this is a bit depressing, fair warning

what do you think of this video? are we Americans optimistically marching toward our certain demise? or is having a bleak attitude ineffective?

i do try to be optimistic because i am only promised this one life and i don't see a clear way to change the system from the outside. i don't want to sprint toward a brick wall as if it isn't there though.

@plants i'm interested in your thoughts. when chris talks in this video about some people warning their fellow citizens, it reminded me of your posts and i'm thankful for the information you've shared with me

U real af for Chris Hedges just know that

Man has been damn near prophetic about so many things it blows your mind when I listen to him speak. Listened to a speech of his from 2013 just before the election and I would have sworn he was speaking just days beforehand or something it was insane.

Gonna watch the video now and post after

Don't see how one can watch this video and not feel deeply moved and also hopelessly sick at the state of the world.

His ending statement is strong as well.

"You can't talk about hope if you can't see reality, and reality is pretty bleak. But that's the starting point"

People have to wake up and begin to digest this terrible, awful truth that are world is in free fall. We can't move forward in any meaningful way if people don't agree on how far backwards we have slid.

I hope more people watch this video, it's only 15min long everyone.

word, i'm glad you feel moved by it! now i've got to ponder how to put his sentiments into action in my own personal life.

i think it would be beneficial to be more skeptical

i think deleting facebook for good and being wary of organizations trying to negatively influence me is a good idea

i think it's important that i stop hating my fellow citizens because the attitude of this country has pushed us to be so divided

F*** you guys I won't be trauma bonding with you guys, it solves nothing.

This why are people acting so negative

Comments above somehow missed the point so narrowly that I can only assume they're bait

whatever you say. much love your way

what are we supposed to do about it?

Well if you're taking suggestions...teach yourself to think. Read books. Plan protests. Give up meat. Volunteer. Live simply. Plant trees.

And if you haven't yet, because most ppl don't read the article/watch the video before commenting, watch the video in OP. You may find that his genuineness and knowledge comes across better than my dumb ass.

I watched the video, I agreed with pretty much everything he said. I try my best to live minimally and stay focused on just a few things at a time.

The video has me kind of confused and I feel like I'm confusing myself more trying to figure out what I dont get hahaha. I just feel like his ideas are somewhat all over the place, probably just need to listen to him speak more.

I guess the phrase "focus on yourself" can be viewed as being a cutthroat businessman and trying to work your way up the class ladder but also what you just said, staying healthy mentally and physically. People dont really say focus on yourself to mean the first definition but thats how I would explain my thinking on this. I think I'm confusing those two ideas.

I mean he is speaking about extremely large processes and to some people much of this stuff may some across as things they've already learned. If you went "oh yeah who doesn't know that" when he brought up how a poc in Camden, NJ is worthless to the State but worth 40-50k in prison or when he mentioned Section 1021 of the natl. defense acts and how he sued the president in federal court over it and won then many of the other things he speaks about will also be "old news" to you.

However, even to me Mr. Doomer himself, many of the things he says are very insightful and still provide surprising clarity to our current situation. Particularly when he talks about how fragile our society is and how it's ran almost entire by corporations.

specifically, i think what the video pokes holes in is how we are all seemingly marching silently toward climate catastrophe and cult of personality based regimes (particularly in the U.S. but of course everywhere else too).

it's not to say, "be pessimistic", but i take it more like "think of the bigger picture". like plants mentioned, not eating meat is a start, but i would be hypocritical to recommend it as i eat meat, though scarcely these days.

recycling, voting in your local elections, helping quit the spread of misleading information online, using less power, protesting, etc. seem like good changes to put effort toward. i'm not much of a doomer tho

@worldpeace I think the final 1:30 of the video when Chris speaks about going to Sarajevo during the war cuts to the root of your question.

"One, I think, has to begin to make a decision whether they want a life that means something or whether they want to leap from one hedonistic high to another. You cant talk about hope if you can't see reality, and reality is pretty bleak, but that's the starting point."

@op Yanis Varoufakis is another intellectual who I think has incredible insight into our uh, 'situation' as it were. If you're interested.

yea acknowledging the root problems is the first step in solving them. It's hard for me to convince myself that the way I live my life will have an impact on the US/world as a whole but I guess that's not really the point

Yeah it's hard not to feel paralyzed but remember, rejecting the pseudo-culture being shoved down our throats by totalitarian capitalism and forming close intimate bonds with people in our lives is a monumental act of rebellion.

in regards to your last sentence, i think that's another part of the point. totalitarianism has made us feel so complacent, unmotivated, and unwilling to try to make change that we simply sit in place