Interesting reactions. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of de Bivort Lawrence Sent: Saturday, October 23, 2010 3:01 PM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION, EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] Hedges' position summarized.
Yes, it is far easier to be an angry critic than a solver. Cheers, Lawry On Oct 23, 2010, at 2:42 PM, Sandwichman wrote: > Sheesh! Such ingratitude. They give the guy a Pulitzer Prize and he > turns around and bites 'em! The problem I have with Hedges -- the same > I have with James Kunstler -- is that they never pause in their > jeremiads to even suggest what kind of policies they would recommend > if there was any possibility of them even being considered. > > On Sat, Oct 23, 2010 at 8:30 AM, Arthur Cordell <[email protected]> wrote: >> Christopher Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist who has taught at >> Columbia University, New York University, and Princeton University. He is >> the author of "War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning" (2002), and "Empire of >> Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle" (2009). Hedges >> also received the Amnesty International Global Award for Human Rights >> Journalism in 2002. He was a reporter for the NY Times for 15 years. >> >> The liberal class plays a vital role in a democracy. It gives moral >> legitimacy to the state. It makes limited forms of dissent and incremental >> change possible. The liberal class posits itself as the conscience of the >> nation. It permits us, through its appeal to public virtues and the public >> good, to define ourselves as a good and noble people. Most importantly, on >> behalf of the power elite the liberal class serves as bulwarks against >> radical movements by offering a safety valve for popular frustrations and >> discontentment by discrediting those who talk of profound structural change. >> Once this class loses its social and political role then the delicate fabric >> of a democracy breaks down and the liberal class, along with the values it >> espouses, becomes an object of ridicule and hatred. The door that has been >> opened to proto-fascists has been opened by a bankrupt liberalism >> >> "The Death of the Liberal Class" examines the failure of the liberal class >> to confront the rise of the corporate state and the consequences of a >> liberalism that has become profoundly bankrupted. Hedges argues there are >> five pillars of the liberal establishment - the press, liberal religious >> institutions, labour unions, universities, and the Democratic Party-- and >> that each of these institutions, more concerned with status and privilege >> than justice and progress, sold out the constituents they represented. In >> doing so, the liberal class has become irrelevant to society at large, and >> ultimately, the corporate power elite they once served. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> Futurework mailing list >> [email protected] >> https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework >> >> > > > > -- > Sandwichman > _______________________________________________ > Futurework mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
