"The greatest danger that besets us does not come from believers or atheists; it comes from those who, under the guise of religion, science or reason, imagine that we can free ourselves from the limitations of human nature and perfect the human species."
(From: I Don't Believe in Atheists)
"In the beginning war looks and feels like love.
But unlike love it gives nothing in return but an ever-deepening dependence, like all narcotics, on the road to self-destruction.
It does not affirm but places upon us greater and greater demands.
It destroys the outside world until it is hard to live outside war's grip.
It takes a higher and higher dose to achieve any thrill. Finally, one ingests war only to remain numb."
(From: War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning)
"Those who fail to exhibit positive attitudes, no matter the external reality, are seen as maladjusted and in need of assistance.
Their attitudes need correction.
Once we adopt an upbeat vision of reality, positive things will happen.
This belief encourages us to flee from reality when reality does not elicit positive feelings. These specialists in "happiness" have formulated something they call the "Law of Attraction."
It argues that we attract those things in life, whether it is money, relationships or employment, which we focus on.
Suddenly, abused and battered wives or children, the unemployed, the depressed and mentally ill, the illiterate, the lonely, those grieving for lost loved ones, those crushed by poverty, the terminally ill, those fighting with addictions, those suffering from trauma, those trapped in menial and poorly paid jobs, those whose homes are in foreclosure or who are filing for bankruptcy because they cannot pay their medical bills, are to blame for their negativity.
The ideology justifies the cruelty of unfettered capitalism, shifting the blame from the power elite to those they oppress.
And many of us have internalized this pernicious message, which in times of difficulty leads to personal despair, passivity and disillusionment."
"There are always people willing to commit unspeakable human atrocity in exchange for a little power and privilege."
"The split in America, rather than simply economic, is between those who embrace reason, who function in the real world of cause and effect, and those who, numbed by isolation and despair, now seek meaning in a mythical world of intuition, a world that is no longer reality-based, a world of magic."
(From: American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America)
"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."
(From: Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle)
"The enduring attraction of war is this: Even with its destruction and carnage it can give us what we long for in life. It can give us purpose, meaning, a reason for living."
(From: War Is a Force that Gives Us Meaning)
"Violence is a disease, a disease that corrupts all who use it regardless of the cause. "
All quotes by — Chris Hedges
& - Arthur Miller Quote on Suffering and Psychoanalysis: ‘My argument with so much of psychoanalysis, is the preconception that suffering is a mistake, or a sign of weakness, or a sign even of illness.
When in fact, possibly the greatest truths we know, have come out of people’s suffering.
The problem is not to undo suffering, or to wipe it off the face of the earth, but to make it inform our lives, instead of trying to “cure” ourselves of it constantly, and avoid it, and avoid anything but that lobotomized sense of what they call “happiness”.
There’s too much of an attempt, it seems to me, to think in terms of controlling man, rather than freeing him – of defining him, rather than letting him go! It’s part of the whole ideology of this age, which is power-mad!"
