A friend of mine posted an essay by Chris Hedges today on Facebook.
Here was my response:
This is a moving essay, although his complaints about culture seem to assume a rather simplistic model of cultural reception. For instance, in my opinion, the reality TV that he mentions, “Jersey Shore,” “The Apprentice,” and “The Jerry Springer Show” (does anybody watch that anymore?), are not a transparent indicator of the oligarchy’s disdain for the poor, but an expression of their viewers’ drive towards their own destruction. These people may be middle class, not poor, which still supports his point, in a way, but my inner-Zizek tells me that in order to dissuade people from this destructive behavior (globalization), we need to understand their enjoyment of it a little better (and possibly with more respect).
Also, I hate to say this because I fear that people will jump down my throat for it, but I think that Democrat-bashing, while deserved, is still dangerous in the current political climate, and I say this as an independent socialist who has only voted for the Democrats twice (Obama and Tom Perriello). To take just one example, what is happening to Bradley Manning should serve as an indication to Democrats of their party’s complicity with the corporate state, but for the worst off in the U.S. (LGBTQ people, Arabs and Muslims, other minoritized populations and immigrants who are also often poor, women in need of reproductive health services), the Democratic party constitutes a thin blue line between survival and annihilation, and it seems irresponsible of Hedges to dismiss that. Even Chomsky (in his latest interview with Amy Goodman) suggested that, in swing states, U.S. voters are going to be forced to choose Democrats in the next election, no matter how much they might want to do otherwise. You will be voting for the possibility of glacially slow, incremental change, and against the possibility of revolutionary terror at the hands of right-wing neo-fascists. (I think Chomsky uses the term “paleolithic dinosaurs.”) I’m inclined to agree with the linguist.
Tags: chomsky, chris hedges, democrats, globalization, zizek
