Chris Hedges; UCtelevision
(UC TV) Begins in earnest at Minute 10. April 2012, Humanities, Show ID: 22837
(UCTV.tv)
War correspondent, journalist, author Christopher Hedges speaks of the despair,
destruction, love, and truth he found during his long career of
covering wars and social justice movements throughout the world. Hedges is
interviewed by Dean Nelson as part of the 17th annual Writer's Symposium
by the Sea at Point Loma Nazarene University.
How is war -- and covering war -- like an addiction, a powerful narcotic?
Soldiers and Marines call it a "combat high." And it's real. You know? First of all, combat itself is a kind of Zen-like experience. I mean even colors are brighter. You're aware or present in ways that you never were before. A battlefield can replicate a variety of synthetic drug trips, hallucinogenic landscapes after heavy shelling. You never sleep, you know that kind of zombie, hashish-like state? And it is a world that perverts and deforms and destroys you. And if you spend long enough in its grip, it's very hard to fit in anywhere else...
Yeah, but when I read Hemingway, he made it sound pretty cool! And I read your stuff, and you say it messed you up.
Hemingway... yeah... romance... that mythic version of war, which isn't real.
WARNING: Coarse language, animal slaughter, and extreme violence. American military-industrial complex brings war to Buddhist Vietnam.
WARNING: Coarse language, animal slaughter, and extreme violence. American military-industrial complex brings war to Buddhist Vietnam.
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