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
Violence is a disease, a disease that corrupts all who use it regardless of the cause.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Violence negatively impacts everyone involved, regardless of their intentions.
In this quote, Chris Hedges highlights the insidious nature of violence, describing it as a disease that infects those who engage in it. He suggests that the repercussions of violence extend beyond the immediate situation, corrupting not only the perpetrators but also the broader society, illustrating a moral decay that transcends the reasons behind the violent acts.
Themes
ViolenceDiseaseCorruptionMoralitySociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech on social justice, this quote can illustrate the detrimental effects of violence in communities.
More from Chris Hedges
All quotes βAs 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.
Chris HedgesRead
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.
Chris HedgesRead
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.
Chris HedgesRead
It is better to be an outcast, a stranger in oneβs own country, than an outcast from oneβs 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.
Chris HedgesRead
Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history.
Chris HedgesRead
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