Chris Hedges on America’s Prison System 

It’s even worse than that. My son served 15 years combined prison time /jail for an act he committed in a bad mental health state due to a divorce. Since released he has done mounds of free community service, paid hundreds of probation fees and expenses monthly, attended state mandated classes weekly at the tune of $200 a month, paid for polygraphs and gps monitoring fees in addition to the $10000 fines the courts imposed. He has 2 officers who “harass”him constantly and flaunt their power while wearing their bullet- proof vests and guns. We live in constant state of angst. There is no room for error, mis-understandings, sickness, loss of employment without a threat of violation to him. Even today he has been called into Mesa AZ probation for missing one class and a polygraph due to illness and not being able to secure employment for 16 weeks due to business close downs during the holiday, illness and his felony charge. This is not the America I grew up in! It is more like nazi Germany during the Holocaust.

That's becouse it's a bisnis. That's wy !! Capitalism is killing your society. Its killing family's, its killing children and you know it. But you don't care. If you did you would have change things long time ago

Some of the things said on this site are so silly that it’s hard to believe that they are seriously meant. So all you have do to get filthy rich is pile up a mountain of debt & then go rob stores until you get caught. Unfortunately there is a flaw in your plan . In the dumbocrat places you live in the chances of even getting arrested let alone convicted are minuscule. Your more likely to get shot by a store owner or killed by another criminal before you reach your goal. There are only so many dumb people in the world especially with money once taxpayers figure out they are on the hook for every dead beat they will flee to red states or hide their money. This is already happening. What about the people who honestly pay do they get a chump sign to wear?

@@terilee3662 Why not move to Canada or Malaysia...

All are slaves.

He will never do that because he believes that only the corrupt can survive and thrive in politics. He says the corruption in the political system is so pervasive and over powering it eliminates those who show up trying to do good. In order to stick around you must become complicit in the corruption. That is how people survive in politics.

Absolutely!

Aye.

@@douglascarlson9006 lol so who IS on your list of progressive journalists, and why do you think someone without any social media should have commented publicly by now about something that happened earlier this week?

@@solidaritytime3650 LOL! ... No social media? ... he's on Twitter my friend .. check it out!

@@solidaritytime3650 And my short-list is at the bottom of my comment ... right under your nose! You did not fare well here, did you?

What you said! Also. Abby Martin & Angela Davis are two of the greatest women of our times.

Michael Parenti too

I would say Michael Parenti is better But Chris is the greatest active radical writer

well said

No he's not! ... HOW CHRIS HEDGES FAILED US He's no longer a truly committed activist, not since the lock-downs ... Many times he has urged us to resist tyranny, even when things look bleak ... but now that tyranny is in our face, he's MIA ... Let us review a few of his more revealing quotes: "I don't think we're going to stop the pandemic and the mutations until everybody gets vaccinated" ... (we can't vax ourselves out of this pandemic - AND HE KNOWS IT!) BTW, he has refused to comment or stand with the working class against the illegal and unconstitutional vax mandates and passports ************** "Let us stand up and resist so future generations will at least say ‘they tried.’ We cannot do this alone ... together we have a chance" ... BTW, he has refused to comment on THE GREAT RESET, The World Economic Forum and the book THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ************** In a 2020 interview, he said he told indigenous pipeline protesters to "park your cars in their path, remove the engines and walk away" ... BTW, he did not even mention the Canadian trucker convoy until a March 2022 interview with Jimmy Dore - one month after the protests actually ended ... ************** In his AMERICAN SADISM speech, he revealed his disdain for those of us who now openly question the motives and tactics of our elected officials ... He said the loss of mainstream media credibility "has given rise to spontaneous groups, as well as the lunatic fringe that embraces conspiracy theories" ... ************** From his book WAGES OF REBELLION, he said: “I do not fight fascists because I will win. I fight fascists because they are fascists” ... BTW, he will now only consent to occasional "hands-off" interviews with persons who will NOT ask him why he now refuses to confront the larger issues of tyranny ... - Amy Goodman - Katie Halper - Briahna Joy-Gray - RJ Eskow - Krystal Ball - Kyle Kulinski ************** After a 2014 speech, he was asked to comment on 9/11 and insulted our collective intelligence by saying "Bush was probably just asleep at the wheel" ... ************** But he knows he can maintain his place in the independent media food chain by: 1) ripping on AOC & CIA 2) talking about Assange 3) talking about Snowden 4) talking about Donzinger 5) talking about Ukraine I miss the pre-pandemic Chris Hedges ... many times these past 10 years I went to bed with his words ringing in my ears ... He's said many awesome and memorable things that helped me understand and accept our current predicament ... And although his work with prison inmates is laudable, it is not nearly significant enough to offset the effects of his selective silence on these devastating working class issues ...

That quotation is inspired by Orientalism[Edward Said]...Which is a work that has inspired Hedges writings as well. I can't wait to read this new one.

Same. His recent convo with Lee Camp from Redacted Tonight was particularly good, too.

Why would you not know that he DOES know it?

@@clifover because he was not a prisoner

Plus, from 370,000 to 2,300,000 in less than 50 years? Sad.

Oh really? ... THE CHRIS HEDGES PLAYBOOK ... Let us first review a few of his more revealing quotes: "I don't think we're going to stop the pandemic and the mutations until everybody gets vaccinated" ... BTW, he has refused to comment on or stand with the working class against the illegal and unconstitutional vax mandates and passports ************** "Let us stand up and resist so future generations will at least say ‘they tried.’ We cannot do this alone ... together we have a chance" ... BTW, he has refused to comment on THE GREAT RESET, The World Economic Forum and the book THE FOURTH INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION ************** In a 2020 interview, he said he told indigenous pipeline protesters to "park your cars in their path, remove the engines and walk away" BTW, he did not even mention the the U.S. and Canadian trucker convoys until a March 2022 interview with Jimmy Dore ************** After 2014 speech, he was asked to comment on 9/11 and insulted our collective intelligence by saying "Bush was probably just asleep at the wheel" ************** He knows he can maintain his place in the "independent media" food chain by: 1) attacking AOC 2) talking about Assange 3) talking about Snowden 4) talking about Ukraine That's all he has to do, that's it! His work with prison inmates is laudable, but not nearly significant enough to offset the effects of his selective silence on these issues ...

You don’t consider the prisoners his friends? The people he calls his friends.

@@ledaswan5990 I’m

Only a few left wing celebrities have been Russian agents.

If some of those who do go on to teach in prisons and halfway houses, those few will matter.

He is speaking truth. What he does to help these prisoners is bringing light into darkness. As far as demoralizing working class, many are already demoralized but the first thing one has to do to fix it is to identify whether the tyranny is self imposed or from external forces or some combination of the two. Do you believe we should just delude ourselves?

@@joecalta3679 Once you realize that trade deficits are profitable dollar exports for banks, and our government sanctions it, you understand everything you need to know. I don't need this Debbie Downer to remind me of how bad it will get for the working class.

You know that's his thing right? Saying Chris Hedge is depressing is like complaining about Russian novels being long and broody. If you like cheerful optimism, you'd better go elsewhere

@@johnlock572 With all the air time he gets. it's obvious someone's paying him to keep the working class dejected and hopeless.

@Alice Amell OK, what has he motivated you to do to stop the consolidation to the parasitic financial sector?