What this covers
Pirate TV welcomes back Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges for the 6th time. In his current book, America: The Farewell Tour, Hedges, takes a close look at the array of pathologies that have arisen out of a profound malaise of hopelessness as the society disintegrates due to the "slow moving [corporate] Coup d'état" instituted by the ruling classes in the '70s in reaction to the activist movements and reforms of the '60s. This disintegration has resulted in an epidemic of diseases of despair and a civil society that has ceased to function. Hedges asserts that the opioid crisis, the rise of magical thinking, the celebration of sadism, and a host of other ills are the physical manifestations of a society ravaged by corporate pillage and a failed democracy. Join Hedges for a sobering discussion of the changing landscape of our country—and a poignant cry from communities across America that seeks to jolt us out of complacency while there is still time.
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times where he served as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and NPR. He writes a weekly column for the online magazine Truthdig out of Los Angeles and is host of the Emmy Award–winning RT America show “On Contact.” He is the author of the bestsellers American Fascists, Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt, and was a National Book Critics Circle finalist for War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning.
Thanks to Town Hall Seattle, Seattle University & Third Place Books Recorded 10/8/18
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Hedges argues that the United States has undergone a corporate coup d'état resulting in inverted totalitarianism, the collapse of democratic institutions, and systemic decay mirroring the fall of past empires, requiring sustained mass civil disobedience and rebuilding of social movements to prevent fascism and ecological collapse.
- Neoliberal corporate capture has eliminated authentic democracy, leaving only electoral theater while corporate power controls all institutions
- Economic mismanagement, military overreach, and elite disconnection from reality accelerate imperial decay following historical patterns documented in Rome and Greece
- Only sustained nonviolent mass civil disobedience, not electoral politics or third-party voting, can build countervailing power to resist totalitarianism
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Emile Durkheim's research on suicide identified that communities and individuals most protected against self-destruction were those with strong social bonds and space for individual self-expression and self-actualization, while those engaging in self-destruction came from communities where social bonds and capacity for self-actualization had been destroyed—a state Durkheim called anomie.
“Durkheim, when he writes his book on suicide, uh he found that those communities and individuals who were least likely to engage in acts of self-destruction were those who had strong social bonds and provided space for individual self-expression and self-actualization. That was the greatest protection against collective or individual suicide.”
The decline of Athenian democracy was caused by the rise of the Athenian empire, which required a central bureaucratic structure that was unelected and undemocratic, weakening the polis and creating an oligarchic class that eventually seized control, as Thucydides noted: 'the tyranny that Athens imposed on others it finally imposed on itself.'
“what kills the Athenian democracy is the rise of the Athenian empire because you need a central uh bureaucratic structure to maintain empire, which is unelected and undemocratic. And um the so, the weakening of the polis, of the city-states, um and the that that construction of empire gives rise to an oligarchic class, which finally takes control.”
Declining empires engage in what historians call 'micro militarism'—suicidal military fiascos like the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the Greek invasion of Sicily, and the British invasion of Egypt after Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal—demonstrating elite incompetence and disconnection from reality.
“at the end of empires, you begin decay, they engage, historians call it micro militarism, they carry out uh suicidal military fiascos. You saw the Soviet Union do this uh in Afghanistan, uh the Greeks, when they invaded Sicily, their entire fleet was sunk, most of their soldiers were killed, the empire disintegrates.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal was a response to powerful radical movements (Progressive Party, labor unions like the CIO, the Communist Party) that threatened revolution; Roosevelt understood that if the private sector couldn't create jobs, the government would, and this pressure from movements forced the oligarchic elite to concede reforms that saved capitalism rather than allowing revolution.
“Roosevelt is keenly aware of the powerful movements, uh the Progressive Party, the labor unions like the CEO, uh the CIO, but also the Communist Party, who we've kind of erased from our history but played an important role in American radicalism. And he says, 'If we don't respond, we'll get revolution and we'll lose everything.' And so that's it was that pressure that led Roosevelt, who came from the oligarchic elite, to say, 'Well, if the private sector can't create jobs, then the government will create jobs.' And he creates 12 million jobs.”
Revolutions succeed only when a segment of the ruling apparatus defects; Eastern European revolutions of 1989 demonstrate this: when local communist authorities refused to deploy elite paratroop divisions and police refused to crush protesters, communist regimes fell in weeks—proof that the good draws to it the good.
“no revolution succeeds as the writers of revolutionary theory, Crane Brinton, Davies, and others have noted, unless a certain segment of the ruling apparatus defects. Then they're finished... Honecker, the communist dictator in East Germany, sends down an elite paratroop division to Leipzig to crush the demonstrations. They get there. The local communist authorities refuse to deploy them. Honecker's out of power in a week.”
Hannah Arendt identified that the embrace of the 'permanent lie'—where statements are impervious to reality and verifiable facts are denied—is a characteristic feature of totalitarian states that creates 'collective schizophrenia' as people see reality contradicted by official narrative.
“Hannah Arendt in The Origins of Totalitarianism writes that the embrace of the permanent lie, which is always a feature of totalitarian states, uh creates a kind of collective schizophrenia because you see reality or verifiable fact in front of you, and yet it's denied, it's denied, it's denied, it's denied.”
The American system was created as a closed system designed to prevent direct democracy; the Founding Fathers were terrified of populism and created mechanisms including the Electoral College specifically to thwart the ability of the populace to control their own governance.
“the system was created as a closed system. Um and you go back and read the Federalist Papers and they were terrified of direct democracy, of and they created all sorts of mechanisms including the Electoral College, which has given us the gift of George W. Bush and Donald Trump. Uh they created all sorts of mechanisms to thwart the ability of the populace, which they can often conflated with the mob.”
All democratic spaces in American society—labor rights, suffrage for women, civil rights—were paid for with the blood of working men and women, African Americans, and women in the suffragist movement, not granted by elites but extracted through struggle and sacrifice.
“all of the spaces in American society were paid for with the blood of working men and women, African Americans, women in the suffragist movement uh throughout American history”
Aristotle stated that once you have an oligarchy, your only choices are tyranny or revolution; democracy cannot exist alongside oligarchy
“You can't maintain a democracy in an oligarchy. Aristotle knew it. I mean, Aristotle said, once you have an oligarchy, your choice is between tyranny or revolution.”
Hedges argues one will never build a resistance movement within the span of an election cycle; movements must operate over long time horizons (like Syriza, which was polling at 4% ten years ago before gaining power in Greece).
“secondly, we're never going to build a resistance movement within the span of an election cycle. Um and we're going to have to walk out into the wilderness for a long time. Um Syriza, which governs Greece, and yes, I know about Tsipras caving into the banks, but Syriza was polling at 4% 10 years ago. Um we're going to have to go back and do that hard kind of work.”
Hedges wrote American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War in America after spending 2 years studying evangelical movements, finding they retreat into magical thinking to escape real suffering and despair
“I spent 2 years writing a book on them, American Fascists, the Christian Right and the War in America. It was my way of trying to reach out to them. I couldn't hear their stories without being moved. I mean, they do the suffering that they endure is real. Uh not just economic, but you know, all of the attendant problems that come with the rupture of social bonds, sexual domestic abuse, struggles with addictions, jail time, chronic underemployment, unemployment, all that. And so, finally, they they couldn't take it, and they retreated into the embrace of magic Jesus.”
The rapture theology of the Christian right is not biblical but apocalyptic fiction painting vivid images of non-believers' blood boiling and eyes popping out; this exhilaration of destroying the world comes from wanting to destroy a world that almost destroyed them
“none of it was biblical, it was painted as biblical. And the rapture's not in the Bible. Uh but it was all like, you know, the non-believers' blood will boil. I'm not making this up, and their eyes pop out, and all this gruesome stuff. And I realized then that the the exhilaration that they felt in that room for uh the end times was the exhilaration of being able to destroy a world that almost destroyed them.”
The job of activism is to pit power against power; right-to-work laws are destroying unions, and the system wants hyper-individualism rather than communal structures that enable collective resistance
“The job is to pit power against power. And I've told it before, but there's a moment in Kissinger's memoirs... Uh And of course, they're destroying the remnants of unions as fast as they can with the new right-to-work laws, and you can be sure now this Supreme Court I mean, the the whole perverted idea that individual choice or uh gender identity or something, it's all conflated with freedom. And that kind of hyper-individualism, and of course, I I support everybody to actualize themselves as who they were meant to be. But that that is essentially what we are given in place of freedom. The only way we're going to protect ourselves is to rebuild the communal structures, the social bonds that allow us to resist.”
Hedges worked at New York Times covering Middle East, spoke Arabic, spent 7 years in region, but was publicly denouncing Iraq invasion before it started and was given written reprimand for impugning Times' impartiality
“I left the New York Times over I was publicly denouncing the call to invade Iraq. And I was I was booed off of a commencement stage in Rockford, Illinois. At one point most of the 1,000 people got up and started singing God Bless America to drown me out. They cut my microphone twice. They had two men in their gowns come up and try and push me off the podium. Um that was my first and last commencement invitation. Uh And so the Times gave me a written reprimand. I was the Middle East bureau chief for the New York Times. I spent 7 years in the Middle East and I speak Arabic. And they said, 'You're not allowed to speak about Iraq.' And uh because I was in their words impugning the impartiality of the New York Times. And I quit. I left the paper.”
By the 1990s, the Democratic Party had achieved fundraising parity with Republicans and when Obama ran in 2008 he received more money, creating a 'faux liberal class'—people who maintain 'feel your pain' rhetoric while serving corporate interests, having completely sold out working people, which has generated deep resentment in the white working class.
“By the '90s, the Democratic Party had fundraising parity with the Republicans, and when Barack Obama ran in 2008, he got more. But that created the faux liberal class, a fake liberal class... And so you have people who continue to speak in that feel your pain language, but are have sold out working men and women.”
The notion that undocumented immigrants are responsible for American economic decline is no more rational than blaming 1% of the German population (800,000 Jews) for Weimar's collapse; both are examples of elites using scapegoating and demonization to divert attention from systemic failures.
“the whole idea that 11 or 12 million undocumented workers are responsible for the economic decline of the United States. It's about as as rational as the idea that 800,000 Jews, which were about 1% of Germany, were responsible for the collapse of It doesn't make any sense rationally.”
Freud identified two primary forces present at any moment in both individuals and societies: Eros (the capacity to nurture, protect, and sustain life) and Thanatos/the death instinct (the drive to annihilate every living system around you, including yourself), with one being ascendant at any given time.
“Freud would frame it differently, but I think also helpfully, uh where he said that at any moment in time, both within individuals and societies, uh one of the primary forces uh was ascendant, Eros, the capacity to nurture, protect, uh and sustain life, uh and uh the death instinct, post-Freudians later called it Thanatos, but the death instinct, that drive to annihilate every living system around you, including yourself.”
Working hard no longer guarantees advancement in the United States; as Barbara Ehrenreich documented, being poor in America is 'one long emergency' because corporate employers can hold wages so low that escape from poverty becomes impossible despite full-time work.
“as Barbara Ehrenreich pointed out in her great book Nickel and Dimed, nobody works harder than the poor in this country. Um and she describes being poor in this country as one long emergency. So, the idea that working hard is somehow going to allow you to advance um becomes a fiction.”
The Lewis Powell memo of 1971 was a blueprint for corporations to roll back progressive movements and seize control of all institutions including the courts, academia, and media in response to what political scientist Samuel Huntington called America's 'excess of democracy' in the 1960s.
“You had the Lewis Powell memo of 1971, which I'm sure you're aware of, which was the kind of blueprint that corporations used to uh roll back these movements and seize control of all of the institutions, and this goes back to the Kavanaugh issue, including the courts. Uh uh academia”
Roosevelt says his greatest achievement was saving capitalism, not democracy; after World War II, there was an assault not only on radical progressive movements but also on those movements that had opened up democratic space, and corporations undertook a systematic dismantling of the mechanisms that once protected workers and citizens from predatory corporate power.
“Roosevelt says his greatest achievement is that he saved democracy. I mean capitalism, not democracy. He saved capitalism.”
Marx and Karl Polanyi identified that unfettered, unregulated corporate capitalism has the capacity to commodify everything—human beings become commodities, the natural world becomes a commodity—and then exploits these until exhaustion or collapse, which is precisely what we are witnessing with climate catastrophe.
“This is described quite effectively by Marx when he writes about the latter the late stage of capitalism. He said when and Karl Polanyi is the other writer that captured this in his book The Great Transformation, that when you have unfettered, unregulated capitalism, corporate capitalism, that it is it has the capacity to commodify everything. Human beings become commodities, the natural world becomes a commodity, that it then exploits until exhaustion or collapse.”
The Christian right played an important role in destroying the welfare state, deindustrialization, and slashing social service programs through support for Clinton's NAFTA, destruction of the original welfare system (where 70% of recipients were children), deregulation of the FCC allowing corporate control of airwaves, and deregulation of banking that precipitated the 2008 crisis.
“The Christian right played an important part in this destruction with deindustrialization, slashing of social service programs, all of it much of it pinned on Clinton. Uh NAFTA, of course, but the destruction of the old welfare system. And 70% of the original recipients in our welfare system were children.”
James Baldwin identified that white working men are uniquely susceptible to midlife crisis because when white, they believe the meritocracy myth and expect to advance, then wake up to discover the system is rigged; black men face no such shock because they understand from the beginning that 'the game is fixed,' leading to white entitlement colliding with economic reality and generating susceptibility to demagogues like Trump.
“Baldwin, James Baldwin, who I love, and I don't really think you can understand America if you haven't read Baldwin. Uh but he writes about, why is it that white working men have are susceptible to a midlife crisis in a way black men are not? And he says it's because when you're black, you realize that the game is fixed. Whereas if you're white, you're more susceptible believe the myth of a meritocracy and you get ahead, and then you wake up and realize it's fixed.”
Sheldon Wolin was blacklisted in the 1980s for calling out neoliberalism as a con, and he said that even within Princeton's political science department where he taught, his own colleagues wouldn't speak to him.
“Wolin, in the 1980s, was one of those who called out neoliberalism for the con that it is. And he was immediately blacklisted. He couldn't He He's a quite a good writer, was quite a good writer. He used to write for the New York Review of Books. He was just purged. And he he said that even at the end within the political science department at Princeton, where he was teaching, his own colleagues wouldn't speak to him.”
Trump is not 'smart enough' to have strategically 'weaponized victimhood' as Trevor Noah suggests; rather, victimhood narratives predate Trump and emerged from economic meltdown and dispossession, where people retreated into 'mythical identities' when they 'lose work' and 'lose capacity to have a voice within the society.'
“I I don't think Trump's smart enough. Trump uh All of this was preceded Trump. I mean I was in Montgomery, Alabama with Bryan Stevenson...With the economic meltdown of Yugoslavia, the dispossession of the working class, they retreated into mythical identities because you lose work, you lose your capacity to have a voice within the society, then you retreat into a mythologized version of you and where you came from.”
Henry Kissinger's memoirs describe 1971 moment when Nixon watched tens of thousands of anti-war protesters outside White House, fearing they would break through barricades—this is where activism should place those in power
“there's a moment in Kissinger's memoirs, although you were all banned from buying the book, where uh it it's 1971, and Nixon is taking empty city buses around the White House. Uh there are tens of thousands of anti-war demonstrators, and Nixon is looking out the window going, 'Henry, they're going to break through the barricades and get us.' And that's where we want people in power to be. It's our job to put them there.”
Creationist Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky demonstrates magical thinking as organized theology; guides explain dinosaurs opened coconuts for Adam and Eve, baby dinosaurs were on Noah's ark
“I was in the Creationist Museum in Petersburg, Kentucky, uh which is kind of an amazing with huge lots for the school buses. On the first uh and they they brought in the people who did Universal Studios... And we're I'm going through with a guide, and she says, 'Well, I'm sure you all wonder why T-Rex had such big teeth.' That's because Adam and Eve used T-Rex to open the coconuts. And we go go to the next room, and it's a replica of Noah's ark, and she goes, 'I know you all want to know how Noah got the dinosaurs on the ark. He only put baby dinosaurs on the ark.'”
In 1928, the Nazi party was considered buffoons and Hitler couldn't speak proper German, but after the 1929 economic crash, desperate populations turned to them anyway; the lesson is that demagogues are always present but become dangerous only when economic collapse creates desperation that overcomes rational calculation.
“In 1928, the Nazis were considered buffoons. I mean Hitler couldn't even speak proper German. I mean they were just these weird characters. So 1929 comes, the you have the economic crash and then the control of the German government is in the hands of Ebert... What does Ebert do? He caters to the international banking system. He imposes draconian forms of austerity”
Political scientist Sheldon Wolin described the contemporary American system as 'inverted totalitarianism'—a crucial distinction from fascism because it privileges economic profit above all else while maintaining the facade of electoral politics and constitutional structures that are now controlled entirely by corporations.
“political scientist Samuel Huntington called America's {quote} excess of democracy. Uh you had the Lewis Powell memo of 1971... Sheldon Wolin, and read his book Democracy Incorporated, a very important book for me in terms of giving me a language to describe the system. He describes the American system now as what he calls inverted totalitarianism. Uh it's an important distinction from uh let's say fascism, uh because it's the primacy of economic profit over everything else”
Incarcerated people understand better than most that the system is calcified and reform will not come from within; prisoners led a national work stoppage in September 2018 demanding economic justice, knowing their action would result in solitary confinement, because they grasped that only breaking the system economically can produce change.
“I and I think it's an important lesson for all of us that our system is so calcified that reform will not come from within. It will only come from without. And as the Free Alabama uh the I don't know if you know about the Free Alabama movement, they did a work stoppage 2010 and then they put the leaders again in indefinite indefinite solitary confinement.”
At the outer reaches of empire, militarized police, wholesale surveillance, suspension or eradication of civil liberties, and militarized drones are first deployed against subjugated populations, but eventually these mechanisms of control are brought back to the homeland because the military becomes accustomed to using them.
“what happens at the outer reaches of empire, we see it in our own empire, militarized police, wholesale surveillance, the uh suspension or eradication of civil liberties, uh militarized drones, all of those mechanisms that are first carried out uh against those who are uh being subjugated within empire eventually come back to the homeland because your military, as ours is”
The US has lost control of both its government and its economy through a process John Ralston Saul calls 'the coup d'état in slow motion'—a systematic seizure of state power by corporate interests that eliminated authentic democratic governance.
“What's happened in the United States is uh a process that John Ralston Saul calls it the uh coup d'état in slow motion... we lost control of our government. Um we lost control of our economy.”
The liberal class in capitalist democracies functions as a safety valve: it critiques the excesses of the system but never the system itself, which allows the ruling class to tolerate criticism that doesn't threaten power, and as soon as critics attack the motives or structures of the ruling elites, the liberal class discredits and pushes them aside.
“that the liberal class functions as a kind of safety valve in moments of distress. And the reason in a capitalist democracy you tolerate the liberal class is because they set the parameters of acceptable debate. And as soon as critics on the left start attacking the structures or the motives of the ruling elites, the liberal class discredits them and pushes them aside. The liberal class can critique the excesses, but they never critique the system.”
Princeton University is fundamentally a corporation that produces systems managers rather than critical thinkers; the largest major at both Harvard and Princeton is computer science while humanities (which teach how to think, not what to think) are withering away because the system only wants people who will perpetuate it, not question it.
“Princeton is just a corporation uh like most of these universities. Uh you know, Harvard, the same. They They produce systems managers. The largest major at both Harvard and Princeton is computer science. Um uh the humanities are withering away. All of those mechanisms that teach us not what to think, but how to think.”
Blaming Trump's election on Comey, Podesta emails, or Russian bots is a way of refusing to address the massive social inequality that has distorted the system; you cannot maintain democracy in an oligarchy, as Aristotle knew, which makes Trump's election logical given structural conditions rather than contingent on external factors.
“The whole idea that Trump was elected because of Comey or the Podesta emails or Russian bots is frightening because it is a way of refusing to address the massive social inequality that has distorted our system. You can't maintain a democracy in an oligarchy. Aristotle knew it.”
Under the Eisenhower administration, the highest tax rates for the wealthiest individuals and corporations was 91%, demonstrating that solutions to contemporary fiscal problems exist but require willingness to tax the wealthy.
“Remember that the highest tax rates for the wealthiest individuals and corporations under the Eisenhower administration was 91%. I mean, people say, "Well, how are we going to pay for it? How are we going say, "Tax them." We're going to tax them at 91% like we used to.”
Trump is characteristic of figures who lead the Christian right (like Jan and Paul Crouch, Dobson): charismatic con artists who prey on people's despair and have become very wealthy doing so, similar to how Trump preyed on desperation at Atlantic City casinos
“Trump is absolutely characteristic of the figures who lead the Christian right. Um look, I've been in a room with some of them. The Jan and Paul Crouch, I went to their studios. Dobson, who is as frightening and evil as he looks. They preyed on people's despair, and they've become very wealthy because of it. They prey on that despair, in the same way that Trump preyed on the desperation of people who went into his casinos.”
Two distinct legal systems have emerged in the United States: one that criminalizes the poor through harsh enforcement, and another that allows financial elites like those at Goldman Sachs and Citibank to perpetrate massive fraud and orchestrate tax boycotts without prosecution.
“there are two rules. Matt Taibbi wrote a pretty good book about this called Divide, where he looked at the the legal mechanisms that criminalize the poor and the mechanisms that uh essentially allow the elites, Goldman Sachs, Citibank, uh to carry out massive acts of financial fraud and orchestrate tax boycotts, which they've done”
Emma Goldman said 'If elections were that effective, they'd be illegal'—implying that electoral politics cannot achieve systemic change and focus on elections prevents building actual power through movements
“as Emma Goldman, 'If elections were that effective, they'd be illegal.' Uh even if Sanders had won, he would have been paralyzed in Washington. We have to rebuild those movements. The job is to pit power against power.”
Anomie is a state of 'rulelessness' where the accepted rules of the social contract no longer function—when you work hard, get a good education, obey the law, and have the capacity to sustain community and fulfill yourself, yet these contracts are broken, you are thrust into anomie.
“he used the word anomie to describe that state that propels people to engage in activities uh of self-immolation. And it's interesting how you translate anomie. Literally, uh means rulelessness, meaning, in essence, the rules that govern or or the accepted rules of the social contract no longer function. So, you work hard, you get a good education, you obey the law, you have the capacity uh to sustain your community and make it flourish, and you have the capacity to fulfill yourself as an individual. When those contracts are broken, then you are thrust into a state of anomie.”
During the 1989 Velvet Revolution in Prague, a Charles University student named Jan Palach protested the 1968 Soviet invasion by lighting himself on fire, dying four days later; the communist regime suppressed his funeral and exhumed and cremated his remains when his grave became a shrine; after the communist government fell, 10,000 Czechs marched to Red Army Square and renamed it Jan Palach Square—exemplifying 'the good drawing to it the good.'
“I was in Prague. I was every evening in the Magic Lantern Theater with Václav Havel during the Velvet Revolution. You had posters all throughout the city of Jan Palach, a Charles University student who to protest the Soviet invasion in 1968 went to Wenceslas Square, lit himself on fire. Four days later he died of his burns. His funeral, which was not reported by state media, was broken up by police. When his grave became a shrine, his body was exhumed. His his remains were cremated, and his mother was not allowed to rebury them. A week after the communist government fell, 10,000 Czechs marched to Red Army Square and renamed it Jan Palach Square.”
No time remains for conventional strategies; climate change creates a timeline where mass civil disobedience becomes a moral imperative—we must stop being constrained by the 'tyranny of the practical' and act according to moral principle.
“We have no time left. Just from climate change, we have no time left. And in that sense resistance becomes a moral imperative. We have to stop being constrained by the tyranny of the practical.”
The US public broadcasting system (PBS, NPR) is controlled by corporate interests like the Koch brothers who sit on boards and fund major programs like NewsHour; in contrast, RT America, despite being state-funded, allows criticism of imperialism and capitalism that American public broadcasting prohibits.
“our our public broadcasting system, especially PBS, are wholly owned subsidiaries of the Koch brothers. You know, they fund the NewsHour, right? On PBS? Yeah. I was up at the public radio station in Boston. David Koch sits on the board.”
Half of Hedges' prison students wouldn't be incarcerated except for Clinton's policies; 76% recidivism rate within 5 years is maintained deliberately by private prison corporations and their lobbyists
“My students half of my students wouldn't even be in prison but for Bill Clinton. You know, half of the people in our prison system are not charged with ever physically harming another person? It's social control and corporations are going in there making a killing. Global Telink, Aramark. You know, every service it's a billion and their lobbyists are all down there making sure those recidivism rates of 76% within 5 years remain just where they are.”
Half of US discretionary spending is now spent on the military while roads are crumbling and 16 million children go to bed every night hungry, representing a fundamental misallocation of resources away from domestic welfare.
“your military, as ours is, I mean, half of our discretionary spending is now spent on the military and our roads are crumbling and 16 million children go to bed every night hungry”
CEO compensation is tied to stock prices, so executives buy back their company's own stock, inflating share prices to increase their compensation packages; Apple bought back approximately 100 million shares of its own stock, cheating stockholders while enriching executives.
“all the CEOs' compensation packages are tied to it. Um so, they're you know, they're they're even cheating their own stockholders ultimately. Um [36:16] and uh so, what do they do with the money? They hoard it... Apple bought back 100 I think I have that right, 100 million of their own stock”
Scranton, Pennsylvania faces insolvency, has placed all government employees including the mayor on minimum wage, and is liquidating all city assets (sewer systems, parking authority, utilities) to generate revenue; when these assets are gone, the city will face complete collapse, exemplifying what happens in late-stage capitalism when assets are exhausted.
“I open the book in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The moment the city faces is facing insolvency. So, everyone in the city uh has been put on minimum wage, including the mayor. Uh what happened? Their pension funds were decimated in 2008... They're selling off their sewer system, their parking authority, um all of their utilities, in a desperate effort to uh regain financial solvency.”
The fracking industry is the next dot-com bubble: it is valued on projected future profit rather than actual current profit, has already consumed $280 billion, and continues to lose money while venture capital and banks maintain the fiction that it will eventually become profitable.
“there was an article in the Times in the week in review about two or three weeks ago where they talked about the fracking industry being the next dot-com bubble, because the fracking industry is a loses money. It It's It's It's valued on projected profit, just like the dot-com industry, not actual profit. They've already swallowed about $280 billion.”
Prisoners in Louisiana are paid 4 cents an hour; California fire fighters can earn up to $1 per hour; New Jersey prisoners earn 22 cents an hour ($28 per month); this system of prison labor effectively constitutes neo-slavery because prisoners work 40-hour weeks for decades, receive no Social Security, and emerge in debt rather than with savings.
“Uh prisoners in Louisiana make 4 cents an hour. Uh I guess if you're really at the high end, you can fight fires in California for a dollar an hour. Uh New Jersey, they make 22 cents an hour. That's $28 a month. Um I've got students who, you know, spend 20, 30, 40 years in prison, work 40-hour weeks, get out, and not only do they not have Social Security, they're in debt.”
The average debt per person in America is $13 billion; American production since 1973 has increased by 77% but wages have stagnated, and if wages had kept pace with production growth, the minimum wage would exceed $20 per hour today, yet 41 million workers earn less than $12 per hour with almost no employee-sponsored health insurance.
“personal debt is uh $13 billion. I mean, American production since 1973 has gone up by 77%. And And if wages had kept pace with production, the minimum wage would be well over $20 an hour. Uh 41 million workers in this country, a third of the workforce, earn less than $12 an hour, and almost none of them have employee-sponsored health insurance.”
Government debt has exploded due to tax cuts that diminish estimated revenue by $1.5 trillion over 10 years; next year interest payments are on track to be $370 billion and in 10 years will be $900 billion annually, a fundamentally unsustainable system that extracts wealth from ordinary people to service debt from tax cuts for the wealthy.
“of course, with the tax cuts, uh over 10-year period, we will diminish an estimated $1.5 trillion from government revenue. Um next year we're on track to pay uh about $370 billion of interest. And in 10 years, we will be paying $900 billion a year in interest. It's not a sustainable system.”
The US government will provide no meaningful protest or sanctions against the Saudi regime despite its responsibility for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Turkey, demonstrating complicity with authoritarian regimes.
“what I find so chilling is the uh almost certain fact that the US government will in no way uh protest or sanction uh the Saudi regime”
The idea of 'ethical investing' or dropping a bag of groceries at a food kitchen while your lifestyle builds 'a pathetic little monument to yourself' is moral fragmentation: people perform meaningless acts of charity while denying where most of their life energy goes, a classic way capitalists engage in self-deception.
“ethical investing. Uh or you know, you you drop a bag of groceries off at the food kitchen and or you engage in some relatively meaningless act of philanthropy uh and deny where most of your life is going. Um look, most of America's really not sitting up at night thinking about investing.”
Every student in America could attend college for free, Americans could have a rational healthcare system preventing pharmaceutical and insurance company predation, yet 18% of US GDP is spent on healthcare—the least efficient system in the industrialized world—causing one million bankruptcies per year as people go bankrupt while trying to save children's lives.
“every student in this country could go to college for free. We would have a rational health care system uh where we weren't preyed upon by pharmaceutical and insurance companies, 18% of GDP, the least efficient health care service in the industrialized world, uh and even if you have insurance, your costs and co-pays and you know, everything is imploding because they can. Uh you know, a million people a year go bankrupt.”
Trump is a classic con artist who rose out of a decayed system; demagogues with this profile (like Radovan Karadžić, Slobodan Milošević, Franjo Tuđman in Yugoslavia) emerge from systemic disintegration and their ideological void becomes filled by fascistic movements, in Trump's case the Christian fascist ideology.
“Trump came out of this, and he has no ideology. He's the classic uh you know, he's the classic con artist that rises up out of decayed state. I saw it in Yugoslavia, Radovan Karadžić, Slobodan Milošević, uh Franjo Tuđman. Uh [53:48] And of course, what he that ideological void is now being rapidly filled by the Christian fascist ideology.”
CNN is 'just endless burlesque' patterned deliberately by Zucker to attract viewers through endless speculation about who's in and who's out; the Kavanaugh, Stormy Daniels, and Omarosa 'series' were reality television not news, and the media is complicit in creating Trump while loving him as a money-maker.
“CNN is just endless burlesque. Watch it. It's it's patterned. Zucker patterns it. He's admitted this quite consciously on ESPN. It's just endless chatter, speculation, who's in, who's out... They're all courtiers. It's all reality television. They just finished the Kavanaugh reality television series as if there was any doubt about the outcome.”
Neoliberalism, popularized by figures like Thomas Friedman, is based on the absurd notion that societies can advance by kneeling before marketplace dictates, has no economic validity, and throughout economic history no society has ever benefited from allowing oligarchic elites to become unregulated and unfettered.
“Neoliberalism as an ideology essentially created this absurd notion that societies uh could advance themselves by kneeling before the dictates of the marketplace. This is popularized by figures like Thomas Friedman and others. Um it's an absolutely ridiculous political theory. It has no economic validity. Um in in the, you know, I don't know how many years of economic history, um no society has benefited by allowing uh their oligarchic elite to become unregulated and uncontrolled and unfettered”
Rather than respond rationally to climate change, American society has retreated into what anthropologists call 'crisis cults' and 'magical thinking,' where elites pursue short-term profit extraction while ignoring existential threats, behavior characteristic of civilizations in terminal decline.
“But we've retreated into what anthropologists would call crisis cults, magical thinking. So the seizure of power by these elites, the primacy of profit, the destruction of democratic institutions”
The Kavanaugh Supreme Court confirmation demonstrates that elites are taking constitutional rights through judicial reinterpretation: they justify unlimited corporate money in politics (Citizens United) as 'right to petition government' and 'free speech,' ignore Edward Snowden's proof that privacy has been eliminated, while claiming to be 'strict constitutionalists' selective literalists picking passages that affirm their ideology.
“How do they justify Citizens United? It's the right to petition the government. I'm not making this up. It's the right for free speech. What do they do when they when Edward Snowden provides concrete proof that our right to privacy has been taken from us? Nothing.”
Pelosi and Schumer's primary job is to funnel Wall Street and corporate money to anointed Democratic candidates and purge Bernie supporters from the party; they are creations of the corporate state whose power depends on maintaining corporate money in politics, so they will not support real electoral reform even though it would save the system.
“Pelosi and Schumer in particular, their job is to funnel Wall Street and corporate money to anointed Democratic candidates. They have certainly purged the Bernie people from the party... These people, if we had real electoral reform and remove corporate money from the Democratic Party, they wouldn't have power.”
Corporate capture of the state has created political paralysis: the government cannot respond rationally to the needs and desires of the majority, and at moments of political paralysis combined with severe economic mismanagement, demagogues emerge—a pattern Hedges witnessed in Yugoslavia's collapse.
“that seizure of power by a corporate cabal replicated the seizure of power by any cabal, monarchical, communist, fascist. Um in that it created political paralysis. It created the inability of the government to respond in a rational way to the rights, desires, needs of the majority of the citizenry. Uh and and and at that moment of political paralysis, something I watched in Yugoslavia, plus severe economic mismanagement, it's a very frightening recipe because it's fertile ground for demagogues.”
The Christian right's embrace of magical thinking—belief in a literal six-day creation, Noah fitting dinosaurs on an ark by bringing baby dinosaurs—primes them to accept Trump's 'permanent lie' where empirical reality is denied in favor of whatever serves their emotional needs.
“You know, it's all kind of funny here, but when you're in a room with 50 or 60 people who believe it, it's truly terrifying. It's truly terrifying. And Trump came out of this, and he has no ideology.”
America's only response to impending totalitarianism is sustained mass civil disobedience; this requires spiritual dimension (understanding that some things have intrinsic value beyond monetary worth) and must target the system itself, as Standing Rock demonstrated before 700 arrests, attack dogs, water cannons with pepper spray in freezing temperatures, infiltration, and drone surveillance.
“And our only response now is sustained mass acts of civil disobedience. THAT'S IT. AND THE STATE WILL BE VICIOUS. I WAS AT Standing Rock. Uh but Standing Rock's the model. It's got to have a spiritual dimension in the way Standing Rock had one.”
The military machine in the United States is the greatest enemy of democracy.
“we must do uh is destroy the military machine in this country, which is the greatest enemy of democracy.”
The shift from an 'empire of production' to an 'empire of consumption' (in the words of Harvard historian Charles Maier) meant the US began borrowing to maintain both an empire and a lifestyle it could no longer afford.
“At the same time that the economy was reconfigured and we shifted, in the words of the Harvard historian Charles Maier, from what he called an empire of production to an empire of consumption. Meaning that we were borrowing to maintain both an empire and a lifestyle we could no longer afford.”
Hedges has been Green Party/third party since 1996 and 'watched the Democratic Party march steadily right' the entire time; while he admires attempts to change the Democratic Party from within, he believes this 'traps progressives and actually prevents change,' and 'the job is to pit power against power' not win electoral contests.
“as someone who has been Green or third party since 1996, I've watched the Democratic Party march steadily right my entire life. While I admire the attempt to change the Democratic Party, presumably from within, I feel this effort traps progressives and actually prevents change...The job is to pit power against power.”
In the late 1970s, public television broadcast figures like Malcolm X, James Baldwin, Noam Chomsky, and Howard Zinn, demonstrating that public broadcasting once served its intended function of providing platforms to voices not owned by power; today this function is gone.
“you go back to the late 1970s, you could you could watch Malcolm X, James Baldwin, Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, they were on public television.”
Ancient Greece and Rome followed a cyclical pattern of growth and maturation followed by decay, and Plato wrote The Republic after Athenian democracy fell to try to freeze time and stave off inevitable decay through institutional mechanisms
“The Greeks, of course, have a very different uh notion of time, as do most Eastern cultures. They don't see time as lineal. Uh they don't believe in the what the myth of human progress, that we are just improving and and improving. Rather, it's it's time is cyclical both for individuals and societies, so that you have a period of uh of maturation, of growth, uh and then uh finally uh you complete the cycle in and it comes back to decay.”
Climate scientists warn that humanity has only 10 years to prevent catastrophic climate change; beyond 1.5-2°Celsius warming, irreversible feedback loops emerge where melting polar ice caps, ocean acidification, and other cascading effects become self-perpetuating and uncontrollable, as demonstrated by Venus which once had water and is now 800°Fahrenheit.
“You've all seen the report that came out yesterday, which says basically we have 10 years to save ourselves as a species. That's it. And the reason that climate scientists are so terrified, they're talking about 1.5 Celsius, the reason they're so terrified of going beyond 2° Celsius is because of feedback loops. Which means that essentially you lose the ability to control.”
The Kavanaugh hearings exposed the complete charade of American democracy—the political theater that has replaced actual democratic process, where everything is preordained, all judicial picks are predetermined, and the proceedings are tribal spectacle rather than genuine deliberation.
“What is so disturbing is the exposure or the public exposure of the charade, the democratic charade that exists, the political theater that has replaced uh our democratic process... Everything becomes tribal, truth no longer matters, uh the rights of the citizenry no longer matter”
I was at Standing Rock in November [2016] and had to take an alternate route because roads were blocked by what appeared to be private mercenaries in Kevlar vests with long-barreled weapons and no identification—not law enforcement but possibly corporate security hired by the state.
“When I drove in in November, I I had to come all the way around because the roads were blocked, but when I was stopped, these weren't law enforcement. They were dappled mercenaries in Kevlar vests with long-barreled weapons with no identification.”
The Federal Reserve fabricated $26 trillion through quantitative easing and other mechanisms to reinflate the failed financial system after 2008, while the money was given to criminal organizations like Goldman Sachs and people who should be in prison, who used it to buy back their own stock rather than create jobs or invest in the economy.
“they came up with $26 trillion. Trillion dollars. I mean, imagine. Now, China's response to 2008 was very different from our own... $26 trillion were handed to people who should be in prison, unlike my students, and uh uh and what did they do with it? Well, they, as they've done with the step the tax cuts, they bought back their own stock.”
The Democratic Party is playing a dangerous game by refusing to address fundamental social inequality while betting that Trump will implode; the Podesta emails reveal they wanted Trump as the nominee, and they are following the same losing strategy Hillary Clinton followed, which accelerates rather than prevents totalitarianism.
“they're following the same tactic Hillary Clinton followed, which is Trump is and we know from the Podesta emails that they wanted Trump as the nominee. And so the tactic is Trump is so repugnant, Trump will implode. But now you've watched with the Kavanaugh hearings. I mean, look, I certainly hope the Democrats retake the House, just as any kind of a block, obviously. But they're they're playing a very dangerous game by refusing to address the fundamental issues that have distorted our society.”
The US economic system is not sustainable; once stability is eradicated through financial collapse or the loss of the dollar's status as world reserve currency, elites have no plan B because interest rates cannot be lowered further, creating conditions for scapegoating, demonizing, violence, and the rise of American fascism.
“I have lived through economic meltdowns. I covered, in the 20 years I was a foreign correspondent, disintegrating societies. I know what the warning signs look like. Um and once that stability is eradicated, and I don't know what's going to trigger it, whether it will be another financial collapse, or as Alfred McCoy points out in The Shadows of American Century, the day the dollar is dropped as the world's reserve currency.”
Trump has 'catapulted us into a whole 'nother phase of decay' through vulgar trash talk degrading political discourse, the 'permanent lie' (embracing falsehoods impervious to reality), and reduction of discourse to insults, hypermasculinity, and misogyny—characteristic of totalitarian systems.
“Trump has catapulted us uh into a whole 'nother phase of decay. One, by engaging in the crude and vulgar trash talk, which degrades political discourse...there's also the embrace of what Hannah Arendt called the permanent lie...the permanent lie is impervious to reality...reduced to insults, hypermasculinity, misogyny, all this kind of stuff.”
Hedges works on RT America because mainstream outlets censored him; RT allows coverage of anti-fracking activists and Black Lives Matter; he's aware Russian government likely funds RT but took platform because he won't hide his views
“I mean they'll shut me down eventually, but I'm not going to cave. And I you know, I worked Eastern Europe. The only place you could hear Vaclav Havel was on Voice of America. Uh didn't mean Havel supported the Vietnam War or American imperialism. He was a socialist. Uh but I'll take whatever platform I can get. I used to be at the epicenter of the American media empire. I used to write stories and the next day the State Department held briefings about it. And I've self-exiled myself because I won't play the game.”
Hedges does not share the culture's mania for hope, finding it infantile; instead he focuses on moral action that has intrinsic worth independent of success, understanding that evil will certainly outlive us all, but our job is to stand up and fight for what is just and good.
“I don't share the culture's mania for hope. I don't. I've kind of I find it kind of infantile... it's I'm very cognizant of the very brief time that we have on this earth and how fragile it is. Evil will certainly outlive us all. Um that it is our job uh to stand up and uh fight for what is just and what is right and what is good”
The Christian right created massive cultural infrastructure enabling magical thinking and authoritarian susceptibility; the Nazi German Church held a swastika on one side of the altar and a Christian cross on the other, illustrating how fascism co-opts religious institutions; the solution requires 'reintegrating these people into the economy,' otherwise no rational argument can reach them.
“the only way to save ourselves from this Christianized fascism. Uh and remember the Nazis had the German Christian church. Don't forget. With the swastika on one side of the altar and the Christian cross on the other. Uh is to reintegrate these people into the economy. Short of that, you can't argue them out of believing that uh you know, every living being, including the dinosaurs, was created in 6 days because the book of Genesis says it's so.”
Ralph Nader understood 'corporate power better in America than' anyone else and 'fought it with more integrity' than anyone; the Democratic lie that Nader 'elected George W. Bush' is false; Nader understood that 'the our last liberal president was Richard Nixon' not because he was liberal or had a conscience but because he was 'frightened of movements' and passed 24 pieces of amazing legislation including OSHA, the Mine Safety Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Black Lung legislation—all written by Nader.
“I was Nader's speechwriter. Uh and Ralph I think understood Nobody understands corporate power better in America than Ralph Nader. None. And nobody has fought it with more integrity. And let's get over the Democratic lie that he elected George W. Bush because it's not true. Uh Ralph understood because he saw that process. He was up close. I mean, as Ralph said, "The our last liberal president was Richard Nixon." And not because he was a liberal or had a conscience or but because he was frightened of movements. So, he passes, I think, 24 pieces of amazing legislation. He creates OSHA, the Mine and Safety Act, the Clean but all of which were written by Nader.”
The US economic system is unsustainable; Hedges has lived through economic meltdowns as foreign correspondent and recognizes warning signs that will trigger collapse from either financial crisis or dollar losing reserve currency status by 2030
“our economic system is not sustainable. And I have lived through economic meltdowns. I covered, in the 20 years I was a foreign correspondent, disintegrating societies. I know what the warning signs look like. Um and once that stability is eradicated, and I don't know what's going to trigger it, whether it will be another financial collapse, or as Alfred McCoy points out in The Shadows of American Century, the day the dollar is dropped as the world's reserve currency. You know, if you read the New York Times stories closely because they say, 'But the dollar is the world's reserve currency.' But I'm going to stay that way. McCoy said by 2030, it's finished.”
The Taliban currently controls more territory in Afghanistan than when the US invaded, the US has lost the war, American troops refuse to go out with the Afghan army because half of them are Taliban, and it was the 17th anniversary of the invasion—exemplifying American 'micro militarism.'
“Was it yesterday, right? Was the 17th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan? I mean, this is our micro militarism. The Taliban controls more territory in Afghanistan than when we went in. They do. And we've lost the war. Um American troops, they don't even want to go out with the Afghan army because half of them are Taliban.”
Hope is embodied in human kindness; Vasily Grossman in Life and Fate describes a battle between great evil seeking to crush a kernel of human kindness, with the insight that if evil has not crushed human kindness by now, evil can never win—this is the real hope.
“hope is embodied Vasily Grossman got it in his great novel Life and Fate Uh which you haven't read, you should go read. Um where he talks about uh human kindness. Um that it's it's not about a battle between good and evil. It's about a great evil uh seeking to crush a kernel of human kindness. Uh but if that evil has not crushed human kindness by now, then evil can never win.”
One of Hedges' prison students, convicted of a crime he did not commit at age 14 and ineligible for parole until age 70, said 'I know I'm going to die in this prison, but I work as hard as I do because one day I'm going to be a teacher like you'—this moral commitment despite certainty of personal defeat is the real hope.
“my best student, the only one who got an A plus, he was convicted of a crime he did not commit when he was 14 uh and is not eligible to go before a parole board until he is 70 years old... he says, uh 'I know I'm going to die in this prison, but I work as hard as I do because one day I'm going to be a teacher like you.' And he walks out. I can live on that for a really long time. That's hope.”
All institutions are inherently demonic and one day you will run head-on into the institution and have to walk away; you have to carve out whatever platform you can and speak with integrity
“as Paul Tillich once wrote, that all institutions, including the church, are inherently demonic and one day you're going to run head-on into that institution and have to walk away. That's kind of been my career. So I mean that's that's why I'm there cuz I can't go anywhere else and because they will allow critics of imperialism and capitalism to have a voice”
During the Velvet Revolution, Czech singer Marta Kubišová, who had been banned from airwaves, imprisoned, and forced to work in a toy factory, came on stage in Wenceslas Square during the 1989 uprising and sang a protest song she had written in 1968; every Czech in the crowd of half a million knew every word—an example of 'the good drawing to it the good.'
“the great Czech singer Marta Kubišová comes out on the balcony... she walked out on that balcony and began to sing a prayer for Marta, every Czech in the crowd knew every word. That is the good drawing to it the good.”
Daniel Berrigan defined faith as 'the belief that the good draws to it the good even if empirically everything around you says otherwise'—a definition that allows resistance to continue even in apparent defeat because moral action has intrinsic worth independent of success.
“as Daniel Berrigan once told me, I asked him, 'How do you define faith?' And he said, 'The belief that the good draws to it the good even if empirically everything around you says otherwise.'”
Hedges spent 20 years outside America as a foreign correspondent and no longer considers himself American; he identifies not with nationality but with people from every nation and religion who rise up to fight on behalf of the oppressed—these are his brothers and sisters regardless of language or color.
“I spent 20 years outside of America. And when you spend that long outside of America, you're not American anymore. Um the people that I love and that's why I spoke about Jamal at the beginning are those people who in every nation out of every religion, out of every ethnicity rose up to fight the oppressor on behalf of the oppressed.”
A handful of people on Wall Street and in criminal organizations like Goldman Sachs are doing extremely well, while the broader economy contracts.
“but of course, there is a handful of people on Wall Street and in criminal organizations like Goldman Sachs who are doing extremely well.”
Student debt is $1.5 trillion, and it is estimated that within two decades or so, 40% of those who have student debt will go into default.
“extracting from us. That's student debt, $1.5 trillion, and it's estimated that within two decades or so, 40% of those who have student debt will go into default.”
Trump displays the permanent lie: he can deny photographs proving Obama's inauguration crowd was larger and declare his is bigger without changing position despite evidence
“So, you can have photographs of Barack Obama's inauguration crowd and and and Trump's inauguration crowd, and it doesn't matter, his is bigger.”
The American government will 'incite violence rhetorically' through a president speaking in ways designed to provoke violence, creating fertile ground for the rise of American fascism.
“you have created fertile ground for the kind of scapegoating, demonizing, and violence. And we already have a president who speaks in the incites violence rhetorically.”
Hedges taught a class at Howard Zinn's work in a New Jersey prison, and when his students, unaware of the personal risk, mounted a work stoppage strike, they were strip-searched, interrogated, and the leaders were placed in indefinite solitary confinement—yet they rose up anyway.
“I got a phone call and it said, "This is a special investigations division of the Department of Corrections of the State of New Jersey. Are you aware that your students just let a sit-down strike in the prison?" And it it was very moving. I mean, I I really was quite emotional when the phone call ended because they knew even better than I did what would happen. Uh their cells would be strip-searched as they were. They would all be interrogated until they found the leaders of the strike, which they did. And those leaders would be shipped to another prison and put in indefinite solitary confinement, where they remain. And yet they rose up anyway.”
Hedges and Shama Salam's problem with Bernie Sanders was that Sanders refused to run outside the Democratic Party, saying 'If I do that, I'll end up like Ralph Nader,' and Hedges never believed the Democratic Party would permit Bernie to get the nomination—'we now have enough cumulative evidence to say that it was stolen from him.'
“we did an event with Bernie and Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein uh the night before the climate march in New York and Shama kept pushing Bernie not to run as a Democrat. Uh and I found Bernie's answer quite uh illuminating because he said, "Well, if I do that, I'll end up like Ralph Nader." And he's not wrong. What he was saying is that if I defy the Democratic Party establishment, they will destroy me. And the tragedy for me of the Sanders campaign is one as which turned out to be true. I never believed that the Democratic Party was going to ever permit Bernie to get the nomination. And I think we now have enough cumulative evidence to say that it was stolen from him.”
The New York Times publicly reprimanded Hedges for speaking out against the Iraq War and attempted to silence him, demonstrating that elite institutional media cannot be vehicles for systemic critique and that journalists willing to challenge imperial power must work outside mainstream structures.
“I left the New York Times over I was publicly denouncing the call to invade Iraq... the Times gave me a written reprimand. I was the Middle East bureau chief for the New York Times... And they said, 'You're not allowed to speak about Iraq.' And uh because I was in their words impugning the impartiality of the New York Times. And I quit. I left the paper.”
Ralph Nader is the most important Arab American in the modern period, speaking fluent Arabic and advancing the most important messages about Israel-Palestine; Arab Americans have resources and education but have failed to mobilize behind Nader, representing a failure to 'hold fast to moral imperatives' that allows elites to steamroll movements.
“You have the most important Arab American in the you know, the modern period. And I said, 'You know, you've got He's saying everything right about Israel, about Palestine and you got to stand behind him.'”
Noam Chomsky is described by Hedges as 'our greatest intellectual hands down,' and Hedges based his understanding of the liberal class on Chomsky's work, which led Hedges to write a book called 'The Liberal Class.'
“Noam Chomsky, our greatest intellectual hands down. I I a couple years ago I got a call from Noam. I of course I read I've read Noam since I don't know I was 18 years old. Uh and he said, "Oh, I want you to write would he want to ask if you'll write the introduction to my new book." Uh and so I hung up and I told my wife, "I've arrived. That's it. I I mean every my whole understanding of the mechanisms of the liberal class, I wrote a book called The Liberal Class, come out of Chomsky.”
Voting for Bernie Sanders in the primary but Jill Stein in the general election represents Hedges' approach to electoral politics: participate in primaries to shift platforms but support third-party candidates to build pressure and demonstrate that neither major party deserves allegiance.
“I voted for Sanders in the primary. I voted for Jill Stein in the general election.”