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

Celebrity culture is the term that describes a widespread preoccupation with highly visible individuals whose fame is not typically based on actual accomplishments of value. Hedges describes celebrity culture as:

the spectacle of the arena and the airwaves, the lies of advertising, the endless personal dramas, many of them completely fictional, that have become the staple of news, celebrity gossip, New Age mysticism, and pop psychology (15).

In Chapter 1, Hedges cites celebrity culture as the source of many pervasive and damaging illusions.

Courtiers work on behalf of corporate interests, often under the guise of serving the public. They are an essential component to the successful operation of the corporate state, and they can take the form of politicians, pundits, newscasters, and other participants in the media. According to Hedges, courtiers often enjoy “public platforms” and purport “the hollow stagecraft of political theater” (169).

Sheldon S. Wolin, a political philosophy professor at Princeton University, coined this term, and he uses the term to “describe our system of power” (146). According to Hedges, Wolin stated that inverted totalitarianism is different from classical totalitarianism because it “does not revolve around a demagogue or charismatic leader. It finds expression in the anonymity of the corporate state” (146). In Chapter 5, Hedges invokes the concept of inverted totalitarianism in order to characterize the style of political leadership in the modern United States.

This phrase comes from the title of a book by Benjamin Demott, writer and cultural critic. Junk politics is the term Demott employs to describe politics that having nothing to do with politics. Hedges explains that junk politics has little to do with “justice or the reparation of rights” (47) and more to do with “America’s optimism and moral character” and “feel-your-pain language and gesture” (47). The rise of junk politics is just one of many detrimental consequences of celebrity culture defined in Chapter 1. 

Just as Hedges borrows Wolin’s term “inverted totalitarianism” to describe the United States government, he characterizes the United States’ economy as a “permanent war economy” (153), which is the title of Seymour Melman’s 1970 book that predicts America’s failure to prosper economically. According to Hedges:

Melman coined the term permanent war economy to describe the American economy. Since the end of the Second World War, the federal government has spent more than half its tax dollars on past, current, and future military operations (153).

Positive psychology is the name of a movement endorsed by academics and corporate leaders that touts the benefits of positive thinking and optimism. Hedges, however, sees positive psychology as a tool used by corporations in order to manipulate its employees. According to Hedges:

Positive psychology is to the corporate state what eugenics was to the Nazis. Positive psychology—at least, as applied so broadly and unquestioningly to corporate relations—is a quack science. It throws a smokescreen over corporate domination, abuse, and greed (117).