality of the human imagination, removed the only ideological counterweight to a self-devouring capitalist ideology. Those who held on to pre-modern beliefs, such as Native Americans, who structured themselves around a communal life and self-sacrifice rather than hoarding and wage exploitation, could not be accommodated within the ethic of capitalist exploitation, the cult of the self and the lust for imperial expansion. The prosaic was pitted against the allegorical. And as we race toward the collapse of the planet's ecosystem we must restore this older vision of life if we are to survive.

The war on the Native Americans, like the wars waged by colonialists around the globe, was waged to eradicate not only a people but a competing ethic. The older form of human community was antithetical and hostile to capitalism, the primacy of the technological state and the demands of empire. This struggle between belief systems was not lost on Marx. The Ethnological Notebooks of Karl Marx is a series of observations derived from Marx's reading of works by historians and anthropologists. He took notes about the traditions, practices, social structure, economic systems and beliefs of numerous indigenous cultures targeted for destruction. Marx noted arcane details about the formation of Native American society, but also that "lands [were] owned by the tribes in common, while tenement-houses [were] owned jointly by their occupants." He wrote of the Aztecs, "Commune tenure of lands; Life in large households composed of a number of related families." He went on, "... reasons for believing they practiced communism in living in the household." Native Americans, especially the Iroquois, provided the governing model for the union of the American colonies, and also proved vital to Marx and Engel's vision of communism.

Marx, though he placed a naive faith in the power of the state to create his workers' utopia and discounted important social and cultural forces outside of economics, was acutely aware that something essential to human dignity and independence had been lost with the destruction of pre-modern societies. The Iroquois Council of the Gens, where Indians came together to be heard as ancient Athenians did, was, Marx noted, a "democratic assembly where every adult male and female member had a voice upon all questions brought before it." Marx lauded the active participation of women in tribal affairs, writing, "The women [were] allowed to express their wishes and opinions through an orator of their own election. Decision given by the Council. Unanimity was a fundamental law of its action among the Iroquois." European women on the Continent and in the colonies had no equivalent power.
Source and rest of article: www.democraticunderground.com...

Hope this thread is bumped up and given the notice it deserves as this concerns every single human now and to come.

The majority of ATSers are not aware of the manipulation, not by a long shot.

They think they are "awake and aware" but not by a long shot.

The video below explains a little of what we are going through and will continue to go through and get worse if people do not put down those darn remotes, Twilight novels, beer cans, Xboxes and Harry Potter movies.

This also is by Chris Hedges and this guy is one hell of a smart person IMO.



Found this video originally from another site not located here in the US and found this other site that cannot be mentioned here on ATS a lot more mature and informative as to what is going on globally.

Just the fact you cannot name a site is immature.

If IMO we were all working towards bettering the common man's lot and finding out WTH is really going on we would be united not divided.

"United we stand, divided we fall".

Description of video from You Tube

Further informations about Chris and topics addressed are available in favourites, play lists on my channel and complementary video responses. RT "America sees the' looting' of the US Treasury, and the money given to a Wall Street 'criminal class', journalist Chris Hedges told RT. He adds that ordinary people are caught in the vice of unregulated corporate capitalism -- with no escape."

Read my location..................now, until the Federal Reserves is REALLY AUDITED, disbanded and we stop bailing out the banks and our get rid of those in our government that are corrupt (about 98%) and start holding these corrupt people accountable, we're going to have more of the same.

More TSA scanners, more groping, more cameras, less privacy, more false flags, more war, more blood shed, more police brutality, more insanity.....................but people MUST become active.

Remain apathetic and lost in your own little world, not concerned for those around you or off in foreign lands and yes this will come back to bite us in the behind but good.

People need to wake up, unite and rebel or we all risk loosing what little freedoms we have left.

Naturally nobody cares.................you folks will get exactly what you deserve.

Don't care, don't research the suffering of the working class..............good luck, you are going to need it. Think this will not affect you..............okay, wait your turn is a coming.

They don't produce anything, they promise and then break those promises, because if you anger the super corporate powers you lose...............wake TFU.



Hello, wake the f up - we need to unite and rebel.

Originally posted by KillerQueen
This guy is so freaking smart.

I never really know what to think of him overall. I've read everything from he's ex-C.I.A. to a modern day prophet. He was staunchly behind the Occupy movement and had a lot to say about it, he actually encamped with them at some point I think or at least hung out there.

In this new piece he makes so many amazing connections and comparisons about the end our current type of civilization.

www.truthdig.com...

When civilizations start to die they go insane. Let the ice sheets in the Arctic melt. Let the temperatures rise. Let the air, soil and water be poisoned. Let the forests die. Let the seas be emptied of life. Let one useless war after another be waged. Let the masses be thrust into extreme poverty and left without jobs while the elites, drunk on hedonism, accumulate vast fortunes through exploitation, speculation, fraud and theft. Reality, at the end, gets unplugged...

...The quest by a bankrupt elite in the final days of empire to accumulate greater and greater wealth, as Karl Marx observed, is modern society’s version of primitive fetishism. This quest, as there is less and less to exploit, leads to mounting repression, increased human suffering, a collapse of infrastructure and, finally, collective death...

...When the most basic elements that sustain life are reduced to a cash product, life has no intrinsic value. The extinguishing of “primitive” societies, those that were defined by animism and mysticism, those that celebrated ambiguity and mystery, those that respected the centrality of the human imagination, removed the only ideological counterweight to a self-devouring capitalist ideology. Those who held on to pre-modern beliefs, such as Native Americans, who structured themselves around a communal life and self-sacrifice rather than hoarding and wage exploitation, could not be accommodated within the ethic of capitalist exploitation, the cult of the self and the lust for imperial expansion...

...The demented project of endless capitalist expansion, profligate consumption, senseless exploitation and industrial growth is now imploding...

At the end he makes the fairly remarkable argument that capitalism is fueled by the guilt cult of religion because we all feel chronically inadequate. Can't argue with that! LOL!

The piece is very accurate, compelling and pretty damn depressing. The comments are insightful too. I'm just wondering what others think of the thesis of the article and Hedges himself. Also, what are some of your favorite articles that he has written?

IMHO, I think Hedge's nails it.

To me the world feels like when you have stayed way to long at a party that was a bit to raunchy. People have lost their self-control, they stop pretending. You see who they really are. You see a bit too much in fact. It's all just so over the top, nothing that happens should surprise us. And that's really scary because I really don't want to know how it could get worse...

He only seems smart because you agree with him, since I disagree with him he seems to come across as a wacko form my perspective.

The number one problem with Western Civilization is leftists. Number two problem is corruption and organizational inefficiency. Eliminate those problems and things will smooth out. After all let's look at the issue of Domestic Violence. Every single peer reviewed, by the books study show DV as a human problem. A problem that both men and women deal with in relatively equal numbers.

Leftists defy reality and pathologically lie on this subject to paint as woman only problem. It makes you wonder what else leftists are capable of pathologically telling lies about.

Originally posted by ofhumandescent
Naturally nobody cares.................you folks will get exactly what you deserve.

Don't care, don't research the suffering of the working class..............good luck, you are going to need it. Think this will not affect you..............okay, wait your turn is a coming.

People care, I just think for some reason that there's not many around that are seeing what's going on. Either that or they're mostly in other forums around here. I get what you mean though and have been wondering about this too.

Originally posted by ofhumandescent
Naturally nobody cares.................you folks will get exactly what you deserve.

Don't care, don't research the suffering of the working class..............good luck, you are going to need it. Think this will not affect you..............okay, wait your turn is a coming.

edit on 1-5-2012 by ofhumandescent because: (no reason given)

Awww...your post kinda makes me sad. I'm sorry that you're hurting so much. You're not responsible for the weight of the world, try to unburden yourself. Peace my friend...

Very good thread, thank you for sharing it.

I like what the guy says about the Oligarchy...because it is true. (Or a plutocracy...name your poison).

Theodore Roosevelt (who was a Republican btw) tried to prevent where we are today from happening. He went head to head with the "Robber Barons" and industrial slave drivers. At the time and for many years, he produced sound and measurable results...but over time, the clever marketing of consumerism and the inherent distractions associated with it, caused us to take our eyes off the ball. We slipped in a selfish state of oblivion and self satisfaction, we ceased to care about the world around us and what was happening behind the curtains.

Our "New" class of "Robber Barons are so arrogant in their positions that they remind me of the Monarchies of the middle ages...their money is so old and has been handed down for so many generations...they have come to believe they are "above" the masses by divine right. They have became so detached from normal life they are no different than a King or Queen sitting on a throne in an Ivory Tower. "This is what I want and it will come to pass or many will suffer"...

But...to step back for a moment..."we" did this to ourselves. Not you and I literally, but "we the people". We allowed things like envy, lust, gluttony and greed to be the driving force of why we got up in the morning, why we fought traffic and cussed the guy in the car in front of us...and went into an office we loathed to be at...for money. Money to buy stuff we really didn't need...but it was shiny and pretty and my favorite sports star says it will make me happy, attractive and successful to have one.

Here is a couple vid's I like to share when the opportunity comes along. I enjoy them, I hope you do as well.

Originally posted by korathin

Originally posted by KillerQueen
This guy is so freaking smart.


He only seems smart because you agree with him, since I disagree with him he seems to come across as a wacko form my perspective.

The number one problem with Western Civilization is leftists. Number two problem is corruption and organizational inefficiency. Eliminate those problems and things will smooth out. After all let's look at the issue of Domestic Violence. Every single peer reviewed, by the books study show DV as a human problem. A problem that both men and women deal with in relatively equal numbers.

Leftists defy reality and pathologically lie on this subject to paint as woman only problem. It makes you wonder what else leftists are capable of pathologically telling lies about.

You still don't see the cage you are in. Please attempt to utilize an opened mind and re-evaluate you situation. I know that it may be frightening to you but please trust in your own ability, you can do it. Good Luck!