War, we have come to believe, is a spectator sport. The military and the press have turned war into a vast video arcade game. Its very essence-death-is hidden from public view.
Chris HedgesRead
Inverted totalitarianism, unlike classical totalitarianism, does not revolve around a demagogue or charismatic leader. It finds expression in the anonymity of the Corporate State. It purports to cherish democracy, patriotism, and the Constitution while manipulating internal levers.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Inverted totalitarianism refers to a system that masks its authoritarian nature through democratic ideals while being driven by corporate power.
Chris Hedges' quote highlights the concept of inverted totalitarianism, which differs from traditional totalitarian regimes that are often centered on a single, charismatic leader. Instead, it suggests that modern authoritarianism is expressed through the anonymous mechanisms of corporate governance, which presents itself as supportive of democracy and patriotism while manipulating the political system to serve its own interests.
Themes
TotalitarianismDemocracyCorporate PowerManipulationAuthoritarianism
In practice
Example use cases
In a political debate to illustrate the unseen dangers of corporate influence in government.
More from Chris Hedges
All quotes →As long as we think abstractly, as long as we find in patriotism and the exuberance of War our fulfillment, we will never understand those who do battle against us, or how we are perceived by them, or finally those who do battle for us and how we should respond to it all. We will never discover who we are. We will fail to confront the capacity we all have for violence.
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The moral nihilism of celebrity culture is played out on reality television shows, most of which encourage a dark voyeurism into other people's humiliation, pain, weakness, and betrayal.
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The few surviving Armenians no longer ask to go home. They do not ask for restitution. They ask simply to have the memory of their obliteration acknowledged. It is a moral obsession, the lonely legacy passed onto the third and fourth generation who no longer speak Armenian but who carry within them the seeds of resentment that will not be quashed.
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It is better to be an outcast, a stranger in one’s own country, than an outcast from one’s self. It is better to see what is about to befall us and to resist than to retreat into the fantasies embraced by a nation of the blind.
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Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history.
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