Analysis Of Chris Hedges 's Lecture On Empire Of Illusion

He remarks on how most Americans seem much more interested in what goes on in the daily lives of celebrities and reality television, as opposed to the detrimental health of the nation, the “bank collapses, wars, mounting poverty or the criminality of its financial class.” He goes on to compares Americans to psychopaths, stating that they share many similar traits like an incapacity for feeling guilt or remorse, grandiosity and self-importance, and a need for constant stimulation. We Americans are only concerned with ourselves, we view fame and fortune as the ultimate goal and have no qualms with stepping over friends and family to achieve it. With consumers in this state of mind, media and corporations make billions of dollars by helping assure everyone that we don't have to worry about others, that “everything is

Saunders criticizes the megaphone, claiming it places priority on entertaining, profitable news as opposed to news that is educational or enlightening. Saunders furthers this claim by arguing that news media is habitually over-simplifying complicated issues, thus desensitizing the masses to stupidity and frivolity. Saunders’ essay is important because although it was published in 2007, it is still relevant (and will most likely be relevant as long as media exists). In fact, the points he makes in this essay are even more relatable now, as social media has increased greatly in popularity. Everywhere you look, there is a new “breaking story” about the Kardashians or the Jenners; and people accept this as real news! Saunders’ essay encourages readers to be critical of mass media and seek out undiluted, uncontaminated, earnest news

The first part of Gitlin’s argument claims that the mass media smothers students with unfiltered, meaningless, and distracting information, relying heavily on students’ lack of self-identity to obtain their attention. To portray this claim, in paragraphs one, two, and three, the author sets up a scenario depicting an everyday American’s media-controlled life. For example, Gitlin uses hypothetical diction like words such as, “suppose,” “for the sake of,” “suppose,” and “assume,” (251) this hypothetical diction creates a theoretical atmosphere and tone that hints to the audience that this “fictional” scenario is similar to our reality, which in turn affirms Gitlin’s message. In addition to that, when Gitlin continues to add on to his scenario, he utilizes short

Chris Hedges’ “American Psychosis” is one author’s explanation behind the perceived degradation of America, attributing this decay mostly to a nationwide engrossment in the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Hedges further purports that the American government itself is behind making famous people front-and-center at all times, so that the populace has no chance to focus on the nation’s actual problems. He suggests that this reality TV state-of-mind turns life into a “world of unadulterated competition” where our attention-craving society discards the losers “like Styrofoam boxes that held junk food”. Those ‘excess’ human beings who cannot keep up with the endless quest for notoriety, he contends, end up unemployed, imprisoned, or homeless, because the only worth humans have in the modern world is their ability to make headlines. The final piece of his article is dedicated to fomenting some kind of vengeful revolution against celebrity culture, in which the public purges itself of inconsequential distractions so that they can once again separate illusion from reality.

Insider trading became a more dangerous operation as the SEC and Department of Justice enforced American laws. Meanwhile, American politics became increasingly associated with wealth. Campaigns became more expensive and with the upcoming election, the Electoral College may select Jeb Bush, fulfilling his role as the third member of what effectively is the Bush dynasty or a Clinton to start the Clinton dynasty. The American government is eliminating the American Dream of individualistic success and instead conjoining economic prowess with political dominance. In practice, the stratified distribution of wealth and the American government system is evolving into a hierarchical regime with dynasties and minimal universal economic opportunities. Over the past thirty years over 50 percent of the wealth has been retained by the top .1% of Americans (Karimi). Instead of regular change, now scarcely does an inventor or hedge fund manager join those leading America. In practice, equal opportunity has become limited to those who already own capital. The American Identity no longer entails the American Dream, but rather is reverting to historical European practices. The United States’ government is an aristocratic republic with growing totalitarian powers. The current American identity is becoming a restricted form of economic determinism with minimal social

In the excerpt from Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges, he argues that “the most essential skill” in political leaders is artifice. This means that a political leader’s connection with their citizens is fake and created purely with propaganda. The issue at hand is that too many political leaders are using artifice and are deceiving all of their citizens and are then able to lead as they want and not as their citizens wish. The most essential skill for a political leader should be a balance of skills and not just one skill; Integrity, being honorable, being a good communicator should all be skills (and more) a politician should have to be a great ruler.

I agree with Hedges' point that the U.S. has been bought and sold to Corporate America. I think most people know that. Whatever one wishes to call it - Corporate Fascism, Inverted Totalitarianism, Late Stage Capitalism, Industrial Civilization - it's clear to many people, not just leftists, that the entire

In Stuart Ewen’s All Consuming Images, the preface “Introduction to the New Edition” opens by giving the audience varying progressing images, from break dance to Madonna to Windows 95. This demonstrates a fast change in society: what matters in the history may not be an important issue now. Ewen then questions how a book written earlier still remains important and deserves republication. The book is durable because of the fact that it was written when the idea “images are everywhere” begins to develop. From political stand point, all the images, or specifically propaganda, that people see are to manipulate people’s emotions. In economic sphere, due to the ubiquitous advertising, marketing

Celebrity culture is a mixture of good and bad for society because it makes people complacent with issues that are wrong just to stay in the public eye, like whitewashing and sexism but also can help fight against those issues. For example, most shows are filled with straight, white guys as if other people, like POC, LGBT and women don't exist. Even if a show is centered around a women, the show is about there relationship with men, or has a romantic dynamic to it. Also, female celebrities are controlled by ageism where they are deemed “unworthy” or “too old” once they hit a certain age while men can be expected to continue acting and being in the spotlight far older than women would ever be allowed. Like how Scout Durwood states in “Pop Culture-

Diana Kendall, author of Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumption, devotes much of her opinions in this article to the definitions of certain types of “framing”. These include but are not limited to, consensus framing, admiration framing, emulation framing, and price-tag framing. She describes framing as a human error in processing media negatively which in turn affects certain people depending on their income and lifestyle. Her take on the media is what many agree on yet are not as eager to argue. One direct example of this is the TV show, The Simple Life. This show was created by Mary-Ellis Bunim and Jonathan Murray to showcase the lives Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie have never been exposed to. The purpose was to

The article “Framing Class, Vicarious Living, and Conspicuous Consumptions” by Diana Kendall sparks the idea that social inequality may be a product of our media-driven society, but is media really to blame or is it a scapegoat in order to leave any personable responsibility out of the picture? Kendall writes “the media do not simply mirror society; rather, they help to shape it and to create cultural perceptions” (315). Although this statement holds validity, one could argue that it may be the other way around. Maybe it’s society that influences media, which in turn causes media to market for us in a more relatable fashion, for the main goal of media is to advertise to a relatable audience. There is no denying that media holds the high ground

For this reason, living conditions for a large part of core nations is truly gratifying. The elite classes delight in a more comfortable life. Sitting in their ivory towers, they dictate to the working and lower classes. However, when affairs become too expensive for these elites, lifestyles are not a commodity they willingly surrender. Therefore, they cut back through American jobs. The obvious choice is to outsource for cheaper wages. These reductions come at the cost of employment for the American workers. Consequently, because of these cuts, American workers struggle with maintaining a household. “These understandable concerns over job losses due to services outsourcing often produce a political response that would move to restrict

Have you ever wondered what influences us to behave the way we do? Look a certain way? Or even looked for an explanation to what causes us to apply a certain perspective regarding personal and controversial issues? One of the answers to these questions may revolve around the influence we absorb from celebrities. A definitive term for celebrity is an iconic figure to a category or group who has achieved success in one or multiple aspects of their lives. As a result, these individuals have drawn in publicity and fame. Over the years with the advances in media and other forms of communication, celebrities have become topics of discussion worldwide, rather if it’s at school, with colleagues or at the dinner table, it is fair to say that

People were not exposed to barrage of news about celebrities a couple of decades ago. Mass media is becoming more garden because of rapid progress on technology day by day. Thereby, people are substantially interested in the private life of celebrities, and some of them are obsessed with celebrities. They desire to know everything about them. For instance, who is dating with whom, where they are shopping, or what they wear. In a word public have an endless hunger for more information. However, the public doesn't have the right to know about every single detail of celebrities' private lives due to several reasons.

Advertisements work in such a way that we grow to envy those we are not; they exploit our perceived flaws by displaying a person who is the living and breathing version of who we wish to be. John Berger in his book, Ways of Seeing, explains that publicity works by convincing his reader that advertisements use envy to entice the public to buy products: “Publicity persuades us...by showing us people who have apparently been transformed and are, as a result, enviable” (131). Though Berger published his book in 1972, his arguments about envy and publicity still hold truth, perhaps now more than ever. Furthermore, the more present advertisements are in our everyday life, the more envious our society becomes. With the power of envy, those who fall under its spell become choiceless, and therefore powerless. Berger also argues in his book that there is a correlation between the number of advertisements we see and the less freedom Americans possess. However, Berger believes that capitalism hides this powerlessness with the illusion of choice: “Publicity helps to mask and compensate for all that is undemocratic within society” (149). This idea Berger has relates not only to the advertisement of products, but also to present-day politics. Withheld information creates power using envy which is used in both advertisements and the US government. As more envy is created with modern day technology, and we become more immersed into social media, the further we stray from democracy.