CHRIS HEDGES ~ DAYS OF DESTRUCTION, DAYS OF REVOLT ~ 2012

~ TBT-HBAHS-SBRB-TDOTM-I-UF ~ The Belief That – Human Beings And Human Societies – Should Be Ruled By – The Demands Of The Marketplace – Is – Utopian Folly

~ TINI-HHOHN-TSTIT-SEBTFMLTASG-AY-WHPT-UBS-TDHWSO-E/L/E/C-AWA-HWT-TEOWWDFL ~ There Is Nothing In – Human History Or Human Nature – That Supports The Idea That – Sacrificing Everything Before The Free Market Leads To A Social Good – And Yet – We Have Permitted This – Utopian Belief System – To Determine How We Structure Our – Economy / Labor / Education / Culture – As Well As – How We Treat – The Ecosystem On Which We Depend For Life

~ EO-CO-NLBTWTU-TRIO-TSASS-F-C ~ Even Our – Corporate Overlords – No Longer Believe The Words They Utter – They Rely Instead On – The Security And Surveillance State – For – Control

~ TROD ~ The Rumble Of Dissent

CHRIS HEDGES ~ THE WORLD AS IT IS ~ 2010

~ TWDNUWIHAT-A-WAOBABRTDNEOF-SDFS-TBDTCTTR ~ Those Who Do Not Understand What Is Happening Around Them – And – Who Are Overwhelmed By A Brutal Reality They Did Not Expect Or Foresee – Search Desperately For Saviours – They Beg Demagogues To Come To Their Rescue

~ TLETCTEDAL ~ The Lies Employed To Camouflage The Economic Decline Are Legion

~ II-C-TGOL-EIPAG-AHS-IIFTCTFUFTDOOI-ITPUFTS-G ~ It Is – Community – That Gives Our Lives – Even In Pain And Grief – A Healing Solidarity – It Is Fealty To Community That Frees Us From The Dictates Of Our Idols – Idols That Promise Us Fulfilment Through Self-Gratification

~ W-CWI-PS-B-UC-WIASV-WI-B-P-A-P-HDATAC ~ War – Comes Wrapped In – Patriotic Slogans– But – Up Close – War Is A Soulless Void – War Is – Barbarity – Perversion – And – Pain – Human Decency And Tenderness Are Crushed

~ W-FAIH-H-TPTSA-TTATB-TECAFOTFOD-ILUS-ATCIT ~ War – For All Its Horror – Has – The Power To Strip Away – The Trivial And The Banal – The Empty Chatter And Foolish Obsessions That Fill Our Days – It Lets Us See – Although The Cost Is Tremendous

CHRIS HEDGES ~ EMPIRE OF ILLUSION ~ 2009

~ TEO-TCS-AMTEO-TSS ~ The Emergence Of – The Corporate State – Always Means The Emergence Of – The Security State

~ O-FS-W-THAL-B-B-B-A-S-WTUTTOMOMCB-PAM-WO-TAUMCBMOOM ~ Our – Financial System – Was – Taken Hostage And Looted – By – Bankers – Brokers – And – Speculators – Who Told Us That The Old Means Of Making Capital By – Producing And Manufacturing – Were Outdated – They Assured Us Money Could Be Made Out Of Money

~ TIT-FM-CB-S-R-LAFMTHTH-TO-OAR-OC ~ They Insisted That – Financial Markets – Could Be – Self-Regulating – Like All Financial Markets Throughout History That Have – Thrown Off – Oversight And Regulation – Ours – Collapsed

~ SITSCWH-TTRBITDAHB ~ Speculators In The Seventeenth Century Were Hanged – Today They Receive Billions In Taxpayer Dollars And Huge Bonuses

~ O-PE-CSO-P-IHBTOT-F-S-SA-POTODOTMTBOBAFF-T-SADS ~ Our – Power Elite – Cannot Solve Our – Problems – It Has Been Trained Only To – Find – Solutions – Such As – Paying Out Trillions Of Dollars Of Taxpayer Money To Bail Out Banks And Financial Firms – To – Sustain A Dead System

~ TE-A-TWWFT-WNTHT-QTAOTA-TSIKACI-EIH/L/P/R-WAATC-SATTA-HB-BFPD ~ The Elite – And – Those Who Work For Them – Were Never Taught How To – Question The Assumptions Of Their Age – The Socially Important Knowledge And Cultural Ideas – Embodied In – History / Literature / Philosophy / Religion – Which Are At Their Core – Subversive And Threatening To Authority – Have Been – Banished From Public Discourse

~ O-PS-TW-STCS ~ Only – Piecemeal Solutions – That Will – Satisfy The Corporate Structure

~ T-HC-NFIT-BS ~ The – Human Consequences – Never Figure Into Their – Balance Sheets

~ T-CTI-CBBOHCMTF-TVF-AS-AS-PS-A-A-AWT-CCPNOTC ~ Those – Captive To Images – Cast Ballots Based On How Candidates Make Them Feel – They Vote For – A Slogan – A Smile – Perceived Sincerity – And – Attractiveness – Along With The – Carefully Crafted Personal Narrative Of The Candidate

~ II-SAS-N-CAF-TI-MP ~ It Is – Style And Story – Not – Content And Fact – That Inform – Mass Politics

CHRIS HEDGES ~ LOSING MOSES ON THE FREEWAY ~ 2005

~ WCSTIOW-IIHTSOO ~ We Can See The Idols Others Worship – It Is Hard To See Our Own

~ IAA-SW ~ Idols – Are Always About – Self-Worship

~ TP-STD-RACAAOP-B-TITRPAC-TMO-TP-O-WAO-IS-THADSB-TO-TA-FAD ~ The Prophets – Spent Their Days – Raging Against Corruption And Abuse Of Power – By – Those In The Royal Palaces And Courts – The Mistreatment Of – The Poor – Of – Widows And Orphans – In Short – The Hard And Difficult Struggle By – The Oppressed – To Achieve – Freedom And Dignity

~ W-GAPI-A-NLT-WTB-ESFPPAW-ATEOTIAWOTP-ISTMTHDNP-TIALOFITSDTHCT-TE-PBT-BN-OR-TBWTWTB ~ When – Government And Public Institutions – Are – No Longer Trusted – When They Become – Engines Solely For Personal Power And Wealth – At The Expense Of The Interests And Welfare Of The Public – It Sends The Message That Honesty Does Not Pay – There Is A Loss Of Faith In The Structures Designed To Hold Community Together – Trust Evaporates – People Begin To – Believe Nothing – Or Rather – They Believe What They Want To Believe

~ EMO-RTLOTP-WLONS-STFOTT ~ Established Media Organs – Relay The Lies Of The Powerful – With Little Or No Scrutiny – Serving To Further Obscure The Truth

~ ASWTMTDLAT-S-S-I-LAF ~ A Society Without The Means To Detect Lies And Theft – Soon – Squanders – Its – Liberty And Freedom