Empire Of Illusion: The End Of Literacy And The Triumph Of Spectacle

Though the United States uses the exalted language of its past to continue to describe itself, the country is greatly diminished. Corporations and the elite have stolen America from the rest of the population, who remain passive, and the government does little to help. Corporations use symbols of patriotism and liberty while remaining essentially exploitative entities.

Many cultures of the past that have been unable to discern between illusion and reality have passed away. While many Americans experience home foreclosures, and poverty destroys the working class, the government funds expensive wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In the United States, the decay of infrastructure reflects the decay of guiding moral principles, but the government continues to fund military exploits abroad.

Several thinkers have predicted the collapse of America. The political philosopher Sheldon S. Wolin, for example, describes the United States’ system of power as “inverted totalitarianism” (146). Inverted totalitarianism appears to promote democracy while actually undermining it. Political candidates, for instance, must raise funds from corporate sponsors in order compete for office. They must then in turn work on behalf of those corporate sponsors’ interests. Wolin predicts that a failure to draw down America’s imperial endeavors, paired with a financial collapse, will lead to a system of complete inverted totalitarianism. Instead of giving rise to a revolution that overthrows the corporate structure and returns power to ordinary citizens, the loss of jobs and stability in the United States will lead only to this style of political leadership. Meanwhile, Wolin claims that the population will remain largely absorbed by entertainment and spectacle and, therefore, politically passive. This political passivity may then be exploited by demagogues who position themselves as “saviors” (149).

America’s decline began when it shifted from an “‘empire of production’ to an ‘empire of consumption’” (150-51) roughly at the end of the Vietnam War. Now, however, the corporations that control the government will not allow for the structural reforms which would endanger their own existence.

The United States spends more than 50% of its federal discretionary budget on defense systems, yet defense does little more than provide psychological protection. Hedges calls the defense industry a “virus” (153); a symptom of this virus is observable in the fact that while the country produces expensive fighter jets, the automotive industry falters. This “permanent war economy” (153) is productive for corporations, as they are able to charge over-expenditures to the federal government. The Pentagon is able to operate beyond the competition of markets.

Hedges lists out more problems that afflict Americans due to successful corporate overreaching. The practices of many American industries are dictated by the interests of corporations. The healthcare industry, for example, places profits before “the common good” (156). Healthcare costs in the United States tend to be much more than in other countries, while Americans receive less in return. As well, both political parties are guilty of relinquishing power to the corporate state. Bill Clinton’s 1996 welfare reform bill, for example, took away a national social resource for 6 million Americans. On a more personal level, the consequences of the United States’ collapse are shouldered by its citizens, not its corporate leaders. A woman living with Parkinson’s in New Jersey does not receive enough aid every month to cover her rent, let alone her costs for food. Food shelters and charities are under-resourced.

Corporations are an inherent part of American society, but they are not designed to take into account the social or environmental wellbeing of American citizens. The corporation shares many traits with the psychopath, including “callous unconcern for the feelings of others” and “incapacity to experience guilt” (163). Annual income has been on a decline for more than 30 years, but statistics are manipulated to make it appear that the nation is growing economically. Hedges points out the irony of the American fascination with celebrity culture; instead of focusing on stories about American’s pain and difficulty, Americans remain transfixed by entertaining spectacles, consuming trivia and celebrity gossip instead of confronting difficult economic realities.

Television journalists also pander to corporate influences. Hedges maintains that many such journalists simply give powerful corporate representatives a stage from which to speak rather than intelligently challenging them. In the build-up to the war in Iraq, for example, many news organizations simply reproduced “lies fed to them by the elite as if they were facts” (171). Bill Moyers confronted television host Tim Russert regarding his role in this practice. Vice President Dick Cheney had planted a story in the New York Times the very morning Tim Russert interviewed him. This story made previously top-secret information available to the public. Cheney then proceeded to cite the story from the Times in support of his plans abroad. Russert, however, did not challenge Cheney on the circular nature of his argument. In contrast, a reporter named Bob Simon made the effort to do research into the nature of Cheney’s story.

Hedges claims that television journalists are unswervingly loyal to the corporate state that they serve. Their role is not to challenge the corporate structure but to promote it. Government officials operate similarly. Journalists and officials who serve the corporate elite instead of the public Hedges calls “courtiers” (176). Courtiers are “the smiley faces of a corporate state that has hijacked the government. When the corporations make their iron demands, these courtiers drop to their knees” (176). As a public, Americans listen to and trust the courtiers who report the news and work in government.

Hedges claims that the future looks grim. Fifty million people could lose their jobs in 2009, while one prediction suggests global economic growth could be at its lowest since World War Two. Social unrest could follow, prompting a government run by the Department of Defense. He points out that history suggests that economic meltdown can “lead to political extremism” (183). In the United States, such a situation could mean the rise of extreme right-wing political groups and the Christian Right.

The United States’ most powerful defense in the face of decline is love, and there remains hope. Though the powerful have tried throughout history to destroy love, “love constantly rises up to remind a wayward society of what is real and what is illusion” (193).