Text of the Rockford College graduation speech by Chris Hedges

Rockford Register Star ^ | Wednesday, May 21, 2003 | Chris Hedges

[dixiechick2000]

I want to speak to you today about war and empire.

Killing, or at least the worst of it, is over in Iraq. Although blood will continue to spill -- theirs and ours -- be prepared for this. For we are embarking on an occupation that, if history is any guide, will be as damaging to our souls as it will be to our prestige, power, and security. But this will come later as our empire expands and in all this we become pariahs, tyrants to others weaker than ourselves. Isolation always impairs judgment and we are very isolated now.

[dixiechick2000]

Since this story has been the topic of much discussion, I thought I'd post the transcript of the speech in it's own thread. It is worth the read.

[Between the Lines]

He should have inserted a "Rockford grads '03" here and there to insure applause and cheers.

[Normal4me]

It should have included a *BANG* right after the first paragraph. :-)

[Jeff Head]

Think finally of what it means to die for a friend. It is deliberate and painful; there is no ecstasy. For friends, dying is hard and bitter. The dialogue they have and cherish will perhaps never be recreated. Friends do not, the way comrades do, love death and sacrifice. To friends, the prospect of death is frightening. And this is why friendship or, let me say love, is the most potent enemy of war.

Or, depending on the circumstances and the cause, friendship is not a potent enemy of war ... but a force that pushes it to its quickest and most just conclusion. This guy's moral relativism and equivalency knows no bounds. Christ hiumself said this ...

Greater love hath no man than this, that he layeth down his life for a friend.

This guy deserved every bit of the heckling that he got for his rabid anti-American and pro-terrorists (Palestinian) remarks IMHO.

I thought he didn't finish the speech. This makes it sound like he did.

Jeff

[For_God_and_Country]

"We have lost touch with the essence of war. Following our defeat in Vietnam we became a better nation. We were humbled, even humiliated. We asked questions about ourselves we had not asked before."

We were? The America I saw then was a fractured, wounded and economically depressed nation. I mean Im only thirty two, but I dont remember feeling a real ground swell of American pride until President Reagan was sworn in and our hostages came home. Also we were not defeated in Vietnam, those men and women who went to Vietnam and served did so with one hand tied behind their back. Had they been allowed to complete the mission with vigor and not with nonsensical rules of engagement, we would have won that conflict. This guy is a moron, and just another example of liberal bias at the "paper of record" /sarcasm...

[Shermy]

Not a bad speech in style, just full of errors, echoes of Arab disinformation, and left-liberal short cuts = for example that if it wasn't for Putin and Sharon the jihadists would drop their ideology and such.

[dead]

We will pay for this, but what saddens me most is that those who will by and large pay the highest price are poor kids from Mississippi or Alabama or Texas who could not get a decent job or health insurance and joined the army because it was all we offered them.

It doesn’t sadden him one bit.

It gladdens him that he can look down his Harvard-educated, northeastern liberal nose at the dupes, rubes and southerners who comprise our hapless military forces.

And when he sees them, he will not deign to mock, but will impress us with his goodness by feigning only compassion for their sorry lot in life.

How utterly magnanimous of him.

[smiley]

Damn liberals. Can't stand them.

[Jeff Head]

If it is full of errors ... and more, many out and out lies, not to mention his abject leftist stereotype of our military ... so, one could argue that his style is fatally flawed.

[miss marmelstein]

Thanks so much for posting! What a downer - hilarious!

[Huck]

For war in the end is always about betrayal, betrayal of the young by the old, of soldiers by politicians, and of idealists by cynics.

The American Revolution does not fit this description. Neither does WW2.

[eddie willers]

Not a bad speech in style, just full of errors, echoes of Arab disinformation, and left-liberal short cuts

And also stupid to give at a graduation.
Does he also publicly piss in the punch bowl at weddings?

[Budge]

Let's see, where would I put this guy on a scale from "Very Conservative" to "Marist?"

How about a little lower. To "Ultra Marxist."

There I feel better anyway.

I would like to congratulate the students, faculty and guests who turned their backs on this idiot!

[Huck]

I agree with you. What rot.

[ejo]

Bump

[JohnnyZ]

Not a bad speech in style

Preach preach preach preach preach preach preach preach. He's definitely a drama queen.

[stop_fascism]

You are so right, and I'm old emough to remember vietnam. Hedges' statement about VN ties as the stupidist statement in a really idiotic screed (ties with every other statement). America was almost destroyed by the aftermath of Vietnam. Jimmy Carter did his best to surrender to any American enemy he could find. He practically invented radical Islam. Many Americans were ready to accept third class status (behind USSR, China and Japan). Then, G_d in his mercy gave us Ronald Reagan. America changed and the world changed. Only a liberal elitist half-wit like Hedges would prefer the pre-Reagan world to this one.

[GOPJ]

BoooooooooooooBooooooooooooooBooooooooooBooooooooo

[hellinahandcart]

Does he also publicly piss in the punch bowl at weddings?

LOL. I was thinking, "I hope no one asks Chris Hedges to be his best man; he'd have to make a toast, and the wedding reception would turn into a rumble."

He's lucky the crowd didn't beat the tar out of him.

[stop_fascism]

In friendship there is a deepening of our sense ...

If a freshman turned in this paragraph in a composition class he'd get a D. If hedges wan't such a twerp, I'd be embarassed for him.