Empire of Illusion, the End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle by Chris Hedges. Alfred A. Knopf Canada. 2009. (232 pages). Reviewed by Donald R. Officer.
This selective critique of contemporary America and the world it has created is a scathing condemnation of the culture worthy of an old testament prophet. The author has picked five entry points to make his argument: first he homes in on professional wrestling, then he pillories the pornography industry, next he singles out the universities, after which he points an angry finger at the positive psychology movement and finally concludes with a high level critical over flight of the entire United States today. As has been noted by other reviewers, the book reads like a series of essays, each one more argumentative and tendentious than the one before. By the last chapter essay there is considerably more opinion than reporting, more general than particular, more subjective than objective.
Chris Hedges was a foreign correspondent for almost two decades during which he covered Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. When he spoke at the Festival, we were reminded what hot spots those places were and alas many still are. Hedges reports for many publications including a 15-year stint with the New York Times and assignments with Harper’s, the New York Review of Books, Granta and Mother Jones. This is his third book after bestsellers War is a Force that Gives us Meaning and American Fascists. The author’s bona fides as his credits attest are impressive and include a Pulitzer Prize for journalism.
To understand this book you need to appreciate Hedges’ background. He was raised in the social gospel, an approach to Christianity promoting Jesus’ message of sacrifice and heartfelt reform into the daily midst of individual and institutional life. The altruistic message of the social gospel seems to have disappeared totally with the fundamentalism and feel good churches of today. The author has also seen the ugly consequences of American foreign policy close up. The contrast with the excessive hedonism he describes in this book could only inspire disgust in anyone of sensibility. Finally, we need to appreciate Hedges’ survival instincts, products of risky, violent, in your face environments. He reminded us when answering questions that oblivious, inattentive optimists live short lives in war zones. Was he applying his front line lessons astutely to the wider wicked world or is he suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, a legacy from those rough and tumble days?
Not all this author’s arguments are fair and balanced. The excesses of wrestling, reality television and pornography cross the lines of ethics and good behavior. However, is every component of these distorted genres pure evil? Might some aspects of these vulgar entertainments be more or less harmless if distasteful outlets? The universities, to be sure have much to account for in the way they grind out degrees drain the bank accounts of the upwardly mobile and continue to favor the scions of the elites. However, I have researched the Appreciative Inquiry and Positive Psychology movements in other contexts and have to say that not all their practitioners are corporate shills or charlatans.
The author of Empire of Illusion follows many of the conventions of the “new” journalism that became somewhat prominent during the eighties. Writers adhering to this technique or sub genre try to report as accurately as they can from their perspective, but deliberately put themselves in the scene as indeed they originally were. In one sense, this style is more objective as it accounts for the writer’s own presence while it also identifies his or her imperfect recollection and framework of understanding. The technique is borrowed from fiction of course and still remains controversial to some readers. Is Chris Hedges’ outrage an appropriate part of the story? Does his rhetoric improve our understanding or cloud the issues? It’s debatable, but the author’s fervor is authentic and that comes through in the intensity of the prose and a righteous indignation that imprints itself on the reader's mind.
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Empire of Illusion, the End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle by Chris Hedges. Alfred A. Knopf Canada. 2009. (232 pages). Reviewed by Donald R. Officer.
This selective critique of contemporary America and the world it has created is a scathing condemnation of the culture worthy of an old testament prophet. The author has picked five entry points to make his argument: first he homes in on professional wrestling, then he pillories the pornography industry, next he singles out the universities, after which he points an angry finger at the positive psychology movement and finally concludes with a high level critical over flight of the entire United States today. As has been noted by other reviewers, the book reads like a series of essays, each one more argumentative and tendentious than the one before. By the last chapter essay there is considerably more opinion than reporting, more general than particular, more subjective than objective.
Chris Hedges was a foreign correspondent for almost two decades during which he covered Central America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. When he spoke at the Festival, we were reminded what hot spots those places were and alas many still are. Hedges reports for many publications including a 15-year stint with the New York Times and assignments with Harper’s, the New York Review of Books, Granta and Mother Jones. This is his third book after bestsellers War is a Force that Gives us Meaning and American Fascists. The author’s bona fides as his credits attest are impressive and include a Pulitzer Prize for journalism.
To understand this book you need to appreciate Hedges’ background. He was raised in the social gospel, an approach to Christianity promoting Jesus’ message of sacrifice and heartfelt reform into the daily midst of individual and institutional life. The altruistic message of the social gospel seems to have disappeared totally with the fundamentalism and feel good churches of today. The author has also seen the ugly consequences of American foreign policy close up. The contrast with the excessive hedonism he describes in this book could only inspire disgust in anyone of sensibility. Finally, we need to appreciate Hedges’ survival instincts, products of risky, violent, in your face environments. He reminded us when answering questions that oblivious, inattentive optimists live short lives in war zones. Was he applying his front line lessons astutely to the wider wicked world or is he suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, a legacy from those rough and tumble days?
Not all this author’s arguments are fair and balanced. The excesses of wrestling, reality television and pornography cross the lines of ethics and good behavior. However, is every component of these distorted genres pure evil? Might some aspects of these vulgar entertainments be more or less harmless if distasteful outlets? The universities, to be sure have much to account for in the way they grind out degrees drain the bank accounts of the upwardly mobile and continue to favor the scions of the elites. However, I have researched the Appreciative Inquiry and Positive Psychology movements in other contexts and have to say that not all their practitioners are corporate shills or charlatans.
The author of Empire of Illusion follows many of the conventions of the “new” journalism that became somewhat prominent during the eighties. Writers adhering to this technique or sub genre try to report as accurately as they can from their perspective, but deliberately put themselves in the scene as indeed they originally were. In one sense, this style is more objective as it accounts for the writer’s own presence while it also identifies his or her imperfect recollection and framework of understanding. The technique is borrowed from fiction of course and still remains controversial to some readers. Is Chris Hedges’ outrage an appropriate part of the story? Does his rhetoric improve our understanding or cloud the issues? It’s debatable, but the author’s fervor is authentic and that comes through in the intensity of the prose and a righteous indignation that imprints itself on the reader's mind.