Professor J,
You know how I love to connect stories and articles to our discussion and I came across a couple this week in the same paper. The first one about the annual trek to Graceland by fans who are often hysterical over the loss of "The King" all these years later relates to Hedges point about our celebrity worship: All Shook Up: Faithful Flock to Graceland. The second, about the woman who the plane The Memphis Belle was named after explains how war was romanticized and packaged for the public:
"When she realized that, despite his attentions, her boyfriend was a womanizer, Polk broke off the engagement but agreed to continue the charade as part of the nationally publicized tour orchestrated by the publicity division of the War Department." (Full story here)
Hedges could have been talking about that exact story when he wrote: (The illusion of war peddled in The Sands of Iwo Jima)" ...worked because it was what the public wanted to believe about themselves. It was what the government and the military wanted to promote."
I couldn't believe how accurate Bradbury's vision of the future was: "Life, Bradbury understood, once it was packaged and filmed, became the most compelling form of entertainment." (29) I find it depressingly fascinating that so many would rather mindlessly imbibe the lives of others, than live their own lives. Just thinking of how often viewers passively watch others do everything from exercise to fall in love is startling. Not only are we not participating in the culture but instead as you point out are fiddling while the whole thing spins downward, but many are not even present for their own lives. We want to believe in something but somehow we can't have the thing we believe in be ourselves, or that our own lives unwatched, unfilmed, unpromoted may be worthwhile.
I found the connection of all this reality television nonsense (Where have all the writers gone?) and the rise of the surveillance in stores, at stoplights, or on public streets to be interesting: "Mark Andrejevic, a professor of communication studies at the University of Iowa at Iowa City, writes that reality shows like Big Brother and Survivor glamorize the intrusiveness of the surveillance state, presenting it as one of the hip attributes of the contemporary world' 'an entree into the world of wealth and celebrity, and even a moral good." (p39)
I like the phrase Hedges uses for all of this nonsense that we allow ourselves to be lured away from reality with: "This cult of distraction..." We are, it seems, quickly losing our grip on reality. And decency. And self respect. Of all the depressing examples the author uses, the Jerry Springer one in which a husband both allows and encourages his wife to make a public spectacle of herself, I felt was the worst. To allow her to be humiliated and degraded in a public setting was just sad to me. For her to allow herself to be made a laughingstock (surely when you are going on the Springer show you know what's coming) is just as bad. It seems to be a cultural phenomena for people to be so dim that they don't realize when they are the unwitting butt of the joke. Think cast of Jersey Shore. What's worse is that at the end of the whole sordid episode Springer deems it "true love." Is this how low we've sunk? We can no longer tell the difference between idiocy and love. The skinny cheerleader's mocking smile in the background without an ounce of compassion or understanding made me cringe. Her smug sense of superiority due to her looks was so familiar and nauseating. As if beauty earns her the right to be cruel. Painfully common, unfortunately. In this cowardly new world, character and kindness are often in short supply.
As Hedges points out, once celebrity or wealth is obtained one is held to a different set of standards, or rather a non-existent one. We see athletes who break the law and are found guilty and sent to prison only to receive multi-million dollar contracts once they are released, or in the case of Michael Vick a phone call from the president. Actors, super models, and musicians are expected to misbehave and treat others poorly. Everyone is just supposed to be thrilled to work for/with them to the point that rules of common decency become things for other people. Not them. Sadly, they are often allowed to self destruct while posses of "yes" men hang on to the end making every penny they can. Parents of child stars allow their children to be ill used by publicists and agents so that they can keep being invited to A list parties and traveling in private jets. It's all so very "casting pearls before swine" as to be sickening. When the whole thing goes to hell a little more publicity and attention can be eeked out on some show about celebrity rehab or with a book deal (with a ghost writer, of course).
"Reality is complex, why deal with it; it makes our nutritionally depleted and shrunken brains hurt." Classic Professor J! I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love after seeing the movie several times and it is so refreshing to read Elizabeth Gilbert's words of careful introspection and mindfulness. Someone's thoughts and words on a page, the sharing of a solitary search for fulfillment and peace is like a balm on the open wound caused by this abrasive culture.
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
Sunday, August 14, 2011
The Culture Petri (Putrid?) Dish
Madame:
Hedges has a loathing for positive psychology, one for the very reason that he sees it as further divorcing us from reality. From the many examples he gives in his book, one can see that far from achieving any notable positive effect on the American psychological profile and productivity, it has served to distance us even more from reality. The elites love it because it not only excuses them, but even makes those they trod upon think it’s their own fault. Hedges should be congratulated for laying bare the mechanisms and institutional frameworks used to divert us from confronting the economic, political, physical, health, emotional, and ethical/moral collapse around us. He is right to, as one fellow has put it, expose the absurd idea that we can always draw on inner resources and strengths to have everything we desire, that reality can be overcome by human will if one just believes it so. And the equal absurdity that even if the present is not so great, the future is going to be better just because we believe it will. Positive psychology could have its place, perhaps even a beneficial one, in the realm of human self-improvement, but it sought too often to effectively make itself its own religion, and was used in the service of those who care nothing but for themselves and their own control.
Your examples and links have pointed out quite well how neurotic we are as a society. We are the addicts, and furthermore, we are doubly so because we are culturally addicted, not just individually. That we have become the culture of self only illustrates in monstrous waves how little concerned we have become with what our Framers fretted about: the public good.
The world, and especially America, spend excessive amounts of life-energy on Facebook and similar electronic connections. Like many things in this digital age, it has gone from being a useful tool, or entertaining and occasional pastime, to being an addiction. The same about YouTube. I know of one place that had to ban access to it because it was taking up so much bandwith from people and their “hey, look at this video on YouTube.” No longer apparently is it the occasional thing, but a constant 3 or 4(+) a day per person in some instances. Rather than connect it, it seems to only make us more shallow.
It is not just the productivity lost from this, it’s the diversion. We the people fiddle while society and the world spin downward. Who is doing the job of preserving the civilization, let alone providing vision for its continuance and advancement? The powerful? They seem to care only for their own advantages, not the common good, and any “vision” they have is a sick one.
War is packaged and sold to us, and with the high-tech allure and all-volunteer force, sold to us as something most people get to feel as external, rather than as a real part of (with all that would really entail). Further distancing us from reality and its true effects. Hedges’s description of the shock of reality displacing illusion while under fire should be required reading for all would-be soldiers—and those who send them in harm’s way. Not just to save their lives from the nonsense that has been ingrained into them, but to also save their spirits from the manipulation and illusions that would use them up and never care.
Illusions we have willingly embraced. Reality sucks, people think, so why not. It has made us a nation of lotus-eaters, perpetually disconnected from authentic lives, a collection of opium dens. It doesn’t have to be that way. Many resist the allure, but its presence is ever there, ever pounding on the will. We may not be the Matrix, but we are far from its opposite.
Americans’ obsession/addiction with entertainment makes us willing pseudo-worshippers of celebrities, athletes, and deceivingly charismatic politicians and clergy. Like many masses of the past, we idolize who should not be idolized because they seem to represent what we, in our dim and deluded state, might wish to be. Reality is complex, why deal with it; it makes our nutritionally depleted and shrunken brains hurt. Easier to live in fantasies and escapism manifested in the unreal panorama of celebrities, reality TV, and sports. As someone said, we want to be lied to, because the lies make us feel so much better about our lives. And as Hedges points out, our obsession carries even into the artifacts and relics of celebrity-dom: we covet the possessions of living or dead celebrities with the same religious zeal that people of the past did for their own religious icons, and we visit shrines of those personalities in a way not too dissimilar to the way religious pilgrimages were made in the not so distant past. Our own lives seem to have no meaning compared to their illustrious and glorious ones.
Hedges points out our narcissistic culture in many examples and explanations. And our manipulated one. We the people need rules to be enforced, but they are not, except when they can be used against us. The elites escape scot-free, except when their internecine squabbling claims one of their own.
This lack of rules enforcement leads to disrespect and disillusionment with them. And the law. The masses take their cue from the corrupt elites, who they watch do all manner of illegal and thoroughly unethical or even criminal things without consequence. Seeing these bad examples teaches that those who play by the rules are suckers and losers. “If the world is rigged against you, if those in power stifle your voice, outsource your job, and foreclose your house, cheat back.” (12)
We blandly accept this spectacle of the elites partly because we are embodying what Plato feared: “the power of entertainment, the power of the senses to overthrow the mind, the power of emotion to obliterate reason. No admirer of popular democracy, Plato said that the enlightened or elite had a duty to educated those bewitched by the shadows on the cave wall…” (14)
Well that you have brought up Boorstin, who is quoted by Hedges, “We are the most illusioned people on earth. Yet we dare not become disillusioned, because our illusions are the very house in which we live,; they are our news, our heroes, our adventure, our forms of art, our very experience.” (15)
The reader at this point may think that the Prof is merely a fan-boy of Hedges here, accepting all with the rapid nods of a yes-man. Not so. There will be places in the book that I disagree with Hedges, or feel that he’s painting with a broad or incomplete brush. For instance, while I agree that our celebrity culture makes too many people want to be like celebrities (and excessively so), I also believe that it can be too easy to merely give one’s self a pass too. Just because one might not lose enough weight or get enough plastic surgery to become some artificial definition of attractive, does not mean that excess pounds should not be shed, or that care and attention to one’s appearance is not warranted and beneficial.
Ah, a good deal more to say, and I’ve just begun! I guess I’m still taking in air! ;)
Hedges has a loathing for positive psychology, one for the very reason that he sees it as further divorcing us from reality. From the many examples he gives in his book, one can see that far from achieving any notable positive effect on the American psychological profile and productivity, it has served to distance us even more from reality. The elites love it because it not only excuses them, but even makes those they trod upon think it’s their own fault. Hedges should be congratulated for laying bare the mechanisms and institutional frameworks used to divert us from confronting the economic, political, physical, health, emotional, and ethical/moral collapse around us. He is right to, as one fellow has put it, expose the absurd idea that we can always draw on inner resources and strengths to have everything we desire, that reality can be overcome by human will if one just believes it so. And the equal absurdity that even if the present is not so great, the future is going to be better just because we believe it will. Positive psychology could have its place, perhaps even a beneficial one, in the realm of human self-improvement, but it sought too often to effectively make itself its own religion, and was used in the service of those who care nothing but for themselves and their own control.
Your examples and links have pointed out quite well how neurotic we are as a society. We are the addicts, and furthermore, we are doubly so because we are culturally addicted, not just individually. That we have become the culture of self only illustrates in monstrous waves how little concerned we have become with what our Framers fretted about: the public good.
The world, and especially America, spend excessive amounts of life-energy on Facebook and similar electronic connections. Like many things in this digital age, it has gone from being a useful tool, or entertaining and occasional pastime, to being an addiction. The same about YouTube. I know of one place that had to ban access to it because it was taking up so much bandwith from people and their “hey, look at this video on YouTube.” No longer apparently is it the occasional thing, but a constant 3 or 4(+) a day per person in some instances. Rather than connect it, it seems to only make us more shallow.
It is not just the productivity lost from this, it’s the diversion. We the people fiddle while society and the world spin downward. Who is doing the job of preserving the civilization, let alone providing vision for its continuance and advancement? The powerful? They seem to care only for their own advantages, not the common good, and any “vision” they have is a sick one.
War is packaged and sold to us, and with the high-tech allure and all-volunteer force, sold to us as something most people get to feel as external, rather than as a real part of (with all that would really entail). Further distancing us from reality and its true effects. Hedges’s description of the shock of reality displacing illusion while under fire should be required reading for all would-be soldiers—and those who send them in harm’s way. Not just to save their lives from the nonsense that has been ingrained into them, but to also save their spirits from the manipulation and illusions that would use them up and never care.
Illusions we have willingly embraced. Reality sucks, people think, so why not. It has made us a nation of lotus-eaters, perpetually disconnected from authentic lives, a collection of opium dens. It doesn’t have to be that way. Many resist the allure, but its presence is ever there, ever pounding on the will. We may not be the Matrix, but we are far from its opposite.
Americans’ obsession/addiction with entertainment makes us willing pseudo-worshippers of celebrities, athletes, and deceivingly charismatic politicians and clergy. Like many masses of the past, we idolize who should not be idolized because they seem to represent what we, in our dim and deluded state, might wish to be. Reality is complex, why deal with it; it makes our nutritionally depleted and shrunken brains hurt. Easier to live in fantasies and escapism manifested in the unreal panorama of celebrities, reality TV, and sports. As someone said, we want to be lied to, because the lies make us feel so much better about our lives. And as Hedges points out, our obsession carries even into the artifacts and relics of celebrity-dom: we covet the possessions of living or dead celebrities with the same religious zeal that people of the past did for their own religious icons, and we visit shrines of those personalities in a way not too dissimilar to the way religious pilgrimages were made in the not so distant past. Our own lives seem to have no meaning compared to their illustrious and glorious ones.
Hedges points out our narcissistic culture in many examples and explanations. And our manipulated one. We the people need rules to be enforced, but they are not, except when they can be used against us. The elites escape scot-free, except when their internecine squabbling claims one of their own.
This lack of rules enforcement leads to disrespect and disillusionment with them. And the law. The masses take their cue from the corrupt elites, who they watch do all manner of illegal and thoroughly unethical or even criminal things without consequence. Seeing these bad examples teaches that those who play by the rules are suckers and losers. “If the world is rigged against you, if those in power stifle your voice, outsource your job, and foreclose your house, cheat back.” (12)
We blandly accept this spectacle of the elites partly because we are embodying what Plato feared: “the power of entertainment, the power of the senses to overthrow the mind, the power of emotion to obliterate reason. No admirer of popular democracy, Plato said that the enlightened or elite had a duty to educated those bewitched by the shadows on the cave wall…” (14)
Well that you have brought up Boorstin, who is quoted by Hedges, “We are the most illusioned people on earth. Yet we dare not become disillusioned, because our illusions are the very house in which we live,; they are our news, our heroes, our adventure, our forms of art, our very experience.” (15)
The reader at this point may think that the Prof is merely a fan-boy of Hedges here, accepting all with the rapid nods of a yes-man. Not so. There will be places in the book that I disagree with Hedges, or feel that he’s painting with a broad or incomplete brush. For instance, while I agree that our celebrity culture makes too many people want to be like celebrities (and excessively so), I also believe that it can be too easy to merely give one’s self a pass too. Just because one might not lose enough weight or get enough plastic surgery to become some artificial definition of attractive, does not mean that excess pounds should not be shed, or that care and attention to one’s appearance is not warranted and beneficial.
Ah, a good deal more to say, and I’ve just begun! I guess I’m still taking in air! ;)
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Bombarded and Bummed
I thought you were about to give your opinion of some little known third world despot when I first saw the title to your last post. I nominate you for the P & H Clever Title Award. You are sure to win! :)
As for (my perceived?) Hedge's bias against Christians, I couldn't help notice that he gives Walter Lippmann's definition of a "stereotype" followed by a list of examples on one page and uses the term "Christian Right" on the next page and throughout the book to lump a group together. I'll assume however, for this discussion that he is referring to a group springing out of the Moral Majority who are active in politics and make up a large part of faithful Republican voters, in addition to those (who he points out by name) that teach a "prosperity gospel" which seems to prosper them nicely, if no one else. I am going to assume he is not using the term to include all Christians or even all Evangelicals.
On p. 22 he writes "Celebrity worship banishes reality. And this adulation is pervasive. It is dressed up in the language of the Christian Right." What language? Later on the same page: "If Jesus and The Purpose Driven Life won't make us a celebrity, then Tony Robbins or positive psychologists or reality television will." The Christians I know aren't looking to Christ to make them "a celebrity" and I was confused by his use of that book in particular ( there are many others I would have agreed with him on) given author Rick Warren's battle against the “Global Goliaths” – spiritual emptiness, egocentric leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic disease, and illiteracy/poor education. His goal is a second Reformation by restoring responsibility in people, credibility in churches, and civility in culture." (From Purpose Driven Life.com)
If you are correct however, and he is simply focusing on "anti-hypocrisy, and also against what he sees as the corruption of Christ’s example" then more power to him. I can certainly take no issue with that.
I thought the wrestling example he opened with was an excellent analogy for the culture we find ourselves in. It often feels as if we are wrestling (and losing) against a "cult of self" that prizes physical beauty, wealth, and fame above all else. Some of the most difficult parts of this book for me were the examples he gives of the humiliation, degradation, and lack of compassion or enjoying someone else's emotional pain, that are now not only tolerated but in many cases expected, or worse applauded. A natural slide in a "culture of narcissism" where we believe "We are all entitled to everything." (p.27) So in the current atmosphere the very things we are most in need of are likely to be not only devalued but mocked and ridiculed:
"Education, building community, honesty, transparency, and sharing are qualities that will see you, in a gross perversion of democracy and morality, voted off a reality show...Compassion, competence, intelligence, and solidarity with others are forms of weakness." (p. 30)
The printed word invites contemplation, pages invite pondering. The ever increasing speed of everything is reflected in the theme of this book. Images are fast; words are slow. "Intellectual or philosophical ideas require too much effort to absorb. Classical theater, newspapers, and books are pushed to the margins of cultural life, remnants of a bygone literate age." (p. 43) Our minds are bombarded with thousands of sound bites, pictures, bits of video every day. We are held captive by a media that makes us feel constantly behind as they tout the newer, faster, clearer technology. Remember when TV announcers use to say "Don't go away" ? Now it has been made nearly impossible to ever "go away" since we now have constant access to the spectacle.
Psychologists are concerned about how attached people are to their smart phones according to this article on Huff Post Tech. No one is invited to take a moment out to breathe and think unless advertisers can sell us something in the process. To relax or disengage them properly you are going to need the coffee, chocolate, alcohol, spa, or retreat they are selling. All this is taking its toll on us: "...between 1997 and 2004, Americans more than doubled their spending on anti-anxiety medications like Xanax and Valium, from $900 million to $2.1 billion." (It's Not the Job Market)
Movies and WWI and WWII propaganda posters were influential in their day (the author has quite a bit to say about how war is packaged and sold to us, that you are more qualified to expound on) and in politics the Nixon/Kennedy debate forever sealed the power of those who manipulate the images of politicians. But the constant, uninterrupted, high definition fare being endlessly streamed to us in our techno-saturated lives leaves us no time between exposures to process our own thoughts about them. Even solemn ceremonies such as weddings and funerals have become spectacles of their own. Celebrating a couple's commitment or honoring someone's life must now entertain us as well. Again, allowing us to put the focus squarely where we think it should be...on ourselves.
Currently featured in French Vogue is a photo spread of a ten year old girl in full make-up, seductive clothing, and stilettos giving a sexy pout to the camera. I covered it on my blog last week. It seemed a perfect representation of this quote from p. 15:
"Those who manipulate the shadows that dominate our lives are the agents, publicists, marketing departments, promoters, script writers, television and movie producers, advertisers, video technicians, photographers, body guards, wardrobe consultants, fitness trainers, pollsters, public announcers, and television personalities who create the vast stage for illusion."
I couldn't resist the comparison of that Vogue image with one of Brooke Shields with no makeup and unshaped eyebrows, when she was also ten, after reading this quote by Daniel Boorstin (p.15):
"...in contemporary culture the fabricated, the inauthentic, and the theatrical have displaced the natural, the genuine, and the spontaneous..."
The windbag is taking in air, huh? Must account for the change in air pressure even from so far away! I thought I felt my ears popping. :)
As for (my perceived?) Hedge's bias against Christians, I couldn't help notice that he gives Walter Lippmann's definition of a "stereotype" followed by a list of examples on one page and uses the term "Christian Right" on the next page and throughout the book to lump a group together. I'll assume however, for this discussion that he is referring to a group springing out of the Moral Majority who are active in politics and make up a large part of faithful Republican voters, in addition to those (who he points out by name) that teach a "prosperity gospel" which seems to prosper them nicely, if no one else. I am going to assume he is not using the term to include all Christians or even all Evangelicals.
On p. 22 he writes "Celebrity worship banishes reality. And this adulation is pervasive. It is dressed up in the language of the Christian Right." What language? Later on the same page: "If Jesus and The Purpose Driven Life won't make us a celebrity, then Tony Robbins or positive psychologists or reality television will." The Christians I know aren't looking to Christ to make them "a celebrity" and I was confused by his use of that book in particular ( there are many others I would have agreed with him on) given author Rick Warren's battle against the “Global Goliaths” – spiritual emptiness, egocentric leadership, extreme poverty, pandemic disease, and illiteracy/poor education. His goal is a second Reformation by restoring responsibility in people, credibility in churches, and civility in culture." (From Purpose Driven Life.com)
If you are correct however, and he is simply focusing on "anti-hypocrisy, and also against what he sees as the corruption of Christ’s example" then more power to him. I can certainly take no issue with that.
I thought the wrestling example he opened with was an excellent analogy for the culture we find ourselves in. It often feels as if we are wrestling (and losing) against a "cult of self" that prizes physical beauty, wealth, and fame above all else. Some of the most difficult parts of this book for me were the examples he gives of the humiliation, degradation, and lack of compassion or enjoying someone else's emotional pain, that are now not only tolerated but in many cases expected, or worse applauded. A natural slide in a "culture of narcissism" where we believe "We are all entitled to everything." (p.27) So in the current atmosphere the very things we are most in need of are likely to be not only devalued but mocked and ridiculed:
"Education, building community, honesty, transparency, and sharing are qualities that will see you, in a gross perversion of democracy and morality, voted off a reality show...Compassion, competence, intelligence, and solidarity with others are forms of weakness." (p. 30)
The printed word invites contemplation, pages invite pondering. The ever increasing speed of everything is reflected in the theme of this book. Images are fast; words are slow. "Intellectual or philosophical ideas require too much effort to absorb. Classical theater, newspapers, and books are pushed to the margins of cultural life, remnants of a bygone literate age." (p. 43) Our minds are bombarded with thousands of sound bites, pictures, bits of video every day. We are held captive by a media that makes us feel constantly behind as they tout the newer, faster, clearer technology. Remember when TV announcers use to say "Don't go away" ? Now it has been made nearly impossible to ever "go away" since we now have constant access to the spectacle.
Psychologists are concerned about how attached people are to their smart phones according to this article on Huff Post Tech. No one is invited to take a moment out to breathe and think unless advertisers can sell us something in the process. To relax or disengage them properly you are going to need the coffee, chocolate, alcohol, spa, or retreat they are selling. All this is taking its toll on us: "...between 1997 and 2004, Americans more than doubled their spending on anti-anxiety medications like Xanax and Valium, from $900 million to $2.1 billion." (It's Not the Job Market)
Movies and WWI and WWII propaganda posters were influential in their day (the author has quite a bit to say about how war is packaged and sold to us, that you are more qualified to expound on) and in politics the Nixon/Kennedy debate forever sealed the power of those who manipulate the images of politicians. But the constant, uninterrupted, high definition fare being endlessly streamed to us in our techno-saturated lives leaves us no time between exposures to process our own thoughts about them. Even solemn ceremonies such as weddings and funerals have become spectacles of their own. Celebrating a couple's commitment or honoring someone's life must now entertain us as well. Again, allowing us to put the focus squarely where we think it should be...on ourselves.
Currently featured in French Vogue is a photo spread of a ten year old girl in full make-up, seductive clothing, and stilettos giving a sexy pout to the camera. I covered it on my blog last week. It seemed a perfect representation of this quote from p. 15:
"Those who manipulate the shadows that dominate our lives are the agents, publicists, marketing departments, promoters, script writers, television and movie producers, advertisers, video technicians, photographers, body guards, wardrobe consultants, fitness trainers, pollsters, public announcers, and television personalities who create the vast stage for illusion."
I couldn't resist the comparison of that Vogue image with one of Brooke Shields with no makeup and unshaped eyebrows, when she was also ten, after reading this quote by Daniel Boorstin (p.15):
"...in contemporary culture the fabricated, the inauthentic, and the theatrical have displaced the natural, the genuine, and the spontaneous..."
The windbag is taking in air, huh? Must account for the change in air pressure even from so far away! I thought I felt my ears popping. :)
Monday, August 8, 2011
Ill Use Shun
Madame M:
Let me start by attending to a few things first. First, I highly recommend this book to all, just as it came highly recommended to us.
I must disagree a bit with your assertion of anti-Christian bias on Hedges’ part. Given his own theological training, as well as his familial and other background, it would be odd for him to be overtly anti-Christian, which I don’t think he is. What he is about to me: anti-hypocrisy, and also against what he sees as the corruption of Christ’s example and teachings by the American pastorate (too many, who are, he believes, in ready service to the corrupted wealth obsession of American capitalism and American predatory capitalists). But if there is something I have missed, point it out to me good Madame!
Your words on Huxley are well selected, and illustrate our apparent national situation nicely (albeit disturbingly). How bitterly ironic that Huxley’s BOOK would be marginalized, ignored, or be completely invisible by/to so many in their descent into pleasure-mania, illusion, and delusion.
Yes, I agree with you that those things described are perhaps not defensible, but I think Hedges would agree that we at least need to understand the reasoning, such as it is or could be.
Mr. Hedges begins his book with an example of wrestling showing that spectacle has replaced literacy and the ability to deal with issues critically and effectively. He has many valid points about how American life has been manipulated for various purposes—nationalism, racial, ethnic, and religious prejudice, etc.—and demonstrates it by the example of wrestling. One of the premier manipulations has been diversion—diversion from the real problems and real causes. And especially diversion from how the rich elite have upended the world of the lower and middle classes, and made economic and social basket cases of so many. Furthermore, by making something like wrestling both an outlet for releasing frustration, including frustration with the wealthy, and a spectacle to disconnect things from reality, the wealthy elite have undercut a potential threat to their power, as well as masked or confused the source (them) of the upendeds’ misery.
On the historical hand, this trick of the elites is as old as civilization. American wrestling entertainment has been upticked, however, to subtly and not so subtly poke at the hurt of the upended, and all for more profit along the way to even greater embrace of illusion and spectacle in place of dealing with reality.
It also deepens the disconnection among people. As has been said in this forum many times in many ways, this helps the “elite,” who are relative few in number, from being confronted by a united many. In Hedges’ words, “it represents a society that has less and less national cohesion, a society that has broken down into warlike and antagonistic tribes,” who “cheat, lie…and ignore all rules in a desperate scramble to win. Winning is all that matters. Morality is irrelevant.” (7) “Established truths, mores, rules, and authenticity mean nothing. Good and evil mean nothing. It is all about personal pain, vendettas, hedonism, and fantasies of revenge, while inflicting pain on others. It is the cult of victimhood.” (11)
Did he just describe the sentiments that underlie much of what passes for American politics?
Much, MUCH more to say on this, but don’t want to overwhelm the readers yet. The Windbag is taking in air though! :)
Let me start by attending to a few things first. First, I highly recommend this book to all, just as it came highly recommended to us.
I must disagree a bit with your assertion of anti-Christian bias on Hedges’ part. Given his own theological training, as well as his familial and other background, it would be odd for him to be overtly anti-Christian, which I don’t think he is. What he is about to me: anti-hypocrisy, and also against what he sees as the corruption of Christ’s example and teachings by the American pastorate (too many, who are, he believes, in ready service to the corrupted wealth obsession of American capitalism and American predatory capitalists). But if there is something I have missed, point it out to me good Madame!
Your words on Huxley are well selected, and illustrate our apparent national situation nicely (albeit disturbingly). How bitterly ironic that Huxley’s BOOK would be marginalized, ignored, or be completely invisible by/to so many in their descent into pleasure-mania, illusion, and delusion.
Yes, I agree with you that those things described are perhaps not defensible, but I think Hedges would agree that we at least need to understand the reasoning, such as it is or could be.
Mr. Hedges begins his book with an example of wrestling showing that spectacle has replaced literacy and the ability to deal with issues critically and effectively. He has many valid points about how American life has been manipulated for various purposes—nationalism, racial, ethnic, and religious prejudice, etc.—and demonstrates it by the example of wrestling. One of the premier manipulations has been diversion—diversion from the real problems and real causes. And especially diversion from how the rich elite have upended the world of the lower and middle classes, and made economic and social basket cases of so many. Furthermore, by making something like wrestling both an outlet for releasing frustration, including frustration with the wealthy, and a spectacle to disconnect things from reality, the wealthy elite have undercut a potential threat to their power, as well as masked or confused the source (them) of the upendeds’ misery.
On the historical hand, this trick of the elites is as old as civilization. American wrestling entertainment has been upticked, however, to subtly and not so subtly poke at the hurt of the upended, and all for more profit along the way to even greater embrace of illusion and spectacle in place of dealing with reality.
It also deepens the disconnection among people. As has been said in this forum many times in many ways, this helps the “elite,” who are relative few in number, from being confronted by a united many. In Hedges’ words, “it represents a society that has less and less national cohesion, a society that has broken down into warlike and antagonistic tribes,” who “cheat, lie…and ignore all rules in a desperate scramble to win. Winning is all that matters. Morality is irrelevant.” (7) “Established truths, mores, rules, and authenticity mean nothing. Good and evil mean nothing. It is all about personal pain, vendettas, hedonism, and fantasies of revenge, while inflicting pain on others. It is the cult of victimhood.” (11)
Did he just describe the sentiments that underlie much of what passes for American politics?
Much, MUCH more to say on this, but don’t want to overwhelm the readers yet. The Windbag is taking in air though! :)
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Chains of Illusion
Professor J,
This Housewife gives you an "A" for the thoroughness of your answers to all my questions. I'm reluctant to move on to our next discussion if for no other reason than that I love the vintage photo of the newspaper readers we have up. Since, however, you have invited me to open our discussion on Hedge's work, move on I shall. It isn't exactly a dramatic shift from the news though, is it? The segue was an easy one. I expect that the discussion of this book will frequently have recent headlines dragged into it.
As a whole the book wasn't quite what I expected. I suspect the reason is that the first part of the subtitle led me to believe it was going to be another book about how Americans read less, watch too much television and are losing their connection to the printed word. So let's start by redefining and enlarging the definition of "literacy" because the author is using it at times in its more modern and broad sense. Beyond the "ability to read and write" the more comprehensive meaning now embraced is one that includes comprehension and critical thinking in addition to lots of kinds of specific literacy. Hedges is often referring, though he never says it explicitly, to a moral literacy (Knowing this helps make sense of the title of Chapter 1). A literacy of compassion and community. The "triumph" is not only of "spectacle" but of the crass and common. The collective vulgar. The corporate drain on our morality.
Our words become less important, images more so as the thing unravels: "We are a culture that has been denied, or has passively given up, the linguistic and intellectual tools to cope with complexity, to separated illusion from reality. We have traded the printed word for the gleaming image." Hedges turns to Plato early on for an explanation and a warning:
"In The Republic, Plato imagines human beings chained for the duration of their lives in an underground cave, knowing nothing but darkness. Their gaze is confined to the cave wall, upon which shadows of the world above are thrown. They believe these flickering shadows are reality. If, Plato writes, one of these prisoners is freed and brought into the sunlight, he will suffer great pain..."
I liked this book a lot even though it's dark and the message is difficult. I agreed overall with what he had to say about the disintegration of the culture. He occasionally let his anti-Christian bias shine through and tossed it in at times when I felt the connection was weak. Of course our friend Gibbon had lots of issues with Christianity and the organized church and I suspect that to be only the first of many connections that we may draw between these two works before we're finished. In addition to excerpts from The Decline and Fall, often while reading I found bits and pieces of Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 rattling around in by brain along with Orwell and Huxley. In Chapter 2, The Illusion of Love (again, this title is misleading having nothing to do with love but more with the illusion of intimacy) Hedges includes a great quote from the book Amusing Ourselves to Death:
"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books,' Neil Postman wrote:
Note to the reader: This is not a book for the faint of heart. Much of what he is documenting in the culture is disturbing, ugly, and cruel. But stick with us. He is making some very necessary points.
To view an interesting cartoon based on the Orwell/Huxley comparison, click HERE.
As a whole the book wasn't quite what I expected. I suspect the reason is that the first part of the subtitle led me to believe it was going to be another book about how Americans read less, watch too much television and are losing their connection to the printed word. So let's start by redefining and enlarging the definition of "literacy" because the author is using it at times in its more modern and broad sense. Beyond the "ability to read and write" the more comprehensive meaning now embraced is one that includes comprehension and critical thinking in addition to lots of kinds of specific literacy. Hedges is often referring, though he never says it explicitly, to a moral literacy (Knowing this helps make sense of the title of Chapter 1). A literacy of compassion and community. The "triumph" is not only of "spectacle" but of the crass and common. The collective vulgar. The corporate drain on our morality.
Our words become less important, images more so as the thing unravels: "We are a culture that has been denied, or has passively given up, the linguistic and intellectual tools to cope with complexity, to separated illusion from reality. We have traded the printed word for the gleaming image." Hedges turns to Plato early on for an explanation and a warning:
"In The Republic, Plato imagines human beings chained for the duration of their lives in an underground cave, knowing nothing but darkness. Their gaze is confined to the cave wall, upon which shadows of the world above are thrown. They believe these flickering shadows are reality. If, Plato writes, one of these prisoners is freed and brought into the sunlight, he will suffer great pain..."
I liked this book a lot even though it's dark and the message is difficult. I agreed overall with what he had to say about the disintegration of the culture. He occasionally let his anti-Christian bias shine through and tossed it in at times when I felt the connection was weak. Of course our friend Gibbon had lots of issues with Christianity and the organized church and I suspect that to be only the first of many connections that we may draw between these two works before we're finished. In addition to excerpts from The Decline and Fall, often while reading I found bits and pieces of Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451 rattling around in by brain along with Orwell and Huxley. In Chapter 2, The Illusion of Love (again, this title is misleading having nothing to do with love but more with the illusion of intimacy) Hedges includes a great quote from the book Amusing Ourselves to Death:
"What Orwell feared were those who would ban books,' Neil Postman wrote:
'What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that our desire will ruin us.”How chillingly accurate Huxley's fears seem to have been. "...man's almost infinite appetite for distractions." Hedges does a magnificent job of pointing out just what some of them are and how they are keeping us from an honest view of the situation at hand and causing us as a culture to lose our grasp on reality. I had difficulty getting through some parts, the first two chapters were downright painful to me because they so graphically depicted some of those things you pointed out in your last post that you couldn't find the "other side to"because there isn't a defensible one. Ever.
Note to the reader: This is not a book for the faint of heart. Much of what he is documenting in the culture is disturbing, ugly, and cruel. But stick with us. He is making some very necessary points.
To view an interesting cartoon based on the Orwell/Huxley comparison, click HERE.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Circus Circus
Suite Madame M (apologies to Styx):
The current debt standoff might have some effect, but I doubt it. Short-attention spans, and constant changing of the picture and the news item of the week, will likely see to that. How many people are still talking about BP? Dodd-Frank “Financial Reform” Act? Real strategy for the nation? The real items go away quickly or never even come up.
When you say a flat tax, I assume you mean income tax, and not the other taxes that would likely remain (payroll, excise, sales, etc.) I will say that a flat income tax would go a good portion of the way toward removing some inequities, but would accentuate others. If one’s system is so corrupt, as Russia’s was/is, then a flat tax actually is beneficial to all, but especially government. If your system is not so corrupt, then a flat tax burden falls disproportionally on the middle class (assuming the lower class is exempted out by certain minimums). However, it does bring certainty, which markets and business love and reward because it allows for ready calculation into plans and operations. One of the tricky parts of a flat tax is making sure that collection is not only solid, but that the rate is set high enough to actually achieve the revenue streams needed.
Nearly the whole idea behind progressive taxation, as opposed to flat rate taxation, is that the burden of supporting a government that serves a society should be borne proportionally to ability to do so. While fairer to the middle class, the upper class (and sometimes the middle class and lower classes as well) want to tinker with the tax code to bend the effects of progressive taxation, or to achieve some reward or preference, or politicians try to steer national policy and economic effect through it, etc., all leading to ever more (maddening) complication. In a world where no constant tinkering with the tax code would occur, progressive taxation would work superbly. Even imperfectly, it has worked well for some decades of the American experience. But regretfully, that was decades ago.
People don’t much remember, but for a brief period of time, we had a semi-flat tax hybrid of two tax rates, 15% and 28%. This seemed to combine the best features of progressive and flat tax, but alas, the tinkering would not stop, and not only did many loopholes return (just different kinds of loopholes), but the rates and brackets got messed with as well.
Our system is so subject now to special-interest manipulation, a flat tax would, while not as fair as the ideal progression, greatly simplify American personal and business lives, and also free up a lot of misspent money and energy presently wasted in either wrestling with the tax code or manipulating it (or having to pay someone to do so). One could almost think of the flat tax as a membership fee for residing in America or benefitting from it.
But really, as I have said in the past, a better way is to stop taxing productive things altogether. Producing income is often (although not always—witness much of Wall Street for example) economically productive, and for the middle class person almost certainly so. Instead of taxing (punishing) income, we should instead tax the things which are harmful to environment, to individual health, to society itself. One therefore would reward what we as a society want more of (economic productivity), and punish what we want less of (harmful things), and in the process fund our necessary servant (government).
On to travel: Possible you say? That some people—the self-centered, the ideologues, the close-minded—are not bettered and broadened by travel, or even a period of foreign residency: it has happened. While thankfully, far fewer remain unmodified by their travel experience than the number that are bettered, it has happened and continues to happen, and there are some notable (and sometimes infamous in a way) examples.
As to the semi-rhetorical question, yes, there are some things I can’t or won’t find another side to. Not many, because the real world, and humanity itself, is just so complex there are nearly always two or more sides to something. What are some examples of things that I can’t or won’t find another side to though? Wanton cruelty, to animals, humans, or the planet. Rape of a little child. Irreverent enslavement or destruction against free will.
The kindness of strangers in lands where community is valued is something to behold—thank you for the link. And even in our community-dessicated American culture, people still long for and will gladly do it if they get a chance to come out of their self-preservation and promotion shell.
Interesting, isn’t it, that the small business owners, many of whom are struggling or even going under, still refuse to point in the direction of the specific big corporations that are responsible for, or at least fomenting the problems, but instead blame a generalized thing like “the media.”
You have started off well with an insightful and appropriate quote from Hedges. Nice segue! How very applicable to the vaporous drivel that passes for information “of note” in this spectacle culture. Ah, Plato would have felt right at home in drawing all the parallels. But perhaps he might also have been a little disappointed that after three millennia the basics had still not been taken to heart!
As to opening salvo on the new book, ladies first! :)
The current debt standoff might have some effect, but I doubt it. Short-attention spans, and constant changing of the picture and the news item of the week, will likely see to that. How many people are still talking about BP? Dodd-Frank “Financial Reform” Act? Real strategy for the nation? The real items go away quickly or never even come up.
When you say a flat tax, I assume you mean income tax, and not the other taxes that would likely remain (payroll, excise, sales, etc.) I will say that a flat income tax would go a good portion of the way toward removing some inequities, but would accentuate others. If one’s system is so corrupt, as Russia’s was/is, then a flat tax actually is beneficial to all, but especially government. If your system is not so corrupt, then a flat tax burden falls disproportionally on the middle class (assuming the lower class is exempted out by certain minimums). However, it does bring certainty, which markets and business love and reward because it allows for ready calculation into plans and operations. One of the tricky parts of a flat tax is making sure that collection is not only solid, but that the rate is set high enough to actually achieve the revenue streams needed.
Nearly the whole idea behind progressive taxation, as opposed to flat rate taxation, is that the burden of supporting a government that serves a society should be borne proportionally to ability to do so. While fairer to the middle class, the upper class (and sometimes the middle class and lower classes as well) want to tinker with the tax code to bend the effects of progressive taxation, or to achieve some reward or preference, or politicians try to steer national policy and economic effect through it, etc., all leading to ever more (maddening) complication. In a world where no constant tinkering with the tax code would occur, progressive taxation would work superbly. Even imperfectly, it has worked well for some decades of the American experience. But regretfully, that was decades ago.
People don’t much remember, but for a brief period of time, we had a semi-flat tax hybrid of two tax rates, 15% and 28%. This seemed to combine the best features of progressive and flat tax, but alas, the tinkering would not stop, and not only did many loopholes return (just different kinds of loopholes), but the rates and brackets got messed with as well.
Our system is so subject now to special-interest manipulation, a flat tax would, while not as fair as the ideal progression, greatly simplify American personal and business lives, and also free up a lot of misspent money and energy presently wasted in either wrestling with the tax code or manipulating it (or having to pay someone to do so). One could almost think of the flat tax as a membership fee for residing in America or benefitting from it.
But really, as I have said in the past, a better way is to stop taxing productive things altogether. Producing income is often (although not always—witness much of Wall Street for example) economically productive, and for the middle class person almost certainly so. Instead of taxing (punishing) income, we should instead tax the things which are harmful to environment, to individual health, to society itself. One therefore would reward what we as a society want more of (economic productivity), and punish what we want less of (harmful things), and in the process fund our necessary servant (government).
On to travel: Possible you say? That some people—the self-centered, the ideologues, the close-minded—are not bettered and broadened by travel, or even a period of foreign residency: it has happened. While thankfully, far fewer remain unmodified by their travel experience than the number that are bettered, it has happened and continues to happen, and there are some notable (and sometimes infamous in a way) examples.
As to the semi-rhetorical question, yes, there are some things I can’t or won’t find another side to. Not many, because the real world, and humanity itself, is just so complex there are nearly always two or more sides to something. What are some examples of things that I can’t or won’t find another side to though? Wanton cruelty, to animals, humans, or the planet. Rape of a little child. Irreverent enslavement or destruction against free will.
The kindness of strangers in lands where community is valued is something to behold—thank you for the link. And even in our community-dessicated American culture, people still long for and will gladly do it if they get a chance to come out of their self-preservation and promotion shell.
Interesting, isn’t it, that the small business owners, many of whom are struggling or even going under, still refuse to point in the direction of the specific big corporations that are responsible for, or at least fomenting the problems, but instead blame a generalized thing like “the media.”
You have started off well with an insightful and appropriate quote from Hedges. Nice segue! How very applicable to the vaporous drivel that passes for information “of note” in this spectacle culture. Ah, Plato would have felt right at home in drawing all the parallels. But perhaps he might also have been a little disappointed that after three millennia the basics had still not been taken to heart!
As to opening salvo on the new book, ladies first! :)
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Headlines and Sidelines
Professor J,
To counteract having the Glenn Frey song "The Heat is On" stuck in my head I am dreaming of hauling in armloads of firewood to a snowy mountain cabin and whipping up some Irish coffee. Planning a wedding in this heat has given me nightmares of a cake that liquifies as the topper sinks into it and melting unity candles. I'm hoping September feels like fall. I'm glad you are enjoying the heat wave, though! :)
So if something good has come about from the Murdoch circus it has at least brought to light just how common some of these practices are. By the same token couldn't we say that the current debt circus is bringing about the same result? Everyone is talking about the debt, which seemed to be on the radar of very few Americans until recently.
Here's a question: Wouldn't a flat tax go a long way toward solving a large part of the problem with loopholes and deductions for those who can most afford to pay? (Yes, I know that lots of people are getting out of paying under the current system and that tax prep is a multimillion dollar business, so this would be hard to accomplish.) I'm envisioning a 60 second commercial to run nightly during tax season giving the public a refresher on how to calculate percentages if they've forgotten it since high school.
When you came back from your recent R&R you commented on my piece about travel and how it changes us (Is there anything you can't find another side to? ;)) I suppose it's possible that people may stubbornly remain the same if they really try. How sad. In The Wall Street Journal I've been following the adventures of Yoder & Sons (or in this case one son) as they have been taking a dream father/son trip across Africa. They are nearing the end of their journey and I found this excerpt from Sunday's article particularly interesting:
"We have scores of similar stories, and they're all the more humbling -- shaming, really -- because we'd fully expected to face anti-American sentiment, perhaps open contempt, especially in the predominantly Islamic countries we've traveled through. And we expected to have to watch our backs a little. It was an ignorant preconception: Not once have we encountered any anti-American hostility or sense of personal danger.
Instead, the English words we hear most frequently from perfect strangers are "welcome" and "thank you." Surely, we thought, we would encounter hostility in Sudan, a country with many recent disagreements with the U.S. Our most frequent conversation: "Where from?" "America." "Welcome to Sudan! Thank you!" Strangers invited us to tea more often in Sudan than in all other countries combined."
Here is the link to the full article. Taken Aback by the Kindness of Strangers I fully expect these two to write a fabulous travel memoir at the end of their trek.
Oh, and it looks like BP recovered nicely just as you predicted a year ago. Recently when I was at the gulf I talked to several business owners and you know who they blame for their dismal tourist season last year? The media. Yes, they say that BP did the physical damage but the media did the economic damage. But you know what they wanted to know from me? How was MY area getting along with all the water we had. "We saw it on the news." :)
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming: I know you've been getting antsy to move on to our next discussion. This may be a good time. When the news this week is filled with the end of the NFL lockout and the unfortunate but oh so predictable death of Amy Winehouse, I can't help think of Hedges' quote "We are chained to the flickering shadows of celebrity culture, the spectacle of the arena and the airwaves, the lies of advertising, the endless personal dramas, many of them completely fictional, that have become the staple of news, celebrity gossip, New Age mysticism, and pop psychology."
Note to the reader: If you would like to follow along with us in this upcoming discussion the book to read will be Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle by Chris Hedges. Yes. It is just as cheerful as it sounds. Did you enjoy your summer break? :)
To counteract having the Glenn Frey song "The Heat is On" stuck in my head I am dreaming of hauling in armloads of firewood to a snowy mountain cabin and whipping up some Irish coffee. Planning a wedding in this heat has given me nightmares of a cake that liquifies as the topper sinks into it and melting unity candles. I'm hoping September feels like fall. I'm glad you are enjoying the heat wave, though! :)
So if something good has come about from the Murdoch circus it has at least brought to light just how common some of these practices are. By the same token couldn't we say that the current debt circus is bringing about the same result? Everyone is talking about the debt, which seemed to be on the radar of very few Americans until recently.
Here's a question: Wouldn't a flat tax go a long way toward solving a large part of the problem with loopholes and deductions for those who can most afford to pay? (Yes, I know that lots of people are getting out of paying under the current system and that tax prep is a multimillion dollar business, so this would be hard to accomplish.) I'm envisioning a 60 second commercial to run nightly during tax season giving the public a refresher on how to calculate percentages if they've forgotten it since high school.
When you came back from your recent R&R you commented on my piece about travel and how it changes us (Is there anything you can't find another side to? ;)) I suppose it's possible that people may stubbornly remain the same if they really try. How sad. In The Wall Street Journal I've been following the adventures of Yoder & Sons (or in this case one son) as they have been taking a dream father/son trip across Africa. They are nearing the end of their journey and I found this excerpt from Sunday's article particularly interesting:
"We have scores of similar stories, and they're all the more humbling -- shaming, really -- because we'd fully expected to face anti-American sentiment, perhaps open contempt, especially in the predominantly Islamic countries we've traveled through. And we expected to have to watch our backs a little. It was an ignorant preconception: Not once have we encountered any anti-American hostility or sense of personal danger.
Instead, the English words we hear most frequently from perfect strangers are "welcome" and "thank you." Surely, we thought, we would encounter hostility in Sudan, a country with many recent disagreements with the U.S. Our most frequent conversation: "Where from?" "America." "Welcome to Sudan! Thank you!" Strangers invited us to tea more often in Sudan than in all other countries combined."
Here is the link to the full article. Taken Aback by the Kindness of Strangers I fully expect these two to write a fabulous travel memoir at the end of their trek.
Oh, and it looks like BP recovered nicely just as you predicted a year ago. Recently when I was at the gulf I talked to several business owners and you know who they blame for their dismal tourist season last year? The media. Yes, they say that BP did the physical damage but the media did the economic damage. But you know what they wanted to know from me? How was MY area getting along with all the water we had. "We saw it on the news." :)
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming: I know you've been getting antsy to move on to our next discussion. This may be a good time. When the news this week is filled with the end of the NFL lockout and the unfortunate but oh so predictable death of Amy Winehouse, I can't help think of Hedges' quote "We are chained to the flickering shadows of celebrity culture, the spectacle of the arena and the airwaves, the lies of advertising, the endless personal dramas, many of them completely fictional, that have become the staple of news, celebrity gossip, New Age mysticism, and pop psychology."
Note to the reader: If you would like to follow along with us in this upcoming discussion the book to read will be Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle by Chris Hedges. Yes. It is just as cheerful as it sounds. Did you enjoy your summer break? :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
