Chris Hedges: The Mirage of Our Lives

[marmar]

from truthdig:


The Mirage of Our Lives

Posted on Aug 27, 2012
By Chris Hedges

“A Hologram for the King”
A book by Dave Eggers
Published by McSweeney’s

Dave Eggers’ gem of a book, “A Hologram for the King,” is a parable about the decadence, fragility and heartlessness of late, decayed corporate capitalism. It is about the small, largely colorless men and women who serve as managers in our suicidal outsourcing of manufacturing jobs and the methodical breaking of labor unions. It is about the lie of globalization, a lie that impoverishes us all to increase corporate profits.

“A Hologram for the King” tells the story of Alan, a lackluster 54-year-old consultant who is desperately trying to snag one final big contract in Saudi Arabia for Reliant, a corporation that is “the largest I.T. supplier in the world,” to save himself from financial ruin. Alan has come to realize that managers like him who made outsourcing possible will be discarded as human refuse now that the process is complete, left to wander like ghosts—or holograms—among the ruins. And Eggers’ novel is a subtle, deft and poignant look at the horrendous toll this corporate process takes on self-esteem, on family, on health, on community and finally on the nation itself. It does so, like parables from Greek tragedy or George Orwell, by finding the perfect story to make a point that is universal.

Eggers, who showcased his talent as a writer of nonfiction in “Zeitoun” about Hurricane Katrina, combines fiction and reporting to create a small masterpiece. The book works because of its authenticity, its close attention to detail and Eggers’ respect for fact. I spent many months as a correspondent in Saudi Arabia where the novel is set. Eggers captures in tight, bullet-like prose the utter decadence, hypocrisy and corruption of the kingdom, as well as its bleak landscape, suffocating heat and soulless glass and concrete office buildings. He is keenly aware that the outward religiosity and piety mask a moral and physical rot that fits seamlessly into the world of globalized capitalism.

Eggers conjures up the bizarre incongruities of Saudi Arabia from his image of a Saudi soldier in a beach chair cooling his bare feet in an inflatable pool next to a Humvee, to a wild embassy party where drunken ex-patriots in their underwear dive into the swimming pool for pills. At one point Alan mistakenly stumbles onto an unfinished floor of a luxury condo where 25 foreign laborers from Malaysia, Pakistan and the Philippines, crammed together as if on a slave ship, are fighting over a discarded cellphone. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/arts_culture/item/the_mirage_of_our_lives_20120827/

[Odin2005]

1. I can't take Hedges seriously anymore after he showed himself to be bigoted against Atheists.

[pscot]

2. When did he do that?

[CrawlingChaos]

4. he didn't - he called out neocon atheists on their heinous bullshit

Here's a link, if you want to see for yourself. It's a great read:

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/fundamentalism_kills_20110726

[Odin2005]

5. It was a couple years ago, I think.

I think it was posted on DU, but you would have to go to DU2 to find it.

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. Good Read...kick n/t

[enough]

6. In fairness to the book, I want to say it is also very well written,

very interesting, not at all polemical, and in general an extremely satisfactory novel in the focused mode. Entertaining, if I may use such a frivolous word. I recommend it, and would not have reviewed it at all the way Hedges did. He seems to be looking for endless vindication of his worldview wherever he looks.