Jacques Ellul | It is the emergence of mass media which makes possible the use of propaganda techniques on a societal scale
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"It is the emergence of mass media which makes possible the use of propaganda techniques on a societal scale. The orchestration of press, radio and television to create a continuous, lasting and total environment renders the influence of propaganda virtually unnoticed precisely because it creates a constant environment. Mass media provides the essential link between the individual and the demands of the technological society."
Jacques Ellul
Prof. Rainer Mausfeld | the illusion of democracy
"But what could make democracy attractive to the powerful, whose very power it limits and threatens? The answer is quite simple: Nothing! For democracy means precisely to restrict the power needs of the powerful and the rich, in which they naturally have no interest. This now results in a tension between the needs of the rulers to stabilize their status and our need to feel socially autonomous and self-determined with regard to our social situation. In history, this fundamental tension has often been discharged in the form of revolutions. From the point of view of the rulers, how can this tension be defused if we want to avoid bloody revolutions?
The solution lies in 'satisfying' the citizens' need for freedom with a surrogate, with a substitute drug, namely the illusion of democracy. To create such an illusion of democracy, one needs above all - and this is where the herd metaphor comes into play again - an ideology of justification that justifies why the people are immature and in need of leadership. Furthermore, the idea of democracy, which is so attractive to the people, must be emptied of its meaning so that it is limited only to an electoral act. And finally, continuous democracy management is needed to ensure that the people want what they are supposed to want in the act of voting."
Prof. Rainer Mausfeld
Noam Chomsky | Voting is not an option
"It’s about what you would expect from a bipartisan democracy campaign — it’s an attempt to impose what is called democracy, meaning rule by the rich and the powerful, without interference by the mob but within the framework of formal electoral procedures."
Noam Chomsky
Elon Musk | The real president is whoever controls the teleprompter
"The real president is whoever controls the teleprompter"
Elon Musk
Gustave de Molinari | Anarchy is no guarantee
"Anarchy is no guarantee that some people won't kill, injure, kidnap, defraud, or steal from others. Government is a guarantee that some will."
Gustave de Molinari
Nassim Nicholas Taleb | gap between journalists and the public
"The fact that there is a gap between journalists and the public is shown above all by the fact that the former are much more interested in the opinion of their colleagues than in the judgment of their readers. Compare this with a healthy system, for example that of restaurants. As we [...] have seen, restaurant owners care about the opinions of their diners, not those of other restaurant owners, which keeps restaurant owners doing what their job is; it prevents the industry as a whole from moving away from diners' interests. In addition, skin in the game creates diversity, and monoculture is prevented. Economic uncertainty exacerbates the situation. Journalists currently work in the most insecure profession imaginable: the majority live hand-to-mouth, and ostracism by colleagues would be fatal. This makes them easy victims for manipulative lobbyists, as has been seen in connection with genetically modified organisms (GMOs), the wars in Syria, and more. In this profession, if you say something unpopular about Brexit, GMOs, or Putin, you're toast. It's the exact opposite of professions where being a follower is punished."
Nassim Nicholas Taleb
Henry Hazlitt | The whole gospel of Karl Marx in a single sentence
"The whole gospel of Karl Marx can be summed up in a single sentence: Hate the man who is better off than you are. Never under any circumstances admit that his success may be due to his own efforts, to the productive contribution he has made to the whole community. Always attribute his success to the exploitation, the cheating, the more or less open robbery of others. Never under any circumstances admit that your own failure may be owing to your own weakness, or that the failure of anyone else may be due to his own defects - his laziness, incompetence, improvidence, or stupidity."
Henry Hazlitt
Ernst Jünger | The most horrifying prospect is that of technocracy
"The most horrifying prospect is that of technocracy, controlled rule exercised by maimed and mutilating minds."
Ernst Jünger
Paul Stanley | für die Macht des allmächtigen Rock ‘n’ Roll
"I’m testifying and getting everybody riled up for the power of almighty rock ‘n’ roll"
Paul Stanley
John Denver | As a self appointed messiah
"As a self appointed messiah, I view music as far more than just entertainment"
John Denver
Phillip Chapman Lesh | devery place we played was church
"In those days we used to say that every place we played was church and that's what it was like. A pretty far out church but that's how we felt."
Phillip Chapman Lesh
Gary Greenberg | The band was the high priest
"it was not just a concert. It was a place of worship. The band was the high priest, the songs the liturgy, the dancing the prayer, the audience the congregation. Out of these simple ingredients we created a tradition and enacted a ritual that was at once entirely familiar and thoroughly mysterious."
Gary Greenberg
Hans Hermann Hoppe | the greatest threat to human security
"The recently ended twentieth century was characterized by a level of human rights violations unparalleled in all of human history. In his book Death by Government, Rudolph Rummel estimates some 170 million government-caused deaths in the twentieth century. The historical evidence appears to indicate that, rather than protecting life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness of their citizens, governments must be considered the greatest threat to human security."
Prof. Hans Hermann Hoppe
Hans Hermann Hoppe | Democracy is a soft variant of communism
"Democracy has nothing to do with freedom. Democracy is a soft variant of communism, and rarely in the history of ideas has it been taken for anything else."
Prof. Hans Hermann Hoppe
Kwai Chang Caine | the prison is within you
"If you trust me completely…I can help you. If I tell you you are not within a prison the prison is within you can you believe that?"
Kwai Chang Caine
Kwai Chang Caine | If you plant fear, fear will grow
"If you plant rice, rice will grow. If you plant fear, fear will grow."
Kwai Chang Caine
Pater Brennan | The book of Revelations predicted it all.
"When the Jews return to Zion and a comet fills the sky, and the Holy Roman Empire rises; then you and I must die. From the eternal sea he rises, creating armies on either shore, turning man against his brother, 'til man exists no more. The book of Revelations predicted it all."
Pater Brennan
Roland Baader | The only true human right
"The only true human right is the right to be left alone - by anyone you didn't invite or welcome"
Roland Baader
The Libertarian Pilot | rules of state power
"We were raised by people who dutifully follow the rules of state power. We were brought up to follow the rules & not question the state. But now malicious people make the rules. It's time to teach our children something different."
The Libertarian Pilot
Judy Mowatt | It was a crusade, it was a mission
"It was a crusade, it was a mission. We were like sentinels, like lights. ON TOUR THE SHOWS WERE LIKE CHURCH; Bob delivering the sermon. There were mixed emotions in the audience: you see people literally crying, people in a frenzy, on A SPIRITUAL HIGH ... These concerts were powerful and highly spiritual. There was a power that pulled you there. It was a clean feeling ... For months and maybe years it stays with you"
Judy Mowatt
Michael Moynihan | MUSIC IS A MAGICAL OPERATION
"In spiritual terms MUSIC IS A MAGICAL OPERATION, A VEHICLE FOR MAN TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE GODS. Depending on whom the celebrants invoke, this can mean soaring to heaven on the voices of angels or raising beasts from the pits of hell"
Michael Moynihan
Dr. Howard Hanson | Music has the powers for evil as well as good
"Music is a curiously subtle art with innumerable, varying emotional connotations. It is made up of many ingredients and according to the proportions of those components, it be soothing or invigorating, ennobling or vulgarizing, philosophical or orgiastic. It has the powers for evil as well as good."
Dr. Howard Hanson
Joost A.M. Meerloo | democratic or totalitarian
"In my own experience, I have been amazed to see how unrealistic are the bases for political opinion in general. Only rarely have I found a person who has chosen any particular political party - democratic or totalitarian - through study and comparison of principles."
Joost A.M. Meerloo
Samuel | Whenever the spirit from God
"Whenever the spirit from God came on Saul, David would take up his lyre and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better, and the evil spirit would leave him."
Samuel
Carl Gustav Jung | confrontation with the world of darkness
"Filling the conscious mind with ideal conceptions is a characteristic of Western theosophy, but not the confrontation with the shadow and the world of darkness. One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious. The later procedure, however, is disagreeable and therefore not popular."
Carl Gustav Jung
Dr. Daniel und Bernadette Skubik | A driving drum rhythm in excess
"A driving drum rhythm in excess of three to four beats per second will put the brain into a state of stress, regardless if the listener likes or dislikes the music. And when the brain is in this stressful state, it will release opioids—a group of natural hormones that function like morphine—to help return itself to normal equilibrium and sense of well-being. These natural opioids, if experienced often enough, can be addicting, creating in the listener the continual desire for that ‘high’ somewhat like the high runners experience."
Dr. Daniel und Bernadette Skubik
Peter Schiff | the most incompetent economists
"Soon investors will realize that the most incompetent economists in the world work for central banks. The second most incompetent economists work for government. The third most incompetent work for major universities and the forth most incompetent work for large investment banks."
Peter Schiff
George Orwell | everything else is public relations
"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed; everything else is public relations."
George Orwell
Benjamin Franklin | Whoever gives up freedom to gain security
"Whoever gives up freedom to gain security will, in the end, lose both."
Benjamin Franklin
Bertolt Brecht | And they were sawing off the branches
"And they were sawing off the branches on which they were sitting. While shouting across their experiences to one another on how to saw more efficiently. And they went crashing down into the deep. And those who watched them shook their heads and continued sawing vigorously"
Bertolt Brecht
Glenn Frey | I’m in rock music for the sex and narcotics
"I'm in rock music for the sex and narcotics."
Glenn Frey
Ursula von der Leyen | Thank you for your leadership
"Thank you Melinda & Bill for your leadership and dedication!"
Ursula von der Leyen
John Adams | Fear is the foundation of most governments
"Fear is the foundation of most governments; but it is so sordid and brutal a passion, and renders men in whose breasts it predominates so stupid and miserable, that Americans will not be likely to approve of any political institution which is founded on it."
John Adams
