[act-ma] Wed. 3/3 Chris Hedges at Cambridge Forum

[Cambridge Forum]

Cambridge Forum
 3 Church Street ● Cambridge, MA 02138
617-495-2727
email: director at cambridgeforum.org
www.cambridgeforum.org

Release							  March 2, 2010
				
EMPIRE OF ILLUSION		
WEDNESDAY, March 4, 6:30 pm
Free and Open to the Public

Join Chris Hedges, author of Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph Spectacle, discussing the rise of celebrity culture and its impact on democracy. 

Why do Americans so often vote against their own best interests?  Why does sports radio have the power to affect the results of the special Senatorial election in Massachusetts?  Author Chris Hedges explores America’s embrace of “bread and circuses,” the culture of spectacle and celebrity that drives so much of our political, social, and economic life.  The nation, he argues, has become an “Empire of Illusion,” where the differences between reality and fantasy have been blurred by media, corporations, and government itself.  What impact do these developments have on our democracy? And on our sense of community and the common good?  How can we reclaim reality from the current celebration of pro-wrestling, pornography, and Ponzi schemes?

	Chris Hedges is a senior fellow at the Nation Institute. He received a Master’s degree from Harvard Divinity School, and worked a foreign correspondent for nearly two decades in Central America, the Middle East, Africa, and the Balkans. He was part of a team of reporters at the New York Times that won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for its coverage of global terrorism. Hedges is the author of the bestsellers, War is a Force that Gives Us Meaning and American Fascists.  His latest book is Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle.
					
Cambridge Forum is recorded and edited for public radio broadcast. Edited CDs are available to the public by contacting 617-495-2727. Select forums can be viewed in their entirety on demand by visiting our website at www.cambridgeforum.org and clicking on the Forum Network at WGBH. 

Cambridge Forum
3 Church Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Phone:  617-495-2727
email:  mailto:director at cambridgeforum.org
website:  http://www.cambridgeforum.org

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