A Conversation with Chris Hedges: Corporate Totalitarianism

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  • Опубликовано: 23 июн 2021
  • Chris Hedges, writer and commentator, was a member of the Pulitzer-winning team reporting on global terrorism for The New York Times. Hedges received an individual award from the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights Journalism. An online columnist and the host of an Emmy-nominated television show, Hedges has been a war correspondent for The New York Times, National Public Radio, The Dallas Morning News and The Christian Science Monitor, reporting from Latin America, the Middle East, Africa and the Balkans. He has written 12 books including the bestsellers "American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America" and "Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle” and “Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt,” His book "War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" was a National Book Critics Circle finalist and his most recent book is “America: The Farewell Tour.”
    Hedges talks about the rise of corporate power and the danger of fascism around the globe, based on personal experience as well as academic scholarship. He has been a teacher inside the American prison system for the past ten years; a reporter on the front line at violent coups and successful revolutions in foreign countries for the preceding two decades; and an ordained Presbyterian minister and competitive boxer in earlier years. Hedges is a graduate of Harvard University and has taught at Columbia University, New York University, Princeton University and the University of Toronto.
    Moderator:
    Diane Fener, Co-Chair, Senior Lawyer Committee
    Sponsoring Committees:
    Senior Lawyers, Diane Fener and Gertrude Pfaffenbach, Co-Chairs
    Task Force on the Rule of Law, Stephen L. Kass, Chair
    Business and Human Rights Working Group, Irit Tamir and Viren Mascarenhas, Co-Chairs
    International Human Rights, Lauren Melkus, Chair

Комментарии • 991

  • @commonman317
    @commonman317 3 года назад +301

    Chris has an extraordinary gift of summing up the reality of our country in current times. Brilliant.

    • @jaredhouston4223
      @jaredhouston4223 3 года назад +3

      He's a radical.

    • @JeffreyGillespie
      @JeffreyGillespie 2 года назад +12

      @@jaredhouston4223 what a nice compliment 😊

    • @jaredhouston4223
      @jaredhouston4223 2 года назад

      @@JeffreyGillespie Have you ever done a hard days work in your life? If so, you should go back to it again to humble yourself.

    • @Computron64
      @Computron64 2 года назад +11

      @@jaredhouston4223 But then again he would miss out on all the comments from the glorious and self-righteous Internet tough guys like yourself!

    • @jaredhouston4223
      @jaredhouston4223 2 года назад

      @@Computron64 There is nothing to miss in youtube comments, it's all dogs/trolls barking.

  • @edwardcortes6668
    @edwardcortes6668 3 года назад +388

    Chris Hedges is one of the best political journalists of all time. He tells the truth about our imperialistic country.

    • @YourIdeologyIsDelusional
      @YourIdeologyIsDelusional 3 года назад +22

      Chris Hedges tells one half of the truth. He conveniently leaves out the things that would offend his audience, just like any other ideological leader. He's just telling you some of the things you don't ordinarily hear, but that doesn't make him a "truth teller." It just makes him another party's propagandist.
      You wont find a "truth teller" anywhere on this subject, because there's too many ideologies, too much delusion, too many sacred cows and a complete unwillingness for any of the people in these assorted ideologies to admit that the people on their side very much do and are everything they claim about their opposition.
      Chris Hedges goes on at length about the Christian fascists of the 70s 80s and 90s, but he does everything he can to avoid calling out the SJWs, who have adopted all their tactics, who fill the same role the religious right did for corporate America, and who frankly have more ideological foundation in common with classical ethno fascism than any other ideology that America has seen in the past century.
      He also wont tell you about how fragmented the right wing is internally, instead painting an inaccurate picture of them as some kind of singular monolith with Christian values at the top, when in fact the libertarian element has been stabbing the religious element in the back repeatedly since the 80s, due to fundamental incompatibilities between free market capitalism and conservatism.

    • @YourIdeologyIsDelusional
      @YourIdeologyIsDelusional 3 года назад +8

      (In case Google censors me again, note that this is the second post, so if it seems like something is missing you can thank your lovely corporate fascists in big tech)
      Not only this, but the evangelical element and the racist element on the right aren't even the same faction, in many ways American fundies take the same position that Islamists do: Race is pushed far down the list if not outright disregarded in favor of universal submission to god, this is because theocrats for some reason have a better understanding of how class politics can be used to divide people and thus see them as a barrier to theocratic dominion and proselytization.
      I think he's legitimately unaware that the American right wing is fundamentally fragmented and actually has its own intersectional class struggle framework keeping it together, one that is more based off economics and culture, thus ironically having more in common with marxism than the people everyone is calling "socialist" these days.
      The success of the 80s right wing was largely due to them uniting a bunch of disparate right wingers and ex-leftists who's only point of agreement was hatred of their government, and thus shared a right wing agenda designed to dismantle and subvert the republic, in favor of private power. Of these groups, the racially charged ex-Dixiecrats were actually more of a leftist movement before LBJ, and thus they have almost nothing in common with the libertarian movements, who's ideology has come to almost universally dominate the American right.

    • @johnwalker4642
      @johnwalker4642 3 года назад +4

      @@YourIdeologyIsDelusional Chris has revealed where the fulcrum is. As to the will of humanity to work for justice and peace, we shall see.

    • @johnwalker4642
      @johnwalker4642 3 года назад +6

      @@YourIdeologyIsDelusional I am trying to follow you points, though I am having some difficulty doing so. For instance, LBJ being referred to as a leftist, or something related to a prior movement of the Dixiecrats, does not make sense. Perhaps we can find common ground by referring to LBJ as having held his hands deep in the military industrial complex, much like Nixon, as war criminals. There is no movement to the "left" by LBJ. You do appear to be stating that the American right is libertarian ideologically. I don't see that at all. Dr. Cornell West can help us to differentiate who is right of center and who is left of center.

    • @davidpeppers551
      @davidpeppers551 3 года назад +11

      @@YourIdeologyIsDelusional No one has the whole truth. Even if we did we are unlikey to be able to speak the entire truth. That is a tall order. Everyone has blind spots and things which they probably believe goes without saying (even without realizing it).
      He may also believe others have covered certain things well enough and so there's no point in going into it that much.
      I can see the objection to the phrase truth teller. Why single him out? I believe he is not afraid to say many things he believes, even when he knows it is unpopular or harmful to him personally. He seems to speak for and stand by what he believes to be true.
      I do not believe Chris really believes in monoliths. He says "radical Christian right" He does not say thst the right is just a bunch of radical Christians. Why should people be forever explaining that all people in a group do not think in exactly the same way or have the same motivations?
      Generalizations are always problematic, but if you have people in a group heading in a direction I think you can say that. Some are adamant about the direction, some are very enthusiastic, some less so, some give quiet (or passive) support and some are just gojng along because it is what the group/ leader wants and it has hardly anything to do with the destination or why that direction was chosen.

  • @dabay200
    @dabay200 3 года назад +308

    Hedges is one of the best journalists around, he has more integrity than all of the tv news personalities combined.

    • @IDIOCRACY-1984
      @IDIOCRACY-1984 3 года назад +9

      And certainly more than the entire national *BAR* association combined

    • @mb4782
      @mb4782 3 года назад +5

      Chris Hedges doesn't have the intellectual fortitude or "Plain Guts" to aver the exponential immigration rise into the country has to a large degree contributed to the dire diminutive financial deterioration of American labor due to lower wages paid to immigrant labor. YES, we know it's due to the behest of the Power at the the helms corporatist power. Put Chris Hedges never expounds on this issue. He knows he'll deviate from the "political correctness". VERY CRAFTY HEDGES. For example the displacement of an American construction or electrician worker (by the way whose heritage fought the hard fight for safe labor standards and displaced by an immigrant for less pay.) For example, I find it sickening when I saw American sanitation workers fought for safety on the job over 30 years ago. Lifting steel barrels with no weight standards into the dumpster bins of the trash trucks. Incurring massive hernias and back vertebrae damage. Now an immigrant relishes the pleasure of hydraulic barrel lifts made of plastic barrels. It was American workers fought for this one example for safety measures in the workplace immigrants presently relish. Hedges avoids scenarios such as this like the Apple in the Garden of Eden fully aware of its detriment to the American worker unlike Adam. The effects of internal out-sourcing of American labor with the insourcing significant lower wages for immigrant labor. For Chris Hedges to virtually deflect this consequence manifests a degree of disengenousness of Chris Hedges. Moreover, most immigrants consider it laughable when informed the incipience in appreciable and obvious noticeable increase in their numbers especially those of color into this country. Is due to The Black Civil Rights Movement hard painful fight of passive resistance with their blood, sweat, and tears. The intent of the Statue of Liberty pointed toward Western Europe, not Africa, Latin America, or Asia. A principal reason why many Blacks resent immigrants.
      I am definitely not a Trumpster. But I know one thing for sure. Although Trump was fundamentally insincere. BUT, it was his aggressive vociferous resounding expounding these consequential issues I purported here. Why Trump was elected President of the United States.

    • @IDIOCRACY-1984
      @IDIOCRACY-1984 3 года назад +15

      @@mb4782 all I know is that you're very conflicted. He, I and you admit it here yourself that higher forces control **everything.** I know of him for decades and he's agreed with you and talked about all those issues. Because he wasn't talking about the particular issues you wanted to hear makes him devious???? Evasive???? One of the most preposterous of all the statements you made was that hiring illegals killed the electricians and construction unions? *Could've fooled me!* I thought it was our politicians, republicans and democrats in this *duopoly* who've systematically been killing unions **except** *'police unions'* for the last at least 40 years to pre great depression levels. To swallow the garbage that the American Empire's downfall is due to illegal immigrants is......... I don't want to be rude so you fill in the blanc. *What 'really' shows your true colors* is specifically mentioning *"brown"* immigrants and stooping so low, to be so audacious, as to invoke the civil rights struggle to coverup your racism. And this is not *"playing the racist card"* because you, probably unconsciously, articulate it quite clearly yourself

    • @Johnconno
      @Johnconno 3 года назад +1

      That's a very low bar.

    • @Johnconno
      @Johnconno 3 года назад +2

      @@IDIOCRACY-1984 Is the right response. 👌

  • @morkeljakeson9438
    @morkeljakeson9438 2 года назад +76

    I am a New York attorney and love Chris Hedges. Frankly, I’m shocked (pleasantly surprised) that the NYCBA invited him to speak. Thank you

    • @debbino4249
      @debbino4249 2 года назад +2

      I was thinking the same thing!

    • @eugenio1542
      @eugenio1542 2 года назад +3

      YES ! Lawyers are not trained to be open Minded OR Hearted ?? Like Politics.

    • @mattyspaghetti449
      @mattyspaghetti449 2 года назад +1

      I assume you do not work on Wall St

    • @morkeljakeson9438
      @morkeljakeson9438 2 года назад

      Matty Spaghetti Ha! I technically did work on Wall Street, since I had an office on that street, but no, I did not ever work in the financial sector or “on Wall Street” so to speak

    • @marccano5061
      @marccano5061 2 года назад

      So am I,
      It seems like they would be a lap dog to the corporate power's

  • @Johnconno
    @Johnconno 2 года назад +87

    'It's easier for people to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of Capitalism.'
    Mark Fisher.

    • @l.w.paradis2108
      @l.w.paradis2108 2 года назад +3

      It's easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of social media and smart phones. 😕

  • @marioestrada2233
    @marioestrada2233 3 года назад +185

    Respect for Chris, I truly admire him

    • @douglascarlson9006
      @douglascarlson9006 2 года назад +1

      I don't! ...
      I'm really getting tired of his act and the fawning here over his prose ...
      He's a master at articulating the misdeeds of the elites, but in tough times like these, we need more ... his courage and candor have obvious limits ... I've never heard him even mention Dick Cheney's name and although it's a virtual certainty he's read the book "The Fourth Industrial Revolution" he's yet to say a word about the GREAT RESET ... he seems to have arbitrarily decided the topic is not open for public discussion ... Jimmy Dore and K&S are actually doing much, much more to expose the duplicity of the elites!

    • @chosen_ones777
      @chosen_ones777 2 года назад +1

      @@douglascarlson9006 But Jimmy Dore has never been to the Middle Eeast or covered the Balkan war on location which Dore, amongst many other things from his many years as a journalist, is admiring Hedges for.

    • @douglascarlson9006
      @douglascarlson9006 2 года назад

      @@chosen_ones777 Of course.

    • @chosen_ones777
      @chosen_ones777 2 года назад

      @@douglascarlson9006 But you're right as well. Krystal and Saagar + JD ARE reaching a far bigger audience with their shows than CH. Perhaps cause he prefers to travel around and speaking the truth which makes it possible to ask him questions real time. It's somehow more convinsing when you meet people face to face than when you're speaking from your garage or a studio. It puts you far more in danger of being eliminated by CIA or other Establishment tools.

  • @0150Tricia
    @0150Tricia 3 года назад +84

    Chris Hedges - speaker of truth most Americans are unwilling to hear because of the fear and dread he is accurately defining our political reality.

    • @joyn6654
      @joyn6654 2 года назад +6

      I think it's because most people know that because we were perfectly happy to "sleep" and ignore everything else the only way to change it is through actual revolution and THAT terrifies most.

    • @RobertMJohnson
      @RobertMJohnson Год назад

      @@joyn6654 as if you would bear arms in a revolution. what an absolute dork.

  • @marypaquet3372
    @marypaquet3372 3 года назад +127

    Chris Hedges reminds us of the past, discusses the present and breaks down the reasons for what our future will likely come to be. It’s very chilling.

    • @abelflores1593
      @abelflores1593 2 года назад +8

      And nobody listens tell your friends and your family and everybody that will listen. This message must get out the Earth is in danger

    • @tonyrivers8688
      @tonyrivers8688 2 года назад +8

      If mass protests and civil disobedience breaks out, the authorities would be out numbered. They would disrupt the movement by pitting us against ourselves.

    • @dainty_af
      @dainty_af 2 года назад +3

      @@tonyrivers8688 which is why we need to stop using our bodies & start using our minds, labor, currency & tech. I saw another clip of Chris talking about how we need to disrupt corporate hold. We can do that w everything from singular acts- buying & working local, growing what we can, reusing what we can, etc. to joining in meaningful mass movements like not buying gas or shopping on holiday weekends, mutual aid & community outreach & hopefully general strikes, etc.
      We don't need to engage in ways that invoke violence from the state or supporters of it.

    • @RobertMJohnson
      @RobertMJohnson Год назад +1

      chris hedges couldn't predict the future any better than a 4 year old.

  • @tomsimpson5449
    @tomsimpson5449 3 года назад +98

    Thank you Chris for your insight, perseverance and courage.

  • @alisonmcgillivray8008
    @alisonmcgillivray8008 3 года назад +211

    AS always Chris Hedges tells the truth and pulls no punches...

    • @LimeObeans
      @LimeObeans 3 года назад +1

      what is pulling punches?

    • @troywalkertheprogressivean8433
      @troywalkertheprogressivean8433 3 года назад +4

      @@LimeObeans not holding back

    • @Michael-qy1jz
      @Michael-qy1jz 3 года назад +4

      Chris is excellent but he is wrong on several things. - The Corporate LEFTIST Coup Teamed up with the Democrats to get Trump out!!!! The Leftist Fascists teamed up against him. It was huge!!

    • @troywalkertheprogressivean8433
      @troywalkertheprogressivean8433 3 года назад +21

      @@Michael-qy1jz what leftists? you dont know who is left. corporate leftist is an oxymoron.

    • @Michael-qy1jz
      @Michael-qy1jz 3 года назад +1

      @@troywalkertheprogressivean8433 They call themselves leftists and teamed up Clearly with Democrats.

  • @davinacampbell-williams
    @davinacampbell-williams 3 года назад +59

    Thanks for allowing him to speak uninterrupted 👏🏾😌 , which interviewers usually have a bad habit of doing.

  • @michaeldob9526
    @michaeldob9526 3 года назад +105

    What a life Chris has had. What a legend. I wish they make a movie about him.

    • @amyanderson4099
      @amyanderson4099 3 года назад +10

      Notice the credit given to others before speaking. .intelligence at its very best

    • @raushaunrigsby1181
      @raushaunrigsby1181 3 года назад +17

      Hollyweird is a part of the problem Chris Hedges expounds upon, they would never portray him in a good light by making a film about him, and neither would they do it for Julian Assange.

    • @frankymaclellan7295
      @frankymaclellan7295 3 года назад +2

      Chris Hedges is a true american patriot and hero. If all of us had just one iota of his courage, integrity and compassion this world would be a better place in my opinion.

    • @raushaunrigsby1181
      @raushaunrigsby1181 3 года назад +2

      Hollyweird has been the greatest manipulator and purveyor of Amerkkka's lies and distortions in the history of mankind, their propaganda is beyond the pale. Read Chris Hedges' book "The Death of the Liberal Class", as he has a whole section on those fake liberal Hollyweird scumbags, the worst of the worst.

    • @sabinereynaudsf
      @sabinereynaudsf 2 года назад +1

      @@raushaunrigsby1181 There are plenty of independent movies made.

  • @ChooseCompassion
    @ChooseCompassion 3 года назад +41

    He is one of the most important voices we have. Everyone should be listening to him and sharing his lectures that he so generously does. Same with Noam Chomsky and Ralph Nader. All voices of truth coming from deep knowledge and good hearts.

  • @jocosus3
    @jocosus3 3 года назад +101

    Thank you for posting!
    7:25 Chris Hedges begins speaking

    • @kassachap
      @kassachap 3 года назад +5

      Thanks 😊

    • @leibermuster2399
      @leibermuster2399 3 года назад +6

      Thanks! She was groaning on quite a bit ...

    • @ableasdale2000
      @ableasdale2000 3 года назад +3

      Yes, very annoying.

    • @nikkoplayshockey
      @nikkoplayshockey 3 года назад +4

      Thank you! She was brutal

    • @trentkprue
      @trentkprue 3 года назад +1

      Thnx Jocosus...i thought I was the only one annoyed...

  • @colinrash56
    @colinrash56 3 года назад +19

    Mr Chris Hedges.. Undoubtedly one of the few political journalists of unwavering & unquestionable integrity ..Such virtues once a badge of honour, now a rarity in the corporate captured sphere of media sycophancy..
    Excellent guest, excellent discussion
    Thankyou

  • @charleskesner1302
    @charleskesner1302 3 года назад +43

    Chris is wonderful. Thanks for bringing him to speak.

  • @StephiSensei26
    @StephiSensei26 3 года назад +17

    Calm, well thought out and to the point, in a nonjudgemental fashion, Chris Hedges bravely rams the bitter pill of truth, down the throat of Capitalism and its stooges. Right or Left, they have nowhere to hide from this truth and clarity. Thank you Chris Hedges.

  • @breal546
    @breal546 3 года назад +48

    Love Hedges, he’s predicted everything over the last 7 years. People need to stop blaming each other for falling for the propaganda they got sucked into and come together. I pray that love will set us free. ❤️

    • @breal546
      @breal546 3 года назад +1

      @fishoutawata The 60’s interest the heck outta me, lot’s of strange happenings. Laurel Canyon, “The Hellfire Canyon Club”, The Merry Pranksters and masses of propagandists that now work for the war machine. My father was a hippy and now he’s a lot of what he stood against. I see it happening to a lot of the punk rockers of my time as well although now it’s obvious the nihilism and self destructive nature of the punk movement was turned inward but we were all very aware of the dangers of neocon/neolib policy and of world events, much of it got watered down and corporatized as well. Now what’s happening today is downright stranger than fiction. ✌️

    • @Windband1
      @Windband1 3 года назад +3

      @fishoutawata It did shift! And that was why the oligarchs worked so hard to shift it back far to right at the end of the 70s and into the 80s! By the 80s young people were becoming brainless idiots who were losing their attention span and concentration due to cable TV, superficial music/pop culture and the genesis of video games... The oligarchs succeeded sadly....

  • @100perdido
    @100perdido 3 года назад +62

    The warden of the Louisville jail summed it up. Half the prison population is not violent offenders but rather people we are pissed off at. His jail space would be better used to house people we are afraid of rather than pissed at.

    • @waltergoring8428
      @waltergoring8428 3 года назад +1

      He works for what he disagrees with.

    • @KnowledgeDriven
      @KnowledgeDriven 3 года назад +1

      @@waltergoring8428 You could say the same thing about the current progressive DA of Philly Larry Krasner. There's a Netflix doc if anyone wants to get up to speed - first published by PBS, Philly D.A. (2021).

    • @godrestem7044
      @godrestem7044 3 года назад +7

      @@waltergoring8428 We all work within systems that we disagree with, either by a conscious choice believing we can try to change it or an unconscious decision driven by a basic need to survive in it. I'm glad the warden at least recognizes the folly within his prison. That in itself is a small victory towards something greater.

    • @susanmercurio1060
      @susanmercurio1060 3 года назад +3

      @@godrestem7044 : That's why we hippies in the 60s dropped out. The media just led the charge to laugh at us. If we had dropped out wearing 3-piece business suits, everyone would be a hippy now.

  • @nicco6951
    @nicco6951 2 года назад +41

    His books, particularly, "Empire of Illusion" and "War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning" literally changed my view of how the world works. His writing and reporting is excellent.

    • @desireegerber
      @desireegerber 2 года назад

      I never heard of War is a Force that Keeps Us Moving. Thanks for mentioning it. I gotta look that up

  • @Monkeybongoes
    @Monkeybongoes 3 года назад +13

    If everyone in the country listened to this talk, we might get the sustained civil disobedience necessary to change the direction we're headed in.

  • @dulynoted2427
    @dulynoted2427 3 года назад +17

    Happy Birthday to Julian Assange! May he and journalist around the world be free!

  • @uradragon7823
    @uradragon7823 3 года назад +13

    Thank you Mr. Hedges. May you stay safe.

  • @peterreston6478
    @peterreston6478 11 месяцев назад

    Listening to Chris Hedges is always a stimulating experience. Thank you.

  • @monatinnell4570
    @monatinnell4570 3 года назад +42

    Thank You again Chris for educating the masses including myself to the reality that stands before us. You never fail to remind us of how short life truly is and how an individual can make an enormous difference in society as you have. Please continue to reach out to people of all ages and education so we feel supported by your wisdom and truth. The youth really needs your inspiring message.

    • @katherinejones850
      @katherinejones850 2 года назад

      That is a nice sentiment but the masses refuse to be educated!

    • @RobertMJohnson
      @RobertMJohnson Год назад

      chris makes 0 difference in the world. but keep lying to yourself that he is. your comment hasn't aged well AT ALL. we have a new war in Europe. we have record inflation. we have a huge economic growth on the other side of the coming recession. get an education instead of thinking the one you have suffices

  • @kazilziya830
    @kazilziya830 3 года назад +18

    The disconnection between the people and the cretins we elect to "serve us" has never been bigger. These thieves and carpetbaggers are there to serve their corporate owners and there's no change on the horizon.
    Thank you Mr Hedges for your insight and truth.

  • @shobvious
    @shobvious 2 года назад

    NY attorney here. Thanks and kudos for inviting Chris Hedges. Pleasantly surprised.

  • @silvioapires
    @silvioapires 3 года назад +24

    Chris Hedges is definitely a colossal intellectual of our times! We are SO lucky to be living at the same time he is and get to listen to him and be exposed to his magnificent dissertations!

  • @ianpmctigue
    @ianpmctigue 3 года назад +53

    "Unless these people are reintegrated, especially economically..."
    Unless society functions for people, people will regress. If a major life challenge cannot be met - a basic life task - we will see large scale reversions to damaged and unhealthy coping mechanisms. This regression can easily be harnessed (even monetized) into large-scale social problems..

    • @susanmercurio1060
      @susanmercurio1060 3 года назад +5

      Wow, what a good insight!

    • @YourIdeologyIsDelusional
      @YourIdeologyIsDelusional 3 года назад +11

      The problem is they're almost impossible to reintegrate, because in their ideology, they refuse everything that would help them.
      The only thing wrong with the January 6th riots is that they happened at the capitol, and not at Google's headquarters. The American right is under attack by its own ideology, and needs leftism, but they don't understand what leftism actually is and blame the government for the malevolence of the very corporate institutions their politics put into power.
      There is no possibility of reintegrating them economically until they are willing to accept concepts such as the UBI and wealth redistribution, and begin attacking America's right wing power structures. Given we can't even convince them to fight for the rights of unions, this is likely completely hopeless.

    • @amandap9332
      @amandap9332 3 года назад +6

      @@YourIdeologyIsDelusional we could reintegrate ALL people.
      All we have to do is toss all monetary systems in the trash where they belong.
      Money really is the root of all evil. I dont believe in god but i feel that is the truest statement ever uttered.
      Money will always be an end unto itself if we are stupid enough to keep using it. Thousands of years of monetary systems and they always come back to massive inequality. Every. Damn. Time.
      Ditch money and adopt a resource based economy with no monetary systems at all.
      Feel free to check out the venus project to see what im talking about.
      We could live in an amazing, beautiful, abundant world. All we have to do is choose to.

    • @shannonm.townsend1232
      @shannonm.townsend1232 2 года назад +1

      @Evil Rev hahaha

    • @shannonm.townsend1232
      @shannonm.townsend1232 2 года назад

      @Evil Rev get out of here eith your fomenting nonsense

  • @markuspfeifer8473
    @markuspfeifer8473 3 года назад +73

    I‘m glad I had my midlife crisis in my 20s so I could spend time studying what’s going on. I can start my 30s as an activist

    • @vinfreeman1602
      @vinfreeman1602 3 года назад +1

      LOL

    • @totonow6955
      @totonow6955 3 года назад +1

      @@vinfreeman1602 hope you are at least paid for your meanness.

    • @Redactedlllllllllllll
      @Redactedlllllllllllll 3 года назад +1

      Intellectual honesty is a rare trait.

    • @Instramark
      @Instramark 3 года назад

      @@totonow6955
      What kind of crack is that?
      You must be anti-Hedges.

    • @Instramark
      @Instramark 3 года назад +4

      And you should. Hoping you are an activist along the lines of Hedges.
      I am 66, Age 8 when JFK, assassinated. Research the assassination and you learn all contributors to today's state of affairs.
      Hedges adds to this and keeps the faith.
      Imo, Hedges is the number one author in America today.

  • @sblack536
    @sblack536 3 года назад +12

    There is so much tightly packed truth in this speech that it needs to be transcribed and published. Really important stuff.

  • @MsFreethepeople
    @MsFreethepeople 3 года назад +12

    I admire him, he's so brave. I wish more of us would stand up and fight this machine.

    • @doughboy8821
      @doughboy8821 2 года назад +2

      We gotta organize in droves if we wanna take this machine on

    • @RobertMJohnson
      @RobertMJohnson Год назад

      he's part of the machine. how blind are you?

  • @danielclint1033
    @danielclint1033 3 года назад +29

    Those of us with just average discernment know the truth of what is going on, the question when do we rise up coherently to put a stop to this filth?

    • @elizabethc.5569
      @elizabethc.5569 3 года назад +4

      The public is lacking someone to lead the way.

    • @chioma3100
      @chioma3100 3 года назад +3

      @@elizabethc.5569 We don't need a leader, we need a code

    • @900bcy6
      @900bcy6 3 года назад +6

      The election of Joe Biden only confirms that we are in the minority.

    • @lorrainewest7408
      @lorrainewest7408 3 года назад +1

      @@900bcy6 I not believe you are. Tolerance only goes so far for me. If my family were suiciding I would be taking matters alive into my own hands.

    • @Johnconno
      @Johnconno 2 года назад

      @@chioma3100 An algorithm! 👍

  • @user-gl9iz1bp1r
    @user-gl9iz1bp1r 3 года назад +7

    Thank you, Chris Hedges - for a point of light. And to all of the viewers and comments. It gives me hope. We must fight for the "truth", fight for the "people."

  • @JamieNixx
    @JamieNixx 3 года назад +68

    Chris seems to be losing weight!
    I pray for his health, that he lives to be very old. ❤️

    • @maryhandley8306
      @maryhandley8306 3 года назад +13

      He has gone plant based I think.

    • @RiffKrsna
      @RiffKrsna 3 года назад +17

      Yes, he has adopted a vegan diet. His health is getting better every day.

    • @cockyplopsnigga
      @cockyplopsnigga 3 года назад +1

      Hes a nihilist. He'd probably love to starve to death or not care

    • @Jensth
      @Jensth 3 года назад +8

      Im impressed that he hasnt turned to self destructive despair. He looks extremely healthy. Having a clean conscience is probably the healthiest thing in the world

    • @JamieNixx
      @JamieNixx 2 года назад

      @@maryhandley8306 yes! I believe he’s a vegan now.

  • @julieannmyers8714
    @julieannmyers8714 3 года назад +13

    The questions posed to Chris make the crux of the problem quite clear.

  • @peterwright7025
    @peterwright7025 3 года назад +11

    one of our great thinkers thank you

  • @theodoroskakoulidis5932
    @theodoroskakoulidis5932 3 года назад +12

    Chris Hedges gives such detailed account about the distraction of the American dream that is impossible to argue thank you Chris

  • @sharkamov
    @sharkamov 3 года назад +25

    *Imagine, just **_imagine_** this man as president of the USA! . . . .*

    • @gertrudewest4535
      @gertrudewest4535 3 года назад +3

      Just thinking the same with Dr. Cornel West as VP

    • @Cuzdcrow
      @Cuzdcrow 3 года назад +3

      Richard Wolf
      Julian Assange
      Maybe only a real president could be Indigenous for peace on earth
      Ralph Nader says we need a #corperatecrimeenforcement

    • @bootstraphan6204
      @bootstraphan6204 3 года назад

      A president who could mobilize massive grassroots movements from the Left...
      👁️👄👁️

    • @cockyplopsnigga
      @cockyplopsnigga 3 года назад

      Depressing, thank god his predictions never come true

    • @hellobarbies7762
      @hellobarbies7762 3 года назад +1

      Politicians are the problem. NOT the solution.

  • @fredoctober292
    @fredoctober292 3 года назад +10

    this man saved my life. no hyperbole what so ever.

  • @mikemooney9124
    @mikemooney9124 3 года назад +13

    I've heard him a number of times but I was absolutely bowled over by his background and CV... interesting man with a disconcerting message for this generation... it looks like we're in the hands of history as it develops over the next few years.

  • @DigiologyStudios
    @DigiologyStudios 2 года назад +3

    Thank you. A conversation with Chris Hedges is always an great discourse in awakening with truth

  • @jpathak6227
    @jpathak6227 2 года назад +2

    The smartest man in journalism. Tells it like it is. Pulls no punches and is not beholden to any party right or left. Respected for his intelligence and candidness.

  • @BradfordHills
    @BradfordHills 3 года назад +7

    This talk was a medley of chris's greatest insights.

  • @minniewipster8130
    @minniewipster8130 3 года назад +6

    This one of the best speeches by Hedges -- the timeline of the corporate domination in the US over the last half century.

  • @flash_flood_area
    @flash_flood_area 3 года назад +5

    Always an educational experience, listening to Hedges

  • @Rhetoscut
    @Rhetoscut 3 года назад +17

    law firms are the right hand of corporate fascism and extremei inequality. who lobbies? who runs for office? who becomes the judge? who decides?

  • @lynnetalarico1412
    @lynnetalarico1412 2 года назад +2

    why are there so many people who are blind to what is going on. Thank you Chris. You are spot on everything.

  • @Shakedown24Seven
    @Shakedown24Seven 2 года назад +5

    Chris Hedges is a beauty. Unfortunately most people don’t have the gumption to stress test just how accurate this man really is.

  • @valdachef
    @valdachef 3 года назад +16

    Love Chris hedges I'm listening to "America the farewell tour"

    • @lisamurdoch2525
      @lisamurdoch2525 3 года назад +1

      I’m reading it. I can only read so much at a time and only on days when I’m feeling strong. Otherwise, I feel like leaving this world behind.

    • @eriknephrongfr8847
      @eriknephrongfr8847 3 года назад

      How is it? I just finished Death Of The Liberal Class.

    • @gay_spiritual
      @gay_spiritual 2 года назад +1

      @@lisamurdoch2525 yes, I have to take breaks because it's true and it's ugly and depressing. I knew something was seriously wrong with our society since I was little. Having a near death experience as a child, I was returned from wherever my soul had traveled on to warn others that we can destroy ourselves like we almost did during World War Two. I remember telling my mom "Almost everything we know is a lie". She tried to probe futher but I was too young to fully comprehend my knowledge. But I think my mom knew, she was a social activist in the 1960's

    • @lisamurdoch2525
      @lisamurdoch2525 2 года назад +1

      @@gay_spiritual wow! You really are an old - and wise - soul!

    • @gay_spiritual
      @gay_spiritual 2 года назад

      @@lisamurdoch2525 I believe I have lived a life before, whether it was another human here on earth or another being from another planet or dimension or plane of existence is up for speculation. My feelings of reincarnation is speculation as I have no proof except my own feelings and experiences (I always have synchronicity and sometimes I dream of things before they happen, however that particular gift if waning, it used to be much more powerful before my mom died last year. I think when my mom left, a part of myself left with her). Perhaps I'm wrong and we all have these gifts, we are just unconscious and have not utilized its potential.
      I love a variety of music and one time, my used-to-be supervisor told me "You like a variety of music, even very old music. You're an old soul"
      I'm different from most others in that I am nonconforming and I usually have a calming nature and I actually talk to people about meaningful things and I have compassion and empathy. Add the fact that I'm gay and a "half-bred", in this violent society, I'm an easy target.

  • @nicksaliu8941
    @nicksaliu8941 3 года назад +28

    I wish I had half of Chris's articulative abilities.

    • @Instramark
      @Instramark 3 года назад +5

      Just read, read and read some more....then write, write, write. It's a muscle you can develop.

    • @tomsimpson5449
      @tomsimpson5449 3 года назад +2

      It's more important to listen and when you speak only say things you know to be conceptually valid, empirically true and motivated by love.

    • @mobiditch6848
      @mobiditch6848 2 года назад

      @@tomsimpson5449 yes, wit and aphorism being the stuff of intelligence.

  • @hailmaryrecordings8255
    @hailmaryrecordings8255 3 года назад +3

    Every American should be required to follow Chris’ work. Seriously.

  • @robertplatte5700
    @robertplatte5700 3 года назад +5

    all the comments below praise Chris and I do too. The question is HOW do you get other people to tune in to Chris, people like us who follow C.H really are a minority, but it is the majority who really need to hear this

    • @maxfastest
      @maxfastest 2 года назад

      You cannot get folks to give up their fatasy life !
      They do not want to know the truth

  • @proudhavenot
    @proudhavenot 2 года назад +4

    Wow..I knew the prison/legal system was corrupt but Chris's explanation is powerful. There's so much greed in this country, it's hard to consume sometimes..

  • @taniakeldin
    @taniakeldin 2 года назад +1

    Thank you, Chris for your wisdom and courage. Keep up the good fight and know that you have a lot of admiration and support from others.

  • @elleh3495
    @elleh3495 Год назад +1

    I'm so thankful for his courage and for his persistence. I don't understand why more people don't use his work and connect the dots. He lays out historical facts in a neutral way, yet also gives graphic and honest verbal images of where we are headed.

  • @joeows6537
    @joeows6537 3 года назад +5

    During Occupy Wall Street, at Zuccotti Park, Chris Hedges was a Rock Star. i enjoy Chris's work... thank you for hosting him!

  • @bigdog4230
    @bigdog4230 3 года назад +14

    The "American Dream" was never a worthy goal.

    • @cockyplopsnigga
      @cockyplopsnigga 3 года назад

      What was your dream?

    • @briaf3370
      @briaf3370 2 года назад +1

      American dream ... got to be asleep to believe it

  • @debralee1401
    @debralee1401 2 года назад +1

    Always good to hear from Chris Hedges. Thank you🙏

  • @commonman317
    @commonman317 3 года назад +9

    Greed is a disease.

  • @leealexander3507
    @leealexander3507 3 года назад +13

    Are there really still people who know so little about Chris Hedges that he needs an introduction? I would have thought everyone was very well aquatinted with him and his journalism.

    • @Windband1
      @Windband1 3 года назад +1

      If you're here because you saw Hedges name in a YT feed and jumped on it to hear Chris, you're in a different demographic than a bunch of NY lawyers.... I'm guessing there aren't a whole lot of dissidents in the NY Bar Assoc. LOL.

  • @GrafStorm
    @GrafStorm 3 года назад +8

    Thank you for hosting Chis Hedges, it is always inciteful to hear the thoughts of such a person.

  • @heathermac8725
    @heathermac8725 2 года назад +1

    It's lovely to know that such integrity, as Chris Hedges has, exists in someone in a position to inform & encourage others - because then real choices might just be able to be made well, by anyone who wants to, towards societal healing.

  • @beeamendola
    @beeamendola 3 года назад +2

    THE LOSS OF INDUSTRY ON EVERY LEVEL HAS CRUSHED US EVERY DAY AND THROUGH THIS PANDEMIC!!!

  • @foxbodyblues6709
    @foxbodyblues6709 3 года назад +82

    How ironic that the NYC bar posts this, when it’s precisely their politics that supported/allowed what Hedges is talking about.

    • @100perdido
      @100perdido 3 года назад +1

      Could you elaborate on this, please?

    • @foxbodyblues6709
      @foxbodyblues6709 3 года назад +26

      @@100perdido how many bar members and viewers of this video are Democrats and consistently vote Democrat for President is EXACTLY what I mean.
      The left MUST withhold their vote until the Dem party gives us the things we really want.
      M4A, $15/hr are two issues for starters

    • @jeffmurray1681
      @jeffmurray1681 3 года назад +11

      @WTFViewer No need to get rid of Constitution. The powers that be either ignore it or the SC makes the necessary rulings to undermine it.

    • @_Wai_Wai_
      @_Wai_Wai_ 3 года назад +7

      @@foxbodyblues6709 LOL $15 an HR? They'll just raise the costs of basic essentials on everyone. The depth of the problem goes so deep that raising the minimum wage will not do anything

    • @RKZX2
      @RKZX2 3 года назад +7

      @@_Wai_Wai_ inflation is already happening. fuel, food, lumber has jumped up just to name a few.

  • @rosu5726
    @rosu5726 2 года назад +3

    Thank goodness this great man is still alive

  • @testos2701
    @testos2701 Год назад

    The path is crystal clear folks, hold on to your freedom before it is disposed off! Whatever it takes!

  • @arianedowell4184
    @arianedowell4184 2 года назад

    Thanks for all you do me hedges!

  • @bjornbaron5940
    @bjornbaron5940 3 года назад +4

    Chris is excellent; good insight into our society.

  • @niteriderband4713
    @niteriderband4713 3 года назад +8

    Chris is a genius, I love his talks. He is our conscience. God messenger for us to hear and learn before we destroy ourselves.

  • @tommedlin297
    @tommedlin297 2 года назад +3

    Such an excellent communicator.

  • @PhilAndersonOutside
    @PhilAndersonOutside 2 года назад +1

    Huge respect to the NYC bar for having Hedges as a guest. So many mainstream anything are terrified of him, for his irrefutable, incisive speaking of the truth.

  • @hivolco151
    @hivolco151 3 года назад +4

    I may not agree with everything he says, but he has been able to remind us of our history , the list of changes such as NAFTA that have changed our landscape forever!! :(

  • @noIMspartacus2
    @noIMspartacus2 2 года назад +3

    A voice of sanity and reality mostly in the wilderness...
    To quote Don Mclean's "Vincent"...
    Now, I think I know what you tried to say to me
    How you suffered for your sanity
    How you tried to set them free
    They would not listen, they're not listening still
    Perhaps they never will...

  • @Windband1
    @Windband1 3 года назад +2

    What an unusual group to have Hedges come and speak to them... I didn't see that coming. Good for them!

  • @howardaltemus9814
    @howardaltemus9814 2 года назад +2

    “When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross”.
    -Upton Sinclair

  • @pukahuroad3967
    @pukahuroad3967 3 года назад +4

    Chris Hedges uses an extraordinary wealth of life experiences in conjunction with a hunger for truth and
    with his impressive intellect he can deliver a thesis on any political topic.
    His use of logic and reality makes him a political commentator of the highest order.

  • @mikey_gc8
    @mikey_gc8 3 года назад +4

    This man is a national treasure

  • @Sky_Star-hq6bx
    @Sky_Star-hq6bx 2 года назад +1

    I Love Chris Hedges ! I Always Have ! I ALWAYS Will !!! God Bless this man !

  • @shonshonacg
    @shonshonacg 3 года назад +2

    Thank you Mr. Hedges

  • @armondoserna2342
    @armondoserna2342 3 года назад +3

    Yes,thats the way it goes.thank you for not wearing out mr. hedges.thank you.

  • @mikedimaio1237
    @mikedimaio1237 3 года назад +7

    Mr. Hedges is a national treasure on the other hand, the ABA is an embarrassing joke watching lawmakers, who are supposed to be looked up to, lie under oath again and again, making a mockery of subpoenas and doing nothing but proving Americans can never be taken at their word.

  • @morganhanam9522
    @morganhanam9522 Год назад

    This has been a great insight into Chris' sources and viewpoint thankyou!

  • @robdeskrd
    @robdeskrd 2 года назад +2

    A moral lawyer, I love it!

  • @MrHarveyrex23
    @MrHarveyrex23 3 года назад +9

    Capitalism and US Imperialism goes hand in hand.

    • @user-gz4ve8mw9l
      @user-gz4ve8mw9l Год назад

      Capitalism and fascism also are synonymous. As all roads of capitalism lead to fascism inevitably.

  • @howielisnoff
    @howielisnoff 3 года назад +12

    This leads to a very different US. It’s not a pretty picture!

  • @eemoogee160
    @eemoogee160 2 года назад +1

    Just want to express my gratitude professor~^^
    헤지 교수님, 너무나 감사를 들이고 싶습니다.

  • @hjander
    @hjander 3 года назад +1

    Never miss a chance to listen to CH. Thanks!

  • @carmenonea3800
    @carmenonea3800 2 года назад +3

    i fled Romania in 1989 and never fathomed that the US will fall to PR canned lies, but again the US takes democracy for granted. You need to fight for it to respect it.

  • @happinesstan
    @happinesstan 3 года назад +4

    I love Chris. Has he made any comment on the 'Battle of Wall St.'?

  • @lauramcconney9367
    @lauramcconney9367 3 года назад

    No one is punishing corruption in government or corporations who are polluting the air and water we need to survive.

  • @MaryBeth551
    @MaryBeth551 2 года назад

    Chris Hedges is one of our greatest modern day prophets. He tells the truth and points us in the right direction. If only Americans were willing to listen and stand up in moral solidarity with the people of our country suffering under 40 years of corporate greed and lies!

  • @strezztechnoid
    @strezztechnoid 3 года назад +9

    When is the ABA going to get serious about the licensure in states where lawyers, in particular of the political persuasion that have used the color of law to violate ethics rules and basic jurisprudence. Seeing Gulliani have his licensure suspended is a start, but we have a cadre of lawyers that are adverse to the concepts of modern cannon law. In fact, this includes judges and an attempt to reframe law as a treaties derived and affirmed from biblical sources, findings juxtaposed to centuries of rational and objective forms of law are being realized in the U.S. Supreme Court as recently as this week. How can invoking theocratic text to form the realm of 'all known legal strictures' be allowed to subjugate ages of reason to a "biblical truth".

    • @chriskruger4218
      @chriskruger4218 3 года назад +4

      As a socialist-minded, dissident person, I am frankly horrified at anyone applauding a person being disbarred for Thought Crimes, in this case disputing the election and the legitimacy of election authorities. This is even more so given how Bernie Sanders was rather transparently cheated, twice, by liberal class cowards.
      The January 6 Riot is not what it seems; it is rather providing an excuse for the cowardly PMC class to create a new designation of Thought Crimes, i.e., "domestic terrorism" which is just as feigned and fabricated as the original War on Terrorism, where, in Orwellian fashion, we became the world's foremost exporters of Murder for Profit.

    • @populisttrope9385
      @populisttrope9385 3 года назад +2

      @@chriskruger4218 The new term is DVEs. The security state is no longer focusing on Terrorists overseas. The war on terrorism has come home and Biden is urging everyone to inform on their friends, family and co-workers.

    • @strezztechnoid
      @strezztechnoid 3 года назад

      @@populisttrope9385 I is clearly possible than to distinguish the behaviors of those labeled as DVEs, seems a number or entities meet the codification criteria--corporate CEO, hedge fund managers, investment bankers, Forex traders, commodities brokers, mortgage services and originating loan companies, pay day lenders,
      for profit prisons, military industrialists, Fox News hosts, privileged punditry, woke academicians, theoretical physicists, more than amateur astronomers, Galileo, Copernicus--but most importantly, the proponents and managers of classic institutional structures of power for whom no price need be paid, only deferred or transferred.

    • @user-nf9xc7ww7m
      @user-nf9xc7ww7m 3 года назад

      @@chriskruger4218
      I have an issue with "barring." Why should the lawyers and doctors get guilds (govt mandated corporations people wanting to do those jobs have to join...like a union) but not fast food workers or janitors? Try practising law without their blessing.
      If fast food workers were treated the same--needing to take the FSAT logic test that is only somewhat related, go to pre-food and then food school (bachelor and then FD [foodis doctorate]), and then pay for membership to get licensed to practise fast food. The State Fast Food Board would then set minimum and maximum prices. Services from fast food board members (because practising fast food making without license is a crime) would $100 per meal. $300 for supersize.

  • @martinsmith4866
    @martinsmith4866 3 года назад +5

    Been a while since heard such concentrated wisdom...perhaps since Hitchens

    • @kathykeller3430
      @kathykeller3430 3 года назад +1

      Stephen Fry and Noam Chomsky are worth a listen as well

  • @totonow6955
    @totonow6955 3 года назад +2

    On the outside chance that someone from the New York Bar Association might read my comment:
    I am here in eastern Kentucky. I just want to admonish anyone of you that might be using denial to shrug off the message you have been given here, generously from Chris Hedges, as hyperbolic, you are blinding yourself. I am here, on the ground, and EVERYTHING Chris has graciously outlined is if anything and at this late date - understated.

  • @henrykujawa4427
    @henrykujawa4427 Год назад

    2nd time I've watched this. I am thrilled that some of the things he predicted (more militant labor union organizing) is happening in 2022, which I see as THE one bright shining hope for the future of this country, and by extension, the world.

  • @dmelson7502
    @dmelson7502 3 года назад +12

    Until I can vote against Goldman Sachs I will not vote.

    • @polsyg6581
      @polsyg6581 2 года назад +1

      thats why i always used to vote green party, too bad few other voters bothered to do so :/

  • @kevinsysyn4487
    @kevinsysyn4487 3 года назад +6

    Never listened to this guy before. I've been writing this stuff for years. A couple points especially about his closing comment about Nader. Third parties do no rise by running for the nation's top office. Nader would have been nearly helpless had he somehow won..... In 2000 I wrote Nader an email and implored him to withdraw and run for Lieberman's US Senate seat. He would have won in pseudo-liberal Connecticut and Gore (by far the lesser of the two evils) would have coasted to power. As it turned out the Senate wound up 50/50 in 2001, and with Gore in power Nader would have become probably the 2nd most powerful man in America. What a coup for the Green Party and its agenda!..... Nader ignored me of course.
    The corporate takeover began with the passage of the 22nd Amendment guaranteeing that no "man of the people" would ever again haunt Wall Street like FDR did.
    The Cold War communist threat which never really existed was next establishing a permanent wartime economy.
    And JFK cut Wall Street taxes from 91% to 65% more dramatic than even Reagan.
    LBJ the last true New Dealer did wonderful things but he too bought into the Red Scare and believed he could overwhelm them rather easily in Vietnam and the Great Society would have an open road.

  • @john_hourihan
    @john_hourihan 2 года назад +2

    I've been enamored with Chris Hedges recently and I looked for criticism of him to balance my enthusiasm. That didn't work. The only coherent criticism of Chris Hedges is that he doesn't spoon feed answers about what we should do. Although he's clear about what to do, he doesn't use specific current examples of how people should live their lives. He's allowing agency and I think it's noble, not a character flaw.

  • @gwenjohn8673
    @gwenjohn8673 3 года назад +2

    Such a relief to hear the unvarnished truth for once.