Christopher Hedges: War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning
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- Опубликовано: 15 окт 2024
- Christopher Hedges discusses how human beings are conditioned to embrace what he calls "the myth of war"; the idea that combat is noble, selfless, and glorious. In his new book War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, which draws on the literature of combat, from Homer and Shakespeare to Erich Maria Remarque and Michael Herr, as well as his firsthand experience, Hedges reveals the reality of war; the destruction of culture, the perversion of human desire, and the embrace, ultimately, of death over life.
"Spend long enough in war and you cannot fit in anywhere else . The drug of war finally kills you. It is not a new story. Addicts that don't kick it end up the same way. It starts out like love but it is death."
“The worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country: going into the Middle East, by President Bush.” - Donald J. Trump
Michael Kerr?
@@clarencespangle8404 Fake Quote. Neo-Nazi.
@@AshHouseware1 “The unforgiveable sin of Hitler's Germany was to develop a new economic system by which the international bankers were deprived of their profits.”-Winston Churchill
@@clarencespangle8404 Yup, that´s the one I meant. A fabricated quote, found in some preamble in one of Churchills works. The preamble was written after the year 2000, way after copyright had expired. I am a little surprised, you are an actual Neo Nazi. A rare sight to have one that obvious.
I used to read a lot of books about war, particularly the one in Vietnam and Cambodia. Then I got my first teaching job and most my students were refugees from those countries. I was reading a book about war by Mark Baker who described the smell when he got off the plane in Vietnam. That was decades ago and I haven't listened to any more books on war, because I had my students. But they were the teachers, and I was their student.
"The Things They Carried"
Chris is a breath of fresh air. I just wonder what we do if another country is being invaded.
Feel free to go join the Ukrainian military- leave the rest of the country out of it
1:17:34 Some bow, some drop the mic, and some simply walk off the stage at the end of a performance or speech. Chris Hedges pounds water like a boss.
22:42 Death of Kurt Schork, Reuters photographer, in ambush in Sierra Leone in 2000….. 22:56 Schork’s funeral…. 23:46 Poem of Catullus on the funeral rites (the “unworlding”) of his brother, that Chris recited at the graveside.
I have spoken to many who fought in WW2 and 1 and most of the time they hate or refuse to speak of it, so when they do open it is a rare and fascinating thing. It is clear that all were traumatised by the experience.
“The worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country: going into the Middle East, by President Bush.” - Donald J. Trump
“Compared to war, all other forms of human endeavor shrink to insignificance...” General George S Patton
At the end of ww1, then not yet General George S Patton, was dissapointed that the human creature could not bear the 'light' of war.
@@stevenweiss2148
Always rich to hear a lazy general, that only knows war as a table top game with his toys, complaining to people that died or lost relatives for his fun.
The 1974 Carnations Revolution in Portugal was perhaps an example of some forme of positive comradeship or just friendship. On April, 25, 1974, soldiers seized strategic points in Portugal and then took to the streets and went on strike. The people then joined them and thanked them by giving the red carnations. This revolution ended a 41 year long fascistic dictatorship and the wars in the then colonies in Africa.
Thank you for your brilliance.
Can you please add the original date of the event in the description please? This would be very helpful to put the talk in the context of the time. Thanks
Late '99.
A question near the end references the 9/11 attacks, so after that.
@@NikoHL a@@
Date of this symposium :
March 28 , 2014
Nick :
(March 28 , 2014)
What is the date of this talk? Seems like much longer ago than 2014.. also by the video quality
He's so briliant..
I'd like to know the date as well
*“The unforgiveable sin of Hitler's Germany was to develop a new economic system by which the international bankers were deprived of their profits.”-Winston Churchill*
Actually the Treaty of Verseille was far too punishing and was bound to cause resentment. Woodrow Wilson talked about "Peace without victory" in other words, peace but let's not have England and France dancing around on a prostrate Germany going "Nyeah-nyeah-nyeah!" but the English and the French wanted to really rub Germany's nose in it and Wilson basically walked off in disgust.
"And that's the troof!" - Albert Einstein.
@@alexcarter8807 Yer come drunk.
@@clarencespangle8404 lol
WW2 we fouth the Rong pigs
Well said and true
Love hearing this guy. He really ducked the Peanut Butter Sandwich Girl though. I guess if you believe in a god you can justify anything, so you can't fight anyone else's god either. But I genuinely enjoy his hugely experienced take on the world - he's got chops I couldn't even aspire to. Thanks Mr Hedges ✌️
He said, "War is a mess." CORRECT!!!!!!!
The Evolution of Chris Hedges..Change is gradual We can't change over night neither will the powers to be. Whom love and practice a lie..Beat the swords into plowshares!
Brilliant understanding and perception when it comes to understanding the American psyche Wow If only more would/could see it and then make the changes necessary to actually bring about real change..
“The worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country: going into the Middle East, by President Bush.” - Donald J. Trump
@@laurielee4795 to me it’s because we’ve never had the killings fields of WW1 or the destruction of WW2. It’s been hundreds of years since war was fought on our soil so we still have this glorification of the battle. We were a nation born in war and many of us have never seen the horrors of war so we still have the idea that war brings freedom and glory.
Hedges has morality, humanity, courage, humility and intelligence.
It looks so, but I rather think he is the cheating second defense line Propagandist whose task it is, to catch those readers no longer believing in the official war propaganda narrative.
I do not believe, that he does not know, that all wars including the war propaganda, i.e. the required hate against bad "dictators" are always designed, prepared in advance, by planned staged events. Just see the US staged war on Syria at 08oo.wordpress.com in the English version.
@@yandunker4273 can you say this in other words, I m not understanding
@@christopherbremer2192 “The worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country: going into the Middle East, by President Bush.” - Donald J. Trump
@@christopherbremer2192 He's speaking of war being horrific while still managing to potray the lies and hounouring the goals of his employers.
It was quite evident when he tackled the jougoslavian war. All sources of it has been deleted from the internet when possible, but after the war it became evident that the Serbs were not the devils that all western Media had painted them out to be. Every massacre they did was a pale vengance act to the initial massacre that had been done upon them. (After the war they found all the massgraves of the massacred serbs, which were typically around ten times the number of the bosnians killed in the massacres the media covered. That is at the start of the war many settlements were mixed and the bosnian majority ones exterminated their serb population, which during the course of the war led to vengance massacres by the serbs.)
And the UN bases were used by the bosnians as places from which they could raid the surrounding serbian settlements, hence why the serbs eventually attacked the UN.
There were seveal issues with his descriptions of events that were blatant lies and as such I stopped listening at 50 odd minutes.
God Bless you Mr Chris🙏 live long world's needs people like you
“The worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country: going into the Middle East, by President Bush.” - Donald J. Trump
55:00 Chris has changed on this issue. Worth seeing him address this again today. Hasn't 'responsibility to protect' been cynically abused?
“The worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country: going into the Middle East, by President Bush.” - Donald J. Trump
Now more relevant than ever....
Recorded 2002, 2003?
2003. We have recorded three of Chris's talks. Find them here: forum-network.org/speakers/hedges-christopher/
January 22nd, 2003
War is for the rich to make money by stealing resources & anything of value really , war is a racket : Gen Smedley Butler
The book, "War is a Racket" was written by General Smedley Butler in 1935.
Wow absolutely! Well said!
What year is this? The video says it was published 2014, but they’re talking as of we were “about” to go to war with Iraq.
This was 2002, maybe early 2003. They uploaded it over a decade later lol.
That heckle was delivered by an intellectual giant
He is a clever second propaganda defense line cheater. Framing those who discovered the lies of the first propaganda line.
You Forgot To Mention That war Is A Racket.
Smedley...
30:35 Say what you will about uneducated, neocon warhawks.
But they’re DAMN eloquent.
He sounded drunk yes? My first thought was he is a vet with PTSD
“The worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country: going into the Middle East, by President Bush.” - Donald J. Trump
@Out of Order / Gone Fishin' ffs....you sound that. Care the Jungian shadow.
@Out of Order / Gone Fishin' fools with mouths wide open.
Patrick! Lindhorst - A person was drunk, and screaming nonsensical pro-war rhetoric? Might’ve been Nancy Pelosi in a man suit.
you are a smart cookie
Wow! What a most moving and powerful story of this Muslim man who brought milk to this baby girl and was reviled for it but persevered regardless !
I do not relate to RUclips. RUclips implicitly tells me, by the very virtue of its existence, that I have a life; when in fact I do not.
Why do these so called leaders of the nations NOT hear the pleas of the masses of the world for PEACE ! Tribalism , Nationalism , Divisive and Alienating Politics , Ideologies and Superficial Propaganda is what seems to dominate our conversations ! We need to change our conversations to more collectively fruitful issues to reflect our human oneness and work to safeguard our world for ourselves and all life !
Suggest revised title: "War is a FARCE That Gives Us Meaning."
It's more than that.
@@collinsfrank1582 a comedy of fatal errors where the wrong people always pay for the mistakes
Chris sets the bar in war reporting along with Robert Fisk. Looking for integrity, these guys describe hell of war better than anyone in MSN.
This woman @ 1:01 is beyond delusional and still hadn't understood how the "gov" uses the emotions of those that still believe that we are the "most powerful"nation in the world and that by writing and calling representatives that we can bring about "change".
Chris hedges speaks as he feels he is very knowledable and I was going to put a comment but he's put everything and more.
HEDGES FOR PRESIDENT!!$
It's good that you figured it out, but you're telling us something that we already knew because most of us wanted no part of it.
I actually am Ok when war breaks out. I hate the aspect of death of course, but it’s what helps us create meaning in our lives. What do we do otherwise? Live rinky dink lives with bbq’s and ballgames? No thanks.
"There will be wars on this planet as long as my sons want them to be." quote from Mrs. Amschel Rothschild
That's an anti Semitic trope and rubbish statement.
War IS the Enemy.
I have to believe and respect that hedges’ has the welfare of all people as his highest priority. I mean his many years of seeing the evils of war and its machinations should be evidence in support of his sincerity. But why does he title his speech this way: “War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning”? Clearly, it is war that is the force that destroys things we live to support. It seems to me that he is supporting and justifying those who believe war is a solution to the human problem. If there is a fine line between defending one’s self and use of physical force to enrich one’s self, then Mr. Hedges seems on the wrong side of it. In other words, revolution in response to oppression justifies the raising of arms but it does not justify the war itself. Hedges cannot decry the horrors of war while failing in supporting the need to oppose capitalism by any means necessary. I see this duality in many of his speeches. He seems to have an attitude that war is horrible dirty business; therefore, we must stop it before it starts. I say that a proper response to oppression is revolt, but if you stop it before it starts you nullify the correct response. Hedges can be against all war (like Chomsky), but he cannot be against a proper response to oppression. When he holds that war is a force that gives us meaning, he ignores the human need to understand the causes of war and need to avoid them and not create those conditions. His opinions on war are correct, war is a horrible dirty affair. In the face of oppression war may become a necessary expedient, but it is never that thing that is the force for human enrichment or that gives our lives meaning. In this duality Hedges is just another liberal who does not understand the requirements of a proletarian dictatorship in true communism. The April thesis.
Sir, Hedges is simply stating a fact about human tendency to GLORIFY war. Nothing more
Did you even listen to him speak?
I'm pretty sure if you had, it'd clear up any misunderstandings you're clearing having re: the title of his book.
The title is sarcasm.
Brandon deflects rather then fix hard worker problems caused by shipping factories overseas
18:58 😭
How many books are you going to write about the same thing?
If you read any of them you'd know they weren't all the same.
🚨 bootlicker alert 🚨
if you could learn anything.
I love the woman who comments toward the end who refuses to accept despair. 👏🏼
*“Obama may have gotten (U.S. soldiers) out wrong, but going in is, to me, the biggest single mistake made in the history of our country.” - Donald J. Trump*
"Donald Trump's a blithering idiot!" - George Lincoln Rockwell.
@@alexcarter8807 Yer come drunk.
@@rusted8157 Yer come drunk.
@@rusted8157 yer come drunk
@@rusted8157 you have something dripping off your chin
Hrissy makes a killing. Offa wars
No hedges they were not designed to tumble and over end inside somebody. They were designed as a standard FMJ ballistic rifle round meaning they're pointed on one end and I believe they have a boat tail on the other so they are no different from a number of other rounds of other sizes like for instance the 30-30 Winchester. When combined with the caliber and the powder charge when they hit ballistic gelatin or people yes they tumble and rip big holes out of people. But that design bullet does not do that in other calibers. It's my understanding that they found out what it did when they deployed it in Vietnam and in fact the Vietnamese made a formal complaint that we were using illegal rounds which we weren't like hollow points. But even a hollow point can't do that. And the seventies and the Marines they taught us that it was a nothing round that didn't hurt anybody that could go they lied, that it could go or they didn't know what they were talking about but they claimed that it could go through theoretically go through a whole squad and they wouldn't even know what hit him because it was so small and so fast and that it had no knockdown power whatsoever they disparaged it. That was a 1976 and I'm surprised that was on the rifle range and boot camp and I'm surprised that being only 1976 that none of them didn't know any better that you know because they conceivably had been to Vietnam. But so they either lied or didn't know. I only learned of The lethality of it recently and I own one but I don't go around shooting people with it obviously. If and honestly if they didn't tumble they didn't do that then they would be worthless in combat cuz they have no stopping power whatsoever. I'm pretty sure it was a bonus feature they found out about. I was told that the also on the internet it says that it's only within a specific range like a hundred yards but I think that's a lie. I know it will tumble close up maybe it's close up to around 100 yards but obviously all the devastating wounds that come from cuz the shooters they're not they're using the wrong weapon they're using a rifle for close in killing. And I submit that the publicity of what that round does by the media has motivated a lot of bad people to choose that weapon to murder people. So the media has a lot of responsibility in this and other murders like they always do. I meant I was in the freaking Marines and I didn't know about and used them16 and didn't know about how they tumble oh and they also say that I said that it officially the Marine the military claims that the devastation is caused by y'all and pitch pitch which is a different thing from outright tumbling. So they lie about that. In fact it's only been recently that I heard that they actually tumble perhaps if the media didn't keep his trap shut and you then murderers wouldn't know about The lethality of the round and they wouldn't choose it and they'd be using less lethal weapons. And I let's face it these people obviously can't hunt and observe the effect of the bullet because I guarantee that not a goddamn one of them can use that rifle at the range that it's supposed to be used at which is 200 to 500 yards. So they're using it in place of a pistol precisely because the press publicized how lethal it is how it tumbles and rips holes. They had no way of knowing this without the press because they can't hunt they can't hit the broadside of a barn I can guarantee you that most people can't shoot if they weren't in the Marines they can't shoot only only Marines and ex-marines are capable of proper marksmanship because that's the only place they teach it.
The Iraq War was/is not about oil. It is an Israeli objective
Seems to be right. CIA asset Susan Lindauer, who was negotiator with Saddam Hussein, said he was willing to give USA anything (!) to avoid attacking his country. But they wanted a war.
Or, a Saudi objective.
Dying in war is much preferable to living in a society and having to tolerate ppl and idea you don't like.
So do you interact and communicate with that society or arm yourself to the teeth and go down in a hail of bullets? In addition, we are all free to go somewhere to live a life as a hermit.
@@jamesmedina2062 There's a time coming ...and right soon that choosing to go and live as a hermit will be taken off the table.
There is only a few people that I even listen to today...
George Carlin
Charles Bukowski
Inmendham
Osho
J and UG Krishnamurti
and
Renegade #1
Not too many more, except for myself also...SBN RESONATE
Thanx for the tips. I'm already into Hedges and Osho and Carlin.
Yanis Varoufakis, Noam Chomsky, Christopher Hitchens
@@christopherbremer2192 Yeah man Christopher...SBN
Look at Michael Parenti
@@GalacticNovaOverlord Yes! And Michael Hudson!
This guy is a bottomless pit of despair.
The *entire fucking world* is a bottomless pit of despair and he has seen a lot of it.
@@vs71597 just the type of person that would listen to this guy. All things are in equilibrium, physically and emotionally on average across time: night/day, war/peace, struggle/comfort, sadness/joy. Some people can get a turkey sandwich at any moment or change the thermostat 1 degree, and some people are going hungry. Progress is important, but to focus only on despair and never crack a smile is a mental disorder. But you know that....
God forbid our depraved society feels any despair
@@OfficiallyUnofficialKamala2024 yes those who are mentally ill would agree.
@@FancyAnimal sorry reality doesn't care about your desire for bliss
*“The worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country: going into the Middle East, by President Bush.” - Donald J. Trump*
This may be the only good thing trump ever said.
@@KoolBreeze420 Trump was a vote for peace, you warmongers just can't mind your own business.
Too bad Trump was all talk. He has no ideology. He speaks the words he thinks his audience wants to hear... He is a conman, a grifter, using his position to help build his brand further. He is as Bill Weld said: "a Malignant narcissist". I pity the folks that actually believe he cares for anything other than himself.
@@abbadonbaramos2372 yer come drunk
Chris Hedges says little about the causes and drivers of war, the obvious economic interest of the MIC, the economic interest of West Germany and the West generally in breaking up Yugoslavia, "we have eliminated the remaing communist totalitarian regime in Europe" said Gen. Wesley Clarke, the US commander of NATO. There are numerous other examples but the central driver seems to arise from settle colonialism, from the European assault on the indigenous polulations of north, central and south america to the UK aided settler colonialism of the Zionists in Palestine
You are exactly right. Some hidden samples: natoyu.wordpress.com.
Even himself, Wesley Clark, reported from the US secretary of defense plan in 1991 "to crash down all those soviet client regimes." ... in a fora tv youtube video
Yugoslavia was no totalitarian regime at all and "butcher ... necessary to kill him in prison to cover this. natoyu.wordpress.com
Jéws Albright and Clark had NATO bomb Serbia so the IMF Jéws could make loans for rebuilding and secure Serbin iridium assets.
@@clarencespangle8404
in the Mitrovica mining complex in Kosovo or where?
Who the hell did war make feel good?
Those who pillage and plunder to say the least, the mercinaries and contractors who collected their paychecks after doing their jobs. And the ideological nuts who got their way as a result of winning the "holy" war they were in over say some strip of land or some abstract concept. Or in modern times, being able to jockey for more resources and better trade and just take stuff (by making the side that lost pay reparations).
The warmongers hate this . . . *“The worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country: going into the Middle East, by President Bush.” - Donald J. Trump*
At a little after 55:20 he says "irregardless".
Christopher.
Motherfuking.
Hedges.
I would've never expected that from a well educated and highly intelligent person.
He was channeling his inner Masshole after the disgruntled gentelmen's outburst
It's a peculiarity. He mispronounces a few words as well, doesn't make him incompetent. I am not a smarter person just because I know how to say those words right.
@@Roc_News of course, but it just surprised me.
Especially coming from a journalist.
Yes I caught that too.
But at time we can fall back into our years when 2 generations ago everyone said it and one tires of responding to it. Every educated and uneducated person then used "irregardless".
War is necessary and must be waged from time to time. It reduces excess population, consumes the products of human labour and creates technological progress. It has its uses.
PREACHERS ALWAYS VOTE FOR WAR!
Weeeebggw Chad.
William James said There is no moral equivalent of war.
“The worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country: going into the Middle East, by President Bush.” - Donald J. Trump
@@clarencespangle8404 "You're wrong, Mr. Trump, the worst mistake wasn't leveling the South after the Civil War" - General Sherman.
@@alexcarter8807 Yer come drunk.
@@clarencespangle8404 As is said, even a broken clock is right twice a day.
@@johntravena119 fork off cox ucker
Money grifter
Hardly. He left the New York Times (paid well!) for his beliefs, teaches in a prison, and has been shunned from mainstream media for speaking truth. Why are you here? You don't seem to be the type to listen to his lectures... (if you even listened) just a troll to spit uneducated comments? Trump supporter with butt hurt??
War,,war, war blah,blah
*“The worst single mistake ever made in the history of our country: going into the Middle East, by President Bush.” - Donald J. Trump*
Wow, you're persistent. Do you have OCD?
@@YellowKing1986 e a t s h i t
@@clarencespangle8404 Funny how all of your comments get instanteous two likes. Does it feel better? Okay, I'll leave you alone in your little loop of self-gratitude, it's a promise.
@@YellowKing1986 f u c k o f f
@@clarencespangle8404 Woo three likes? Did you create another profile to try to make you look cool with more likes? Amazing.