Chris Hedges: The Hedonists of Power

[marmar]

from Truthdig:



The Hedonists of Power
Posted on Jun 23, 2008


By Chris Hedges

Washington has become Versailles. We are ruled, entertained and informed by courtiers. The popular media are courtiers. The Democrats, like the Republicans, are courtiers. Our pundits and experts are courtiers. We are captivated by the hollow stagecraft of political theater as we are ruthlessly stripped of power. It is smoke and mirrors, tricks and con games. We are being had.

The past week was a good one if you were a courtier. We were instructed by the high priests on television over the past few days to mourn a Sunday morning talk show host, who made $5 million a year and who gave a platform to the powerful and the famous so they could spin, equivocate and lie to the nation. We were repeatedly told by these television courtiers, people like Tom Brokaw and Wolf Blitzer, that this talk show host was one of our nation’s greatest journalists, as if sitting in a studio, putting on makeup and chatting with Dick Cheney or George W. Bush have much to do with journalism.

No journalist makes $5 million a year. No journalist has a comfortable, cozy relationship with the powerful. No journalist believes that acting as a conduit, or a stenographer, for the powerful is a primary part of his or her calling. Those in power fear and dislike real journalists. Ask Seymour Hersh and Amy Goodman how often Bush or Cheney has invited them to dinner at the White House or offered them an interview.

All governments lie, as I.F. Stone pointed out, and it is the job of the journalist to do the hard, tedious reporting to shine a light on these lies. It is the job of courtiers, those on television playing the role of journalists, to feed off the scraps tossed to them by the powerful and never question the system. In the slang of the profession, these television courtiers are “throats.” These courtiers, including the late Tim Russert, never gave a voice to credible critics in the buildup to the war against Iraq. They were too busy playing their roles as red-blooded American patriots. They never fought back in their public forums against the steady erosion of our civil liberties and the trashing of our Constitution. These courtiers blindly accept the administration’s current propaganda to justify an attack on Iran. They parrot this propaganda. They dare not defy the corporate state. The corporations that employ them make them famous and rich. It is their Faustian pact. No class of courtiers, from the eunuchs behind Manchus in the 19th century to the Baghdad caliphs of the Abbasid caliphate, has ever transformed itself into a responsible elite. Courtiers are hedonists of power. .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20080623_the_hedonists_of_power/

[janetblond]

1. Hmmmm ... ? nice article, except ..

"Chris Hedges, who was a Pulitzer Prize-winning foreign correspondent for The New York Times, says he will vote for Ralph Nader for president. "
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That's kinda DUMB, isn't it?
What's the point of doing THAT?
!!!

[Demit]

2. Here's his reasoning, and I have to say his logic is bitterly compelling—

"We chant in unison with Obama that we want change, we yell “yes we can,” and then stand dumbly by as he coldly votes away our civil liberties. The Democratic Party, including Obama, continues to fund the war. It refuses to impeach Bush and Cheney. It allows the government to spy on us without warrants or cause. And then it tells us it is our salvation."


Hedges is saying there is no cavalry coming to save us.

[psychmommy]

3. we are the cavalry coming to save us.

it is not about one man. it is about us. if you don't like the votes get vocal. we make the difference. our voices have been muted for so long we forget how to use them. obama isn't a saviour, he just listens. he is a bottom up leader.

[Demit]

4. I plan to be very vocal. Whenever I get a request for more $ from the DCCC, I'll

advise them to go ask AT&T or Verizon instead. When Obama's people call or email for $, I'll tell them how I support Obama's candidacy in theory, but there's that one little thing he just did that I am opposed to, which prevents me from supporting him with my money. Perhaps they'll understand the principle. Perhaps they'll listen.

[Prophet 451]

5. Shit, when did I start agreeing with Chris Hedges? n/t

[The Blue Flower]

6. My response to this morning's e-mail ask

Dear DSCC: It seems to me that the telecoms have donated quite enough to the Congressional Democrats to keep them in line and in power for the time being. Don't come to me asking for my hard-earned $$$ when the domestic espionage agencies (telco eavesdroppers) know exactly what's in my bank account and how I'm spending it.

What the hell has happened to the Congressional democrats that they sell our civil liberties wholesale to telecoms? And why aren't we having impeachment hearings for illegal spying on citizens and torture of prisoners? You want my money? Then earn it!!!!!!

xxxx