Empire Of Illusion Analysis

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“There are 7 million illiterate Americans. Another 27 million are unable to read well enough to complete a job application, and 30 million can’t read a simple sentence.” What has caused these atrocious statistics? The simplified answer is we do not read. Our lack of reading as a culture is one of the biggest factors that we face in North America. To make matters worse, we have television and computer screens to thank for intoxicating the minds of our Americans. In the excerpt, Empire of Illusion, author Chris Hedges unveils the outcomes and consequences of an illiterate America and its overall effect on our nation as whole. First, Hedges effectively argues about personal narratives of political leaders. We have become so deeply invested in …show more content…

I was watching CNN just a few weeks ago, and the upsetting reality is that we are an image-based and bandwagon culture. Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton duked it out in their most recent debate. However, this debate was far from a fair battle. The media severely fabricated Sander’s argument for their own personal interest. I could not believe what I was listening to, but the disgusting truth is Time Warner Cable donated about $400,000 to Clinton’s campaign. Can you guess who owns CNN? Yes, Time Warner Cable. After analyzing the debate, one of Sander’s statements were taken out of context by CNN, and by effect, every news and media company spewed out the same regurgitated garbage¬¬—“raise taxes”. It is interesting how CNN furthers its own agenda by evoking the emotions of the people, striking fear in the hearts of Americans. I believe this deceptive tactic would work on the illiterate culture, but not to those who understand the mudslinging media frenzy. In the end, reality is boring, just like Sander’s mundane policies are compared to Hillary’s powerful and emotional personal narrative. I only see one culprit, and that’s our inability to read and critically think for ourselves about external influences we incur in the

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