War, we have come to believe, is a spectator sport. The military and the press have turned war into a vast video arcade game. Its very essence-death-is hidden from public view.
Chris HedgesRead
As long as we think abstractly, as long as we find in patriotism and the exuberance of War our fulfillment, we will never understand those who do battle against us, or how we are perceived by them, or finally those who do battle for us and how we should respond to it all. We will never discover who we are. We will fail to confront the capacity we all have for violence.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote emphasizes the importance of understanding perspectives in conflict rather than glorifying war.
Chris Hedges' quote reflects on the idea that when we perceive war and patriotism through an abstract lens, we fail to grasp the reality of those we oppose and the true nature of ourselves. This detachment hinders our ability to empathize with others and confront our own potential for violence, suggesting that real understanding comes from a more grounded and reflective engagement with the human experience of conflict.
Themes
WarPatriotismUnderstandingViolenceConflict
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a speech about the importance of empathy in international relations.
More from Chris Hedges
All quotes →The moral nihilism of celebrity culture is played out on reality television shows, most of which encourage a dark voyeurism into other people's humiliation, pain, weakness, and betrayal.
Chris HedgesRead
The few surviving Armenians no longer ask to go home. They do not ask for restitution. They ask simply to have the memory of their obliteration acknowledged. It is a moral obsession, the lonely legacy passed onto the third and fourth generation who no longer speak Armenian but who carry within them the seeds of resentment that will not be quashed.
Chris HedgesRead
It is better to be an outcast, a stranger in one’s own country, than an outcast from one’s self. It is better to see what is about to befall us and to resist than to retreat into the fantasies embraced by a nation of the blind.
Chris HedgesRead
Of the past 3,400 years, humans have been entirely at peace for 268 of them, or just 8 percent of recorded history.
Chris HedgesRead
There are two sets of principles. They are the principles of power and privilege and the principles of truth and justice. If you pursue truth and justice it will always mean a diminution of power and privilege. If you pursue power and privilege, it will always be at the expense of truth and justice
Chris HedgesRead
Similar quotes
We mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.
Thomas JeffersonRead
We believe that civilization has been created under the pressure of the exigencies of life at the cost of satisfaction of the instincts.
Sigmund FreudRead
Again, it may be said, that to love justice and equality the people need no great effort of virtue; it is sufficient that they love themselves.
Maximilien RobespierreRead
there was something about that city, though it didn't let me feel guilty that I had no feeling for the things so many others needed. it let me alone.
Charles BukowskiRead
The knowledge of the cross brings a conflict of interest between God who has become man and man who wishes to become God.
Jrgen MoltmannRead
The Intelligentsia (scientists apart) are losing all touch with, and all influence over, nearly the whole human race. Our most esteemed poets and critics are read by our most esteemed critics and poets (who don't usually like them much) and nobody else takes any notice. An increasing number of highly literate people simply ignore what the 'Highbrows' are doing. It says nothing to them. The Highbrows in return ignore and insult them.
C. S. LewisRead