Chris joins Laura in studio for a conversation about the death of Bin Laden and the continuing concern over terrorism, the end of empathy in the U.S., and what avenues are left for progressives to fight back. "The elites are not going to help us," he warns, "We're going to have to help ourselves."

"You can't sustain a democracy in an oligarchic state. The writers on Athenian democracy understood that 2000 years ago," says Chris Hedges, whose new book The World As It Is: Dispatches on the Myth of Human Progress explores the problems of a crumbling empire, inside and out."

Drawing on two decades of experience as a war correspondent and based on his numerous columns for Truthdig, Chris Hedges presents The World As It Is, a panorama of the American empire at home and abroad, from the coarsening effect of America's War on Terror to the front lines in the Middle East and South Asia and the continuing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Underlying his reportage is a constant struggle with the nature of war and its impact on human civilization. "War is always about betrayal," Hedges notes. "It is about betrayal of the young by the old, of cynics by idealists, and of soldiers and Marines by politicians. Society's institutions, including our religious institutions, which mold us into compliant citizens, are unmasked."
dystopianfuturetodaysays...

As much as I like Chris Hedges, I think he is wrong on Al Awlaki, considering that a) AA was a top ranking Al Queda leader who planned attacks on innocent civilians, b) Yemen refused to extradite him and c) Yemen refused to allow a land capture. Killing him was much preferable to allowing him to kill innocents, and because of Yemen's refusal to cooperate, it was the best option on the table. Most of the people who complain about this issue leave out the context.

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