Pulitzer prize winning correspondent, Chris Hedges, will speak at 7:30 at the free library tonight.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20090728_On_a_dream_deferred_to_capitalism.html "Hedges says that our consumer conditioning has reduced "the values of thrift, a sense of community and self-sacrifice" to "a need for self-gratification." Democracy is reduced to the same level as "consumer choice or voting on American Idol." The discrepancy between perception and reality, Hedges argues, has generated a culture of illusions that allow citizens to hide from reality. Infantilized by advertising, the media, and celebrity culture, we have become incapable of recognizing - much less fixing - the degradation of our social, political, and economic system. "We are the most illusioned society on the face of the earth," Hedges said. "Oprah, the Christian right, self-help gurus, Hollywood tell us that we can have everything we want. And it's an illusion." In reality, Hedges writes in his book, we have become "virtually disempowered" by corporate America. As employees, we are little more than disposable commodities, and as consumers we are addicted to goods we don't need. Hedges argues that consumerism and celebrity culture have a powerful political function. "The whole fantasy of celebrity culture is not designed simply to entertain," Hedges says, but to make us politically passive. Hedges says the move from "managed capitalism" to "unfettered capitalism" over the last four to six decades - accomplished with the help of government deregulation - has refashioned America as a "corporate state run by and on behalf of corporations rather than citizens." When corporate needs trump those of citizens, Hedges said, the poor and the weak don't stand a chance." ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
