He's right on with what he says, but that Harvard education unfortunately makes an appearance despite himself.

Are you inspired to do anything? What is the responsibility of intellectuals in this country? Why is the Nation completely irrelevant to actual working people? Discuss.

Seriously guys, don't you think this guy is kind of a sheister making money out of silly mind games.
"Professional wrestling and popular culture are perfect examples of what is happening to America." Are you fucking serious?

As sociological symptoms? Absolutely.

I like Barthes on professional wrestling better

And, if anything, I'm inspired to do MUCH more just by listening to this guy. It's high time everyone heard just how close to the fucking precipice we are.

What are you inspired to do? If he is acting as a catalyst, that's great, but I'm not feeling it. Noam Chomsky inspired me in high school (that was in the 90's...), but then he lost me. Slavoj Zizek inspires me mainly because he makes me criticize my pathological belief system. Chris Hedges makes me feel comfortable in my belief system, and I hate that. I hate agreeing with him. It makes me sick to my stomach.

The fact is many of the things this man is saying just are not completely true. We lost a lost of wealth in the recession, true, but real American household wealth grew back to about trillion dollars this year. That's not exactly an overarching collapse. Chinese imports are increasing, we are seeing a slow recovery, we have a left leaning Supreme Court, gays are now open in the military, we have the bedrock of a universal healthcare system that may just get better and not worse, new energy is on the rise, there's a farm in Greenpoint on a warehouse roof that is growing 30 tons of food this year... I just see progress, albeit not at the pace we'd hope and not without taunting obstacles. That's life.

I have a lot of problems with how things get done in this country, I am terrified, as I'm sure you all are as well, of the "Tea Party" and the mass redistricting that is going to occur. The more you soak yourself in the previous great obstacles this country has faced, however, the more you can put things into perspective. There also many, many amazing things that are going on. How exactly is globalization falling apart? What does that even mean exactly?

There are African families using Chinese solar panels to power their cell phones and light bulbs, cell phones which will store their money in digital form and allow them to become economic citizens free from the meddling of corruption. Microlenders from America are creating a low cost housing market in India for tens of millions of people that have had no property rights for generations. I don't really see these indicators of a failing globalized market. Then again, South Koreans are buying millions of acres of Africa and forcing farmers off their land. I mean, it depends how you fucking look at it, I guess that's my point.

It helps to look at progress in the continuum of events, and to be directly involved in physical changes around you that are having positive net results and to extricate yourself from the world of ideas that reinforce your belief system in general. Most importantly, it is far more useful to be a person that can build coalitions that do great works then a person that simply knows the truth.

Try this on for size. You're lumping too much together. What's happening locally?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUKn19Sg0vo&feature=related

Also, Zizek is primarily speaking in glossolalia half the time.

And do you really want to know why the Chinese solar panels cost only ?

And this one. Knowledge drops after the 2:00 minute mark.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOjGCzPgAAM&feature=channel

I found Slavoj Zizek to be a raging sophist tard and a moral degenerate from what I've heard (not much - just his 'first as tragedy then as farce). What should I read or watch to dispel this?

Define: Zizek,

http://www.skepdic.com/glossol.html

I like this guy, but this video leaves me less enthused than his other ones did and seems to only want to inspire people to feel like victims. I find his views on the things I like (such as old school wrestling, porn, vidya games, and other aspects of pop-culture) to be scapegoating in favor of the causes of real problems. His negativity towards hope and possibility are also just as valid an example of magical thinking as the one he gives. He likes to say "that will never happen" without realizing how fundamentalist it sounds.

Also, the things he says about "corporations" or "the military" in general is a great big motive fallacy. America, as a global corporate empire, could up and do something good with it if it wanted to, since we're the ones who make up its body. He sets people up to accept that a different system would be better by virtue of being different and it's obvious now in America how manipulable people are who think that way.

Note that trying to think objectively and not be all "raaaar empire baaaaad' is an idiosyncrasy for me, and probably wont last to the next video I comment on about this kind of thing.

Hedges picks targets that make him sound liberal, but his views on morality are shockingly backward. The Tipper Gore "pop culture is killing us" stuff is at best annoying (and at worst, classist), and paired with his assumption that humans are inherently evil... I'll pass this time.

How are you not proving his point?

I guess I'm not sure what his point is, if you think that supports it. Could you explain the point of his wrestling / John Layfield story?

The events played out in wrestling soap operas and popular culture mimic the sociological aspects of the culture at large which is one of exploitation, backstabbery, and manipulation as espoused by the entertainment media of our liberal-capitalist society. Therefore, capitalist wrestlers and increasingly violent and exploitative porn.

And then the continued on to say that the process folds in on itself, where Layfield goes on news outlets to talk about stocks, strongly implying that they bring him on because he plays a trader in wrestling, which is false.

Not to be too much of a chauvanist, but...

Except he's not giving up. Refer to the link in my replies for proof. Way to knee-jerk there, guy.

Unless you mean giving up on capitalist dominance, neo-liberalism, and neo-conservatism. Because then, yes, absolutely.

I don't want this guy on the team. Seriously, his wrestling/porn crap is probably one of the worst things i've heard in a while. I could tell you an Archie comic is a mirror of the american dream or some shit like that, and heck, even that would make more sense. Most people like to watch movies and tv to escape their daily problems? No shit! Give the guy a medal for being so obvious!

Also, we all live by and for capitalism, like it or not. Socialism and other political systems still work to make just a couple of people filthy rich.

And where in my or Hedges' argument was there an appeal to utopia?

Also, maybe reading a few things about Socialism and Social Democracy would serve to better enlighten oneself before drooling from the mouth.

The bible makes any given wrestling arc look wholesome and decent. The bible makes Bible Black look tame. But Hedges is all about the bible. Which has had a bigger effect on American culture, and which is merely reflective of it? Dude is a creep, a fool and a hypocrite.

It is possible to badmouth our global military empire and not be a James Howard Kunstler-esque pontificating moron

I'm an angry man, basically, and this guy pretty well sums up my emotional state.

It doesn't make him right, as you guys are right to point out.

An accurate criticism of the book Hedges is promoting here. It's lengthy, but worth reading:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anis-shivani/pessimism-porn-chri s-hedges_b_788504.html

My advice would be to stop listening to this man, specially if it gets you down that much. He's preaching to a choir, not only he's not discovering anything "new" regarding the topics he discusses, he adds nothing worthwile to the whole discussion. It's ok to feel rage about all the crap in this world, but don't live just for that, because it cuts reason, and this world needs people that use reason, a lot.