Chris Hedger's Empire Of Manpression: Is Artifice An Essential Skills?

Improved Essays
Artifice is an essential skill ?

In Chris Hedger’s excerpt Empire Of Illusion, he contemplates the ideas of artifice being an essential skill in political theater. Lying and deception is an intriguing talent, that once mastered can be used as a great advantage especially to gain political and economic power. It can be seen throughout a large number political leaders. Leaders create a persona for themselves to citizens, claiming they are truthful and kind individuals, when in reality deception and artifice is at play. Artifice proves to be an essential skill as it can be seen through successful political leaders, such as Adolf Hitler and Kim Jong-un.
Power is enormously crucial, and can not be achieved without manipulation or deception. For example, North Korea’s dictator Kim Jong-Un has convinced the entire North Korean country, that the United States is terribly
…show more content…
For example in the 2016 presidential election Bernie Sanders was not manipulative as Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump; he therefore did not appeal to a large audience that both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump had. Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton were both manipulative to each other spewing controversies about one another, trying to make themselves seem superior. For example that had occurred when Donald Trump talked about Hillary Clinton lying about the hidden emails. As well as Hilary explicating accusations about Donald Trump and women. The citizens started taking either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump’s side as they were being convinced that one or the other was a true leader. Bernie Sanders did not succeed in winning the election because he was not manipulative, he was more truthful. Which proves that the essential skill in political theater is not truth but

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Money has lowered the value of honesty. It no longer is necessary to tell truth in order to sell a product. It would cost less to name a product amazing then to actually create an amazing product. In Empire of Illusion, by Chris Hedges, goes more in depth of how lying is becoming more profitable. This is an important topic because people will always be on edge on what they are buying and what they hearing.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words” (Philip K. Dick, 1980). We humans can be easily manipulated by words of someone. Words can be structured to target a certain audience, where the language used is varied depending on where it is being presented. We can see this in political speeches, where certain words are used with the specific purpose to give value to the audience.…

    • 880 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Every person has weaknesses, and someone may use those weak points for his own benefits. Thus, manipulation and exploitation of weakness easily take place more than people think. For example, fraud happens frequently by acquaintance or anonymous people in modern society. William Shakespeare shows examples of how one can control others and exploit their weaknesses in the plays, Hamlet and Othello. Characters in each play, especially antagonists, instigate tricks, deceptions, and manipulative stratagems against other characters.…

    • 76 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Thus, concluding that William Jefferson Clinton appeared as an authoritative figure to allow the audience to “trust” what he had to stay. By using pathos and logos he manipulated the audience to believe and think certain ways. Therefore, concluding that speaking the truth is what really establishes your credibility. Manipulating data is commonly seen throughout the political field.…

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The most interesting detail I learned from the books is that a candidate being able to connect with voters is one of the most important things a candidate must do to win the presidency. It can be seen in the 1992 election as Clinton was able to connect with people and make them believe that change was possible. Bush in this election was unable to connect and so even though he was president when the Berlin Wall and the Soviet Union fell, he was unable to win the presidency. I believe this connects quite perfectly with the current election. Donald Trump was able to maybe not necessarily connect with voters, but he able to connect more than Hillary Clinton was able to.…

    • 599 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The idea that those who possess power can do as they choose is not new. This idea was proven true during the Cold War in the late 1950s and 1960s. In Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon, the Soviet Union was in deadlock with the United States for world domination. One false step by the American Air Force had disastrous repercussions for the citizens of the United States.…

    • 1571 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Deception is a tool that has been used throughout history to achieve power and political goals. It is used daily by people who desire to alter a situation in their favor, whether it be for good or bad. William Shakespeare wrote the play Much Ado About Nothing in 1599 for Queen Elizabeth I, someone who often interfered in the relationships among her courtiers and attendants. Shakespeare uses this play to comment on deception and how one may go about deceiving someone, by comparing Don Pedro and the Friar’s use of deception with Don John’s, it is clear that he believes deception has a place in society– but only if it is used for a good purpose. Through the contrast of Don Pedro, the Friar, and Leonato’s good intentions and his brother’s machinations…

    • 1895 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Power does not make the possessor evil; it is the possessor who uses it in evil ways” (Wilson). Since the beginning of time, power is a force that has been desired and strived for, yet feared by many. Although it often leads to harm, power itself is not destructive; “Like money, power is indifferent in its usefulness to the person who possesses it” (Wilson). In George Orwell’s, Nineteen Eighty-Four, and William Shakespeare 's, Macbeth, the desire to gain power and the fear of losing it, results in not only corruption but a malicious use of psychological manipulation and the demise of many.…

    • 1122 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Artifice Essay

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Artifice In the excerpt “Empire of Illusion” by Chris Hedges argues that “ the most essential skill … is artifice.” After reading the passage, I agree with Chris Hedges because in Political Theater and Consumer culture that is the most popular skill. Artifice is important because people use this skill to confuse others that do not know what is going on. People with this skill cause problem because they are tricking people into believing stuff that is not true.…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Argumentative Essay - Artifice “The most essential skill in political theater and a consumer culture is artifice. Political leaders, who use the tools of mass propaganda to create a sense of faux intimacy with citizens, no longer need to be competent, sincere, or honest,” Chris Hedges states, in “Empire of Illusion.” Based on that, the author is trying to convince his readers that publically, when people advertise for themselves or other things, false information could be thrown out there. This is a problem because when people are advertising, the audience would like to know all about what’s being advertised.…

    • 730 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Great Essays

    Throughout the tragedy of King Lear, deception is used to secure various characters’ personal interests. Characters manipulate the truth to achieve their inner desires. Truth is defined as as the intention or purpose behind a decision or action. In addition to manipulating truth, characters also use deception to fulfill their individual endeavors. It is pertinent to establish that there are two types of deception.…

    • 1756 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    One example of a person who manipulates in politics is Cassius, who manipulates Brutus into joining the conspirators and into killing Caesar. Julius Caesar is gaining a lot of support and may become dictator or ruler. Cassius feels like Caesar should be killed…

    • 1052 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The Political Spectacle is the idea of how politicians can manipulate public opinions and actions by diverting attention from more pressing social and political issues such as poverty, climate change, and racial inequalities. Many politicians take advantage of social constructs to draw attention to foreign threats. By doing so, they skillfully lessen the attention on domestic concerns. External threats tend to appeal to broader audiences and feed the fears of less informed individuals, whereas domestic problems seem to be focused on smaller sub-sets of individuals in a society. (Edelman, Pg. 28).…

    • 1767 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fletcher Reed in the movie “Liar Liar” also showed an example of manipulation, but in this case he was actually the one being manipulated since he was not able to a lie at that time. The specific example was when he was in court with his client and he told her he cannot lie, but she manipulating him back into lying for the sake of her benefit and reputation. This shows how people can use deception in the form of manipulating the situation to go the way they expect it to…

    • 1667 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Power is one of the most important concepts in the social sciences. The meaning of the word discussed and developed by many people such as academics and philosophers. Steven Luke is a political and social theorist. He defined the meaning of power that “ A exercises power over B when A affects in a manner contrary to B’s interests (Luke, S. 1974:30)”. Since the definition is too common, he defines powers in his own terminology, which says three dimensions power which are the one-dimensional view of power, the second-dimensional view of power and the three-dimensional view of power.…

    • 1323 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays