From Chris Hedges's "Recognizing the Language of Tyranny":
"Empires communicate in two languages. One language is expressed in imperatives. It is the language of command and force. This militarized language disdains human life and celebrates hypermasculinity.
"It demands.
"It makes no attempt to justify the flagrant theft of natural resources and wealth or the use of indiscriminate violence. When families are gunned down at a checkpoint in Iraq they are referred to as having been 'lit up.'
"So it goes.
"The other language of empire is softer.
"It employs the vocabulary of ideals and lofty goals and insists that the power of empire is noble and benevolent.
"The language of beneficence is used to speak to those outside the centers of death and pillage, those who have not yet been totally broken, those who still must be seduced to hand over power to predators.
"The road traveled to total disempowerment, however, ends at the same place.
"It is the language used to get there that is different."
The Corporate Empire's figureheads, whether elected officials, Egyptian generals or celebrities willing to say whatever they are paid to say all pay homage to the "essential goodness of corporate power."
In reality:
"They shut out all real debate.
"They ignore flagrant injustices and abuse. They peddle the illusions that keep us passive and amused. But as our society is reconfigured into an oligarchic system, with a permanent and vast underclass, along with a shrinking and unstable middle class, these illusions lose their power.
"The language of pleasant deception must be replaced with the overt language of force.
"It is hard to continue to live in a state of self-delusion once unemployment benefits run out, once the only job available comes without benefits or a living wage, once the future no longer conforms to the happy talk that saturates our airwaves.
"At this point rage becomes the engine of response, and whoever can channel that rage inherits power.
"Empires communicate in two languages. One language is expressed in imperatives. It is the language of command and force. This militarized language disdains human life and celebrates hypermasculinity.
"It demands.
"It makes no attempt to justify the flagrant theft of natural resources and wealth or the use of indiscriminate violence. When families are gunned down at a checkpoint in Iraq they are referred to as having been 'lit up.'
"So it goes.
"The other language of empire is softer.
"It employs the vocabulary of ideals and lofty goals and insists that the power of empire is noble and benevolent.
"The language of beneficence is used to speak to those outside the centers of death and pillage, those who have not yet been totally broken, those who still must be seduced to hand over power to predators.
"The road traveled to total disempowerment, however, ends at the same place.
"It is the language used to get there that is different."
The Corporate Empire's figureheads, whether elected officials, Egyptian generals or celebrities willing to say whatever they are paid to say all pay homage to the "essential goodness of corporate power."
In reality:
"They shut out all real debate.
"They ignore flagrant injustices and abuse. They peddle the illusions that keep us passive and amused. But as our society is reconfigured into an oligarchic system, with a permanent and vast underclass, along with a shrinking and unstable middle class, these illusions lose their power.
"The language of pleasant deception must be replaced with the overt language of force.
"It is hard to continue to live in a state of self-delusion once unemployment benefits run out, once the only job available comes without benefits or a living wage, once the future no longer conforms to the happy talk that saturates our airwaves.
"At this point rage becomes the engine of response, and whoever can channel that rage inherits power.
