Chris Hedges is a writer and thinker whom I greatly admire. In the past I have written about his book War is Force that Gives us Meaning. Recently I came across an article he wrote at Truthdig, Democracy in America Is a Useful Fiction, which is both insightful and depressing. About a year ago I started listening to the History of Rome podcast. Even a slight acquaintance with Roman history indicates that the US republic has long gone and we live in the days of empire. However, as Hedges points out the US emperor is a mere figurehead. Wolin’s idea of inverted totalitarianism is the best model of US society I have yet encountered. I am not convinced however, that we are in the period of decline. The US elites are quite resourceful. The barbarians are not yet at the gate….
For a video interview with Hedges which expands on this article see:
You can also listen to an interview with him at Peter B. Collins.
One point regarding this latter interview. Hedges makes the claim that moving the Guantanomo prisoners to Chicago is a step on the path of moving torture and the like to the US prison system. I strongly disagree with this. As Colin Dayan points out (cf. my previous post), Guantanomo is an expression of how the Bush administration wanted to move the existing US prison system to our handling of non-US prisoners. In fact, we treat US prisoners far worse than the Geneva conventions call for. For that matter, I wish PeterB and his ilk would stop harping so much on Guantanomo and Bagram and spend more time dealing with the torture, abuse and atrocities being perpetrated daily against the huge US prison population being held no more than 30 minutes from our own homes. Along the same lines, habeas corpus has long been a fiction in this country, long before Bush & Co passed the Patriot act. As Hedges himself says, those who control the lever of powers can interpert the law anyway they please. Our rights were taken away long before Bush. The rule of law so-called is a useful fiction, no less than democracy.
Tags: Human Rights, US Politics