#253 | The Paths To Reform Are Dead: Confronting The Myopic Ruling Elite w/ Chris Hedges
Intro: 7:10
In this episode, I speak with award-winning author and journalist Chris Hedges. We discuss the material conditions precipitating the unprecedented uprisings in the United States the past few weeks, as addressed in his recent article published at SheerPost, ‘The Treason of the Ruling Class’:
“In order for nonviolence to work, your opponent must have a conscience,” Stokely Carmichael warned. And if your opponent is bereft of a conscience, then state violence is inevitably met with counter-violence. Tyranny takes the place of reform. The danger of widespread sectarian violence in America is now very real.
There are three options: reform, which, given the decay in the American body politic, is impossible; revolution; or tyranny. The more things deteriorate, the more the elites feel threatened, the more brutal the police, the National Guard and the organs of state security will become. The longer the serfs defy their masters the more the populations in the jails and prisons, which are already the largest in the world, will swell. (https://bit.ly/3cPEfw9)
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for fifteen years for The New York Times, where he served as the Middle East Bureau Chief and Balkan Bureau Chief for the paper. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor, and NPR. Until this month, he wrote a weekly column for the online magazine Truthdig. He is the host of the Emmy Award-nominated RT America show ‘On Contact.’
Episode Notes:
- Read his article ‘The Treason of the Ruling Class’ at SheerPost: https://bit.ly/3cPEfw9
- Watch his show ‘On Contact’ on RT America: https://www.rt.com/shows/on-contact
- Learn more about and purchase his numerous books: https://bit.ly/37pcBF6
- Follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChrisLynnHedges
- The song featured in this episode is “Hard Times Killing Floor Blues” by Skip James: https://youtu.be/mYALBzfY5QY
