Book Review - Empire of Illusion by Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges offers a sombre reflection on America in the early 21^st Century, which is easily applicable to my own Canadian context.  Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle argues that we made five trades.  We traded rational and literate discourse for celebrity worship and intentional ignorance.  We traded love and empathy for pornography and consumerism.  We traded curiosity for entrenchment.  We traded happiness and for positive thinking and ignoring reality.  We have traded democracy, truth, and confidence for misguided icons, negligence, and shopping.  Worse than making these trades, however, is that we think that we are advanced for having done so.

Hedges’ book is sombre rather than outright depressing because of the final few pages.  He offers something of a buoy for his readers, who – assuming my reaction is on par – will feel completely sunk by reaching the final section (a mere three pages) of the final chapter.  What Hedges holds on to, and what he offers readers, is hope.  “Have hope,” seems like a kind of wishy-washy conclusion considering both the absolute dread I felt while reading the book and Hedges’ own warning against trading intelligent consideration of our surroundings for positivity.

Hedges’ hope is not blind to all the trades we made.  His hope acknowledges that we have set ourselves up for a world that “will be painful and difficult.”  His hope also knows, however, that despite the worst any tyrant has done, tyranny has not destroyed the human capacity for love.  The love that showed up in “small, blind acts of kindness” to combat empires of death camps, gulags, genocides, and killing fields, will certainly continue and stand in the way of an empire of illusion.  The markers of such love are sacrificing oneself for the other, revering what is sacred, being apathetic to what is flashy, and rebelling against lust for power.  Hedges has hope because, in his words, “The power of love is greater than the power of death.”

Empire of Illusion is difficult to read.  The evidence that Hedges uses to support his idea that the trades led to an empire of illusion is harsh and it is vast.  The danger of choosing celebrity worship over literate discourse lay in the disconnection of people from reality.  Celebrity worship suggests that anyone, regardless of how humble a background she or he comes from, can be a celebrity.  People who accept this idea act as celebrities-in-waiting who are on the verge of having their (always hidden) talent discovered so others will worship them.  Celebrity worship thereby makes people a commodity.  

Pornography does the same thing.  Here Hedges provides graphic descriptions not only of the types of porn that are quickly becoming mainstream, but also about the people that it harms – mainly the performers and the users, both current and former.  Hedges provides lengthy quotes from interviews he conducted at conventions, including with Christian groups who set up convention tables that attempt to draw people away from the industry.  The graphicness of this chapter shocked and disturbed me.         

Hedges’ idea about how we traded curiosity for entrenchment and self-centredness surprised me.  I first encountered Hedges as a publicscholar when the CBC during interviewed him during the Occupy movement.  That I first saw him as a scholar* led me to believe this book would congratulate my academic study.  Instead, he makes a case that academic study will potentially (although not always) serve to allow people to specialize their knowledge so much as to talk past anyone else in the conversation.  This type of specialization, according to Hedges, “thwarts universal understanding.”  When this happens, it becomes impossible for education to provide knowledge.  Morality cannot exist in this scenario and a society becomes confused and open to corrupt leadership.

The danger of making positive-thinking influenced happiness a goal is that it removes any ability to achieve the genuine happiness that comes by working through problems.  Positive thinking on its own will do nothing to help cure our ills.  Instead, it makes actual social change impossible.  We will ignore problems in our social structure, allowing oppression to continue.  Positive thinking looks at such structural issues and decides they do not exist or, at best, will fade away.  This is a short chapter, but it is useful as I evaluate social justice movements and goals and whether they can actually lead to a fairer society or if they are simply action neglecting rhetoric.

Rhetoric is again a key danger when we trade democracy for icons.  The final chapter was the most discouraging.  I believe in democracy as a potential road to social justice.  Hedges instead tells me that democracy has become empty phrases.  In the place of democracy, argues Hedges, rests corporate power brokers.  As evidence, Hedges notes that NAFTA did not actually bring lower prices, that citizens against Wall Street bailouts outnumbered those in favour with a ratio of about 100 to 1, that journalism is owned by the elites that it should be watching, and that voting rates continue to decline.  Hedges argues that democracy is collapsing because we do not understand it.  He writes,

Democracy is not an outgrowth of free markets.  Democracy and capitalism are antagonistic entities.  Democracy, like individualism, is not based on personal gain but on self-sacrifice.  A functioning democracy must often defy the economic interests of elites on behalf of citizens, but this is not happening.

A sombre reflection is not easy to read.  Still, Empire of Illusion is an important book that points out to readers that our surroundings are not always what they seem.  Hedges forces readers to ask, Am I actually literate, loving, wise, happy, and a democrat, or, do I only bask in a convenient and intentional illusion of these things?  Forcing the question seems to be the goal of Empire.  Hedges wrote a successful book not because it is absolutely convincing.  He was successful because, when I was done reading, I started to evaluate how I straddle the border between reality and illusion.  The hope that Hedges holds onto cannot take shape without such questioning.

*Incidentally, this interview happened after this book was published.