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1-Page Summary of Empire of Illusion
Overall Summary
Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle is a book written by Chris Hedges in 2009. It focuses on how mass media impacts society, politics, and economics. Since its publication, Empire of Illusion has been marketed as a work which predicted the forces that ultimately gave rise to Donald Trump’s election in 2016. Chris Hedges is an American professor, journalist, writer, Presbyterian minister, and Pulitzer Prize winner (2002). He has also written books such as War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002), Death of the Liberal Class (2010), Days of Destruction Days Of Revolt (2012).
The book is made up of five chapters. The first chapter focuses on the effects of celebrity culture, as well as how it’s changed over time. The second chapter analyzes pornography and its impact on society. Chapter three discusses higher education institutions and their failure to teach critical thinking skills. Chapter four focuses on happiness and positive psychology, with a specific focus on corporate manipulation tactics that use them to make money. Finally, the fifth chapter identifies themes related to America’s decline in moral, political, and economic terms.
Hedges writes in the first person, citing books and articles to support his observations. He often uses rhetoric like a sermon. His writing is scattered with hints of his education as a clergyman. His main target is the corporate state, which he believes has negatively influenced nearly all aspects of American society. America’s salvation lies in its people’s ability to discern illusions from reality, according to Hedges’ book Empire of Illusion.
Chapter 1: “The Illusion of Literacy”
A professional wrestler named John Bradshaw Layfield stands in the center of a wrestling ring. He plays the role of a successful CEO who capitalized on the recent recession, while others lost their savings. A fellow wrestler named Shawn Michaels comes out to fight him, but he chooses to accept Layfield’s offer of employment instead.
In the past, professional wrestling personas had different narratives that were used to give viewers an opportunity to experience emotional and psychological drama. For example, there was a wrestler named The Russian Bear who stoked fears of communism in America during the Cold War era. Another famous character was The Iron Sheik who fanned tensions during the Iranian hostage crisis. In 1985, a former prison guard named Ray Traylor played a wrestler called Big Boss Man whose most memorable moment involved taunting another wrestler’s father with cancer before he died on camera.
A female wrestler, Melina, tries to persuade a male wrestler named Batista to withdraw from a match by seducing him. The crowd chants the word “Slut!” at her when she fails to get what she wants.
Wrestling is just one example of spectacle that favors inauthenticity over realism. The theatrical techniques used by wrestling have been incorporated into many other mediums, including politics and religion. Celebrity worship has also become pervasive throughout American society. At the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, fans can visit the graves of their favorite celebrities and even pay to be buried next to them.
Film is sometimes guilty of presenting false representations of events in order to send a message to audiences. One such example is the film, The Sands of Iwo Jima. It depicted one event that was not true and made it seem like many others were also not true. In this case, three soldiers who had been involved in raising the flag at Mount Suribachi did publicity tours for the government after being cast as themselves in the movie. They soon became depressed by how different their actual experiences were from what they portrayed on screen and two turned to alcohol.
