Politics was the first big business in America. Therefore there is a good deal of irony in the fact that business has learned everything that politics has to teach, but that politics has failed to learn very much from business methods of mass distribution of ideas and products. --Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928)
#propaganda #disinformation #misinformation #fakenews #uniparty #EconomicHappinessMachine@ebbot 2/2 regard to the real welfare of the human race or to any other standard, obedient only to the psychological needs of the scientists and of the government officials and corporation executives who provide the funds for research. --Ted Kaczynki, Technological Slavery (2010)
#technology #dystopia1/2 The same is true of scientists generally. With possible rare exceptions, their motive is neither curiosity nor a desire to benefit humanity but the need to go through the power process: to have a goal (a scientific problem to solve), to make an effort (research) and to attain the goal (solution of the problem). Science is a surrogate activity because scientists work mainly for the fulfillment they get out of the work itself...Thus science marches on blindly, without
@ebbot 2/2 parenthood, obesity, substance abuse, crime, and so on — and not simply in need of normalization. Indeed, it%27s cruel to validate decisions that inflict harm, especially on those who had no hand in the decision — like young children. --Rob Henderson, in Troubled 2023
#ClassicQuotes1/2 The luxury belief class claims that the unhappiness associated with certain behaviors and choices primarily stems from the negative social judgments they elicit, rather than the behaviors and choices themselves. But, in fact, negative social judgments often serve as guardrails to deter detrimental decisions that lead to unhappiness. In order to avoid misery, we have to admit that certain actions and choices are actually in and of themselves undesirable — single
@ebbot 2/2 technical action. --Jaques Ellul The Technological Bluff (1988)
#technology #dystopia1/2 We are spoiling our environment not merely as individuals, when we act like ignorant brutes, but also as agents serving a useful social function when we do things in a way that is rational in terms of the objective but ill considered and damaging from the overall standpoint. The problem is to know whether, given technical action, it is possible to act in such a way that we take every factor into account, or whether the %22overall standpoint%22 would not paralyze
Political campaigns today are all sideshows, all honors, all bombast, glitter, and speeches. These are for the most part unrelated to the main business of studying the public scientifically, of supplying the public with party, candidate, platform, and performance, and selling the public these ideas and products. --Edward Bernays, Propaganda (1928)
#propaganda #disinformation #misinformation #fakenews #uniparty #EconomicHappinessMachine@ebbot 2/2 obediently with the franchise system. This excludes from small business many of the people who most need autonomy. --Ted Kaczynki, Technological Slavery (2010)
#technology #dystopia1/2 ...government regulations are essential and inevitable parts of our extremely complex society. A large portion of small business today operates on the franchise system. It was reported in the Wall Street Journal a few years ago that many of the franchise-granting companies require applicants for franchises to take a personality test that is designed to EXCLUDE those who have creativity and initiative, because such persons are not sufficiently docile to go along
