Chris Hedges: Our Mania for Hope Is a Curse

[marmar]

from truthdig:


Our Mania for Hope Is a Curse

Posted on May 24, 2015
By Chris Hedges


The naive belief that history is linear, that moral progress accompanies technical progress, is a form of collective self-delusion. It cripples our capacity for radical action and lulls us into a false sense of security. Those who cling to the myth of human progress, who believe that the world inevitably moves toward a higher material and moral state, are held captive by power. Only those who accept the very real possibility of dystopia, of the rise of a ruthless corporate totalitarianism, buttressed by the most terrifying security and surveillance apparatus in human history, are likely to carry out the self-sacrifice necessary for revolt.

The yearning for positivism that pervades our corporate culture ignores human nature and human history. But to challenge it, to state the obvious fact that things are getting worse, and may soon get much worse, is to be tossed out of the circle of magical thinking that defines American and much of Western culture. The left is as infected with this mania for hope as the right. It is a mania that obscures reality even as global capitalism disintegrates and the ecosystem unravels, potentially dooming us all.

The 19th century theorist Louis-Auguste Blanqui, unlike nearly all of his contemporaries, dismissed the belief, central to Karl Marx, that human history is a linear progression toward equality and greater morality. He warned that this absurd positivism is the lie perpetrated by oppressors: “All atrocities of the victor, the long series of his attacks are coldly transformed into constant, inevitable evolution, like that of nature. ... But the sequence of human things is not inevitable like that of the universe. It can be changed at any moment.” He foresaw that scientific and technological advancement, rather than being a harbinger of progress, could be “a terrible weapon in the hands of Capital against Work and Thought.” And in a day when few others did so, he decried the despoiling of the natural world. “The axe fells, nobody replants. There is no concern for the future’s ill health.”

.....(snip).....

Resistance, as Alexander Berkman points out, is first about learning to speak differently and abandoning the vocabulary of the “rational” technocrats who rule. Once we discover new words and ideas through which to perceive and explain reality, we free ourselves from neoliberal capitalism, which functions, as Walter Benjamin knew, like a state religion. Resistance will take place outside the boundaries of popular culture and academia, where the deadening weight of the dominant ideology curtails creativity and independent thought.

As global capitalism disintegrates, the heresy our corporate masters fear is gaining currency. But that heresy will not be effective until it is divorced from the mania for hope that is an essential part of corporate indoctrination. The ridiculous positivism, the belief that we are headed toward some glorious future, defies reality. Hope, in this sense, is a form of disempowerment. ............(more)

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/our_mania_for_hope_is_a_curse_20150524

[cantbeserious]

1. Thank You For Sharing

eom

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[grasswire]

3. kick for later nt

[Doctor_J]

4. excellent as usual. also eerily complementary to this week's archdruid dispatch. I heartily

recommend reading both. Probably too much truth for some overly trusting duers, but extremely thought provoking

[Spitfire of ATJ]

5. Same goes for America's weird idea that God is running the show.

[Enthusiast]

6. Hey, Chris! You'll change your tune once this TPP passes!

[erronis]

7. And that's what fuels our disastrous gimmicky investment bubbles

I don't want to side-step the important parts of this message, but on a cursory reading it appears that the bent towards optimism makes so many of us gullible targets.

We can't believe that house prices will decrease by 10-20% after they've risen by 50-100% in a few short years!

We can't believe that our beneficient corporation (GE, IBM, GM, etc.) would short us on our benefits!

We can't believe that the nice broker would tell us that our investments/retirement are now worthless. And that he did quite well, thank you!

[ananda]

8. So right.

..

[xocet]

9. Interesting.... n/t

[KingCharlemagne]

12. Who else wrote it? Or do you just indulge in baseless smears for the hell of it? - nt

[KingCharlemagne]

17. That report in "The New Republic" was thoroughly debunked, discredited and

refuted by Hedges and others. But keep on repeating the smear because you don't like the message. Your repetition of the smear smacks of Joseph McCarthy.

&list=FLhZgGSAb7KML6q5c7h-ngbg&index=23

[Recursion]

34. I noticed you ignored Warren's main point: global inequality has *massively* fallen

over the past 20 years or so. The much maligned new world order has actually delivered what it promised: a global middle class, a reduction in global violence (though that's been falling pretty steadily since the 1600's), and the greatest economic gains for the world's poor in history.

[KingCharlemagne]

40. Oh, I'm ignoring more than Warren's 'main point,' since he indulges repeatedly in the

baseless McCarthyite smear, doubles down when called and finally resorts to playing the Godwin card when all else fails.

Screw that.

[DonCoquixote]

11. good except for one fatal flaw

Wisdom connects us with forces that cannot be measured empirically and that are outside the confines of the rational world.

And there is where you will lose people, because we cannot and will not accept wisdom that comes from anywhere outside of the world. Thankfully, when you stripe religion of it's pretense of heavens or hells, it is there. "do onto other as you would have them do unto you" needs no heaven or hell.

When people like Derrick Jansen or John Michael Greer or Hedges try to backdoor in spirituality, they soil their cause, because we know it will boil down to "we should obey the shamans and stay contented with our lot" which will become Puritanism and isis style sharia before you know it. The point is to NOT ask the spiritual to be anything more than what it is, a guide for dealing with those facets
of life that, as of the current moment, are not analyzed and understood with science alone. Key thing is current moment; social science has mapped out thoughts and feelings that were once the realm of religion or art, and that was achieved by being willing to analyze things many insisted would not be analyzed. After they did, we could use social science to understand things like "what does a certain feeling or belief actually do, and how can we make it useful, or at least harmless?"

Wisdom is not beyond the rational world Chris, or as a certain philosopher once said "the Kingdom of Heaven is within you."

[Thespian2]

13. I liked Hedges comments..

I think your response presents better thinking...and I agree most heartily with your final statement...

[marmar]

18. Chris hedges is hardly a 'religious right fundamentalist' . .

That is such a buffet of bullshit. Perhaps you should listen to more of his speeches. He's not even very religious.

[raouldukelives]

23. To some, MLK Jr is a bible thumper. To those unafraid to listen, inspiration. nt

[raouldukelives]

41. Gotcha. If he were a tad more optimistic you'd be happier with the thumping.

For me, sadly, Hedge's work is optimistic. Because he is unafraid to call it as he sees it and in many cases, it is the same way I have been seeing it for years, so in that way, it gives me hope that I am not alone.
I wouldn't be surprised if some of MLK's writing wasn't received in the same way in his day. One persons tale of woe is ray of hope to another.
One thing I do know for sure is that Dr. King would be very unhappy with the conditions today and he would be unashamed to be first in line at Occupy standing shoulder to shoulder with us, for all of us.

[randome]

25. His very first sentence is a clue to where he's going with this.

An epic strawman since he never specifies who believes that "moral progress accompanies technical progress".

We're all naive, though, because...we're not him.
[hr][font color="blue"][center]No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. Yet.[/center][/font][hr]

[CrawlingChaos]

29. an outrageous lie

I'd challenge you to present one single piece of evidence that Hedges is "just another religious right fundamentalist" but I know you can't because that claim is stone cold bullshit.

By any reasonable definition Hedges himself would be considered an atheist.

[CrawlingChaos]

32. He IS an atheist

You know darn well his book was about the dangerous ideologies of New Atheism. You know, shit like torture apologia and visions of preemptive nuclear war - i.e. utopian thinking.

Claiming to stand by what you said implies you can back it up, which you can't.

[CrawlingChaos]

36. Your desperation has become comical

I belonged to an atheist group during the dark days of Dubya and I left because I didn't want any association with the creeping dogmatic influence of New Atheism's leading lights, who were, and still are held up as gurus (ironically enough). I know you know who I'm talking about.

Pretending it doesn't exist doesn't fool anyone. Your bizarre and nonsensical smears don't fool anyone.

Everyone who makes powerful enemies like Hedges does is going to be the target of character assassination eventually. The plagiarism charge was never anything more than a tempest in a teapot:

http://firedoglake.com/2014/06/12/hedges/

[CrawlingChaos]

38. uh huh

Sure you don't.

The plagiarism charge is a bunch of shit. The Nation Institute looked into the charges and found no instances of plagiarism. The New York Times, Hedges' former employer, did not deem it worthy of investigation. There are all kinds of problems with the article accusing Hedges which is probably why it was refused by Salon and The American Prospect.

Here is Hedges' response to the charges:

http://therealnews.com/t2/component/content/article/282-chris-hedges/2108-response-by-hedges-to-allegations-by-ketcham-in-tnr

Your level of desperation to smear him at any cost is really gross.

[CrawlingChaos]

27. He did not mean what you're implying

He was clearly NOT making any sort of statement about God or religion or supernatural anything.

Let's flesh out this comment with a bit more context in Hedges actual words:

"Wisdom connects us with forces that cannot be measured empirically and that are outside the confines of the rational world. To be wise is to pay homage to beauty, truth, grief, the brevity of life, our own mortality, love and the absurdity and mystery of existence. It is, in short, to honor the sacred. Those who remain trapped in the dogmas perpetuated by technology and knowledge, who believe in the inevitability of human progress, are idiot savants.

...

Artists and philosophers, who expose the mercurial undercurrents of the subconscious, allow us to face an unvarnished truth. Works of art and philosophy informed by the intuitive, unarticulated meanderings of the human psyche transcend those constructed by the plodding conscious mind. The freeing potency of visceral memories does not arrive through the intellect. These memories are impervious to rational control. And they alone lead to wisdom."

Beauty, love, art .... these are facets of the human condition that exist outside the boundaries of knowledge and rational pursuit. You really think "social science" has analyzed and demystified these areas? That is laughable, and it is hubris on an epic scale.

What is really dangerous is utopian thinking.

[KingCharlemagne]

14. The best Hedges piece in quite some time. He's never afraid to step outside

the bounds of comfortable bourgeois discourse.

[Overseas]

19. K&R. Well said.

[tk2kewl]

22. THIS

"... the sequence of human things is not inevitable like that of the universe. It can be changed at any moment."

[raouldukelives]

24. K&R The future is stored in the belly of the frozen tundra.

Our only goal must be to ensure it remains frozen. To ignore it, to react in any other way but in facing and addressing reality is defeatism.
Some think we can engineer our way out of climate change. Some think Jesus will save us. Both are about as likely.

[CrawlingChaos]

28. K&R - Outstanding article

Thank you for sharing.

[hifiguy]

30. K&R nt