The 10 Best Chris Hedges Columns of 2018

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DEC 26, 2018 OPINION | TD ORIGINALS The 10 Best Chris Hedges Columns of 2018

Mr. Fish / Truthdig

If only Chris Hedges weren’t so right all the time. The Truthdig columnist’s frequent displays of prescience have bordered on out-and-out clairvoyance at times, as he has spotted developments such as the rise of hard-right populism (to name just one example) so far in advance.

DIG THIS While that capacity makes him an especially capable and vital writer, one who not only registers shifts but also shapes the cultural conversations around them, it frequently means that readers had better strap in before taking in his latest essay.

Clearly, Truthdig readers were there for it all over the last year, tuning in weekly for the reality checks Hedges was uniquely able to provide in his pieces. He ﬁxed his sights on what many others in the media treated as the most glaring problem with which the U.S., if not the international community, was faced: President Donald Trump. But for Hedges, the current occupant of the Oval Ofﬁce didn’t serve as a catch-all for the country’s political woes, nor did Trump’s considerable presence obstruct Hedges’ view of many other critical issues calling out for attention.

Below is an incomplete list of what we consider to be Hedges’ most exemplary work in 2018. Only the top story was chosen according to more tangible metrics like trafﬁc, number of comments, and other parameters commonly referred to under the general heading of “analytics.” The rest we chose to highlight the impressive range of topics Hedges tackled — some that received, at best, passing attention from mainstream outlets when they were given any airtime or column inches at all.

Click on the headline to read the full story.

The Coming Collapse By Chris Hedges Every day the foundations of our institutions decay more, but American society is emotionally unable to grasp the mortal danger that approaches.

The Useful Idiocy of Donald Trump By Chris Hedges The oligarchic and military elites have a handmaiden in the Oval Ofﬁce, and he won’t be ousted as long as he serves their interests.

The ‘Gig Economy’ Is the New Term for Serfdom By Chris Hedges The capitalist elites want everyone else to be temp workers trapped in demeaning, low-paying, part- time, service-sector jobs without job security or beneﬁts.

Scapegoating Iran By Chris Hedges The wars in the Middle East are the worst strategic blunders in American history. But don’t expect U.S. politicians and generals to accept responsibility for the mess when they can blame it on Iran.

Et Tu, Bernie?

By Chris Hedges Sen. Bernie Sanders, once an independent maverick, has been politically neutered by the Democratic Party establishment and is becoming a parody of himself.

Saying Goodbye to Planet Earth By Chris Hedges Climate change is not simply an environmental problem—it is a planetary transition. We will survive only if we rapidly evolve to create new forms of civilization.

The Rule of the Uber-Rich Means Tyranny or Revolution By Chris Hedges Their greed will crush society and the ecosystem unless they are driven from power.

Teaching ‘Les Misérables’ in Prison By Chris Hedges Victor Hugo’s epic novel about an ex-convict’s ﬁght to ﬁnd redemption gave my incarcerated students a lens to see their own lives and struggle for dignity in a society as heartless to the poor as 19th- century France.

Guns and Liberty

By Chris Hedges American gun owners ﬁnd a false sense of political power in their ﬁrearms, and the controlling elites are more than happy to let them keep their destructive illusions.

Thought Police for the 21st Century By Chris Hedges Google, Facebook and other companies are “protecting” us by imposing a censorship that drains the remaining blood of democracy and free expression.

IN THIS ARTICLE: #2018 #best of 2018 #chris hedges #climate change #columnist #donald trump #global warming #new year #new years 2019 #op-ed #top 10 list

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DEC 25, 2018 | TD ORIGINALS The Best Truthdig Originals of 2018 Mr. Fish / Truthdig

This year's top Truthdig Original pieces include stark warnings from Chris Hedges, Bill Boyarsky and several regular contributors, as well as a peek into the possible future of U.S. banking courtesy of Ellen Brown and a debunking of an American myth by Jacob Bacharach. Click on the headline to read the full story.

Banks Are Becoming Obsolete in China—Could the U.S. Be Next? By Ellen Brown Big banks on this side of the Paciﬁc are watching with trepidation as developments in China’s mobile system could presage signiﬁcant shifts.

American American History for

Truthdiggers: Original Sin By Maj. Danny Sjursen Our society descended from colonial Virginia's sinister caste system, in which race, class, labor and slavery were inextricably linked.

The Coming Collapse By Chris Hedges Every day the foundations of our institutions decay more, but American society is emotionally unable to grasp the mortal danger that approaches.

Chapo Trap House Imagines the Most Perverse Outcome of Trump’s Presidency By Jacob Sugarman Podcaster-cum-author Matt Christman on the failures of liberalism, his hatred of Megan McArdle and the need for the left to grab hold of our “economic death engine.”

Will 2018 Be the Year Americans Finally Face Up Will 2018 Be the Year Americans Finally Face Up to Climate Change? By Natasha Hakimi Zapata Two 2018 studies paint a new, somewhat hopeful picture of Americans' thoughts on climate change, and the change of heart is long overdue.

Rapture- Ready: How U.S. Policy Meshes With

Armageddon By Sandy Tolan Because of the zealous efforts of the Trump administration, we are enabling the foot soldiers in a new Middle East holy war.

How the Pentagon Paid for NFL Displays of Patriotism By Emma Niles Pro football players didn't appear on the ﬁeld for the national anthem until 2009, when the Defense Department's "paid patriotism" began.

The Pentagon Can't Account for $21 Trillion The Pentagon Can't Account for $21 Trillion (That's Not a Typo) By Lee Camp This amount of money could solve the entire planet's miseries, but the government blames its mystery spending on a "failure to correct system deﬁciencies."

Telling Nobel Winner Nadia Murad’s Story Without Trading on Her Pain By Kasia Anderson Director Alexandria Bombach tells Truthdig how she avoided exploiting her subject's traumatic past in making her new documentary, “On Her Shoulders.”

5 Reasons Trump Won’t Fire Mueller By Bill Blum Despite talk about presidential authority to ﬁre members of the executive branch, the special counsel isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

The Fed Boosts Wall Street, Not Main Street By Nomi Prins Today's central bank collusion is nothing more than a massive “trickle down” subsidy for the ﬁnancial system—and promises for the masses.

The Egregious Lie Americans Tell Themselves The Egregious Lie Americans Tell Themselves By Jacob Bacharach We choose to believe we’re living in the richest country in the world. Yet all available evidence suggests our wealth is largely an abstraction.

The #MeToo Movement Is Here to Stay By Sonali Kolhatkar Owing in great part to the ongoing efforts of women of color and allied groups, the movement is going strong more than a year after it began.

The Chomsky Challenge for Americans By Paul Street Monstrous U.S. war crimes since the early 1950s have gone down George Orwell's "memory hole." Now, we have no concept of empathy—or reality.

Truth and Ethics Are Under Siege in Pakistan’s Media By Zubeida Mustafa Although the government’s grip on media outlets has loosened in recent years, dangerous constraints, plus lowered standards of professionalism, are causing deep concern.

Poor People's Campaign Remains Rich in Hope: Poor People's Campaign Remains Rich in Hope: Proﬁles of the Optimistic By Michael Nigro This movement, which Truthdig followed through six weeks of action, has nothing to do with left or right, Democrat or Republican, conservative or liberal. It's all about right and wrong.

Tackling Opioid Addiction in Indian Country By Chelsey Luger Pharmaceutical companies should be held accountable for their role in further damaging Native peoples’ well-being, but that’s only the beginning.

The Human Cost of Getting Used to Trump By Bill Boyarsky In the detention centers and the separation of immigrant families, we can see how the Constitution and the ideals of our nation are endangered by a reckless president.

Voices From a ‘Shithole Country’ By Gbemisola Olujobi A Nigerian writer collects reactions from fellow citizens about the Trump slur, and those reactions aren't always what you might expect.

The Nauseating Spectacle of George H.W. Bush’s The Nauseating Spectacle of George H.W. Bush’s Funeral By Dan O'Sullivan Pundits and politicians have transformed the 41st president into a paragon of virtue. All it took was a willful ignorance of history.

IN THIS ARTICLE: ##metoo #2018 #american history #banking #best of 2018 #bill blum #bill boyarksy #chapo traphouse #chinese mobile banking #chris hedges #climate change #congress #ellen brown #george hw bush #immigration #israel #jacob bacharach #jacob sugarman #kasia anderson #lee camp #michael nigro #mueller probe #nadia murad #natasha hakimi zapata #noam chomsky #opioid crisis #opioids indian country #paul street #pentagon #politics #poor people's campaign #racism #sonali kolhatkar #trump presidency