Two years since its publication, it feels as relevant as ever. Imo this one of the best takes on the current state of American late stage imperialism.

Many of Hedges' writings in this book might seem familiar from his articles on TruthDig. And a lot for the book covers topics many of us are already aware of-- the legalization of slavery through for-profit prisons, the decay of industrialization, the opiate crisis facilitated by big pharma, the erosion of the Middle class and redistribution of wealth to the top-- but today I would like to discuss our role in activism.

“As long as personal violent catharsis masquerades as acts of resistance, the corporate state is secure. Indeed, the corporate state welcomes this violence, because violence is a language it can speak with a proficiency and ruthlessness that none of these groups can match," Hedges writes.

Case in point-- look at the civil unrest of 2020. How quickly civil unrest was demonized by the media and met with aggressive police brutality. Today, organized protesting in the US is about zero.

No matter how many articles the public reads about wealth inequality, or the failures of our policing, banking, or governmental institutions, the consensus seems to be the same. I know all these bad things are happening and I don't like them. But what can I as an average individual do about it?

Its an impossibly overwhelming question to answer. How can any of us hope to do anything against monolithic institutions, specifically designed by architects of power to preserve their insatiable lust for wealth and control?

So a lot of well-intended advice often gets boiled down into minimal efforts and borderline slacktivism that is concrete and feasible. Vague social media trends, getting your "I voted" sticker, maybe playing N*Sync's "Bye Bye Bye" during an impromptu post-election Cheeto eviction.

Even the pro-Trump side, which i consider the more passionate of the two sides, kind of begrudgingly accepted defeat. Angry facebook and Twitter rants and a million man proud boy protest march that produced barely 1/100th of its goal.

I feel that both sides ultimately are so desperate for things to return to "normal" (comfortably poor). Both presidential candidates believed that any form of affordable Healthcare is too radical during the worst pandemic in a century tells you all you need to know about the state of US politics.

Hedges also criticizes fringe groups on both sides; extreme views on each side of the spectrum are often exclusionary, often see their opponents as less than equal, and often believe the ends justify the means. Their goals might be too vague. And once they subject themselves to violence, it undermines any of their actual efforts.

So what do we do? Biden winning combined with a big pharma push for a rushed covid vaccine "solves" the current state of affairs for most of the population. Yet, it solves none of the institutional and systemic problems exposed by covid in the first place. To me the spirit in the country is an apathetic acceptance of the status quo.

So I have two questions:

1. What can the average individual hope do to break through one's own personal apathy? When it's easier to get used to the problems rather than fix them?

2. What realistic, uniform, concrete goals can one subscribe as a consort to facilitate any measurable change? What can one realistically accomplish on a local level?