Empire of illusion
The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle
by Chris Hedges · first published 2009
100% neutral
Pulitzer prize–winner Chris Hedges charts the dramatic and disturbing rise of a post-literate society that craves fantasy, ecstasy and illusion. Chris Hedges argues that we now live in two societies: One, the minority, functions in a print-based, literate world, that can cope with complexity and can separate illusion from truth. The other, a growing majority, is retreating from a reality-based world into one of false certainty and magic. In this "other society," serious film and theatre, as well as newspapers and books, are being pushed to the margins. In the tradition of Christopher Lasch's T
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…- The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War by Sharlet. 2023. - Woke Racism by McWhorter. 2021. - The Case Against BDS: Why Singling Out Israel for Boycott is Anti-Semitic. by Dershowitz. 2018. - Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle by Hedges. 2010. - The Fateful Triangle by Chomsky. 1983. - Anti-Semite and Jew by Sarte. 1946. - Mein Kampf by Hitler. 1925.
on “Stop Demanding Dumb Answers to Hard Questions” ↗…It is very rare that I read a story in a newspaper or hear one on television that isn't some form of salacious gossip or eye catching spectacle. Though I haven't read most of it, Chris Hedges' book: Empire of Illusion, speaks to this with much greater acuity than I can. I wish we could all just take a breath of fresh air (whoops, there is an allusion to another, though admittedly fairly neutral, piece of media) and…
on “We're building a dystopia just to make people click on ads [video]” ↗