Posts

Wolfgang Reinhard | But it is the central ritual of the democratic theater state

"Politicians who want to stay in power have to keep the voters happy, even though the election itself is only symbolic. But it is the central ritual of the democratic theater state. After all, it is no longer about substantive decisions, but only about the confirmation or replacement of political figureheads, who are legitimized by the fact that citizens are allowed to perform this ritual. This symbolically reinforces the fiction of popular sovereignty on which modern constitutional states are founded. In this way, and not through substantive decisions, elections contribute to its stabilization."

Wolfgang Reinhard

Aldous Huxley | … the greater part of the population is not very intelligent

"... the greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility, and desires nothing better than to be told what to do. Provided the rulers do not interfere with its material comforts and its cherished beliefs, it is perfectly happy to let itself be ruled."

Aldous Huxley

Lenin | The highest art of war

"The highest art of war is to avoid military engagements altogether and defeat the enemy by destroying his moral principles, his religion, his culture and his traditions. When a country has been demoralized in that way it can be taken over without a single shot being fired."

Vladimir Iljitsch Lenin

Alexis de Tocqueville | democracy | Tyranny | despotism

"Tyranny in democratic republics does not proceed in the same way, however. It ignores the body and goes straight for the soul. The master no longer says: You will think as I do or die. He says: You are free not to think as I do. You may keep your life, your property, and everything else. But from this day forth you shall be as a stranger among us. You will retain your civic privileges, but they will be of no use to you. For if you seek the votes of your fellow citizens, they will withhold them, and if you seek only their esteem, they will feign to refuse even that. You will remain among men, but you will forfeit your rights to humanity. When you approach your fellow creatures, they will shun you as one who is impure. And even those who believe in your innocence will abandon you, lest they, too, be shunned in turn. Go in peace, I will not take your life, but the life I leave you with is worse than death."

Alexis de Tocqueville

Plato | Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture

"Those who are able to see beyond the shadows and lies of their culture will never be understood, let alone believed, by the masses."

Plato

Voltaire | throw stones at those who are showing a new road

"Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road."

Voltaire

Thomas Paine | A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong

"A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right, and raises at first a formidable outcry in defense of custom. But the tumult soon subsides. Time makes more converts than reason."

Thomas Paine

Dave Chappelle | Being “awake” isn’t cool

"Being "awake" isn't cool. It means having to dumb down 98% of your conversations every day so you don't sound like a lunatic."

Dave Chappelle

Frank Ocean | When you’re happy you enjoy the music

"When you're happy you enjoy the music, but when you're sad you understand the lyrics."

Frank Ocean

Anita Hofmann | by practicing a state on a small scale, namely at school

"This is about: What is actually best for children and young people? And how do they get their education and how do they become citizens? Because that is also the goal of our schooling, that I am an educated person who can also fulfill my civic duties and for that I need appropriate behavior and I learn that not only explicitly through knowledge, but also implicitly by practicing a state on a small scale, namely at school."

Anita Hofmann

Yuval Noah Harari | it would be very tempting, and easy, to toss you overboard

"Your future depends on the goodwill of a small elite. Maybe there is goodwill for a few decades. But in a time of crisis – like climate catastrophe – it would be very tempting, and easy, to toss you overboard."

Yuval Noah Harari

Avro Manhattan | No political event or circumstance can be evaluated

"No political event or circumstance can be evaluated without the knowledge of The Vatican's part in it. And no significant world situation exists in which The Vatican does not play an important explicit or implicit role."

Avro Manhattan

Franz von Holtzendorff | The worst and most dangerous slavery

"The worst and most dangerous slavery is that which people no longer feel because they have become accustomed to it."

Franz von Holtzendorff

Franz von Holtzendorff | The highest conceivable degree of lying is reached

"The highest conceivable degree of lying is reached when judgment between truth and falsehood ceases and the liar believes his own lie and is indignant that others place doubt in his words."

Franz von Holtzendorff

Frantz Fanon | Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong

"Sometimes people hold a core belief that is very strong. When they are presented with evidence that works against that belief, the new evidence cannot be accepted. It would create a feeling that is extremely uncomfortable, called cognitive dissonance. And because it is so important to protect the core belief, they will rationalize, ignore and even deny anything that doesn't fit in with the core belief."

Frantz Fanon

Ray Comfort | Atheists don’t hate fairies, leprechauns, or unicorns because they don’t exist

"Atheists don’t hate fairies, leprechauns, or unicorns because they don’t exist. It is impossible to hate something that doesn't exist. Atheists — like the painting experts hated the painter — hate God because He does exist."

Ray Comfort

Charles H. Spurgeon | Es wird eine Zeit kommen

"A time will come when instead of shepherds feeding the sheep, the church will have clowns entertaining the goats."

Charles H. Spurgeon

Baron Arthur Ponsonby | 10 principles of war propaganda

Wir wollen den Krieg nicht
Das gegnerische Lager trägt die Verantwortung
Der Führer des Gegners ist ein Teufel
Wir kämpfen für eine gute Sache
Der Gegner kämpft mit unerlaubten Waffen
Der Gegner begeht mit Absicht Grausamkeiten, wir nur versehentlich
Unsere Verluste sind gering, die des Gegners enorm
Künstler und Intellektuellen unterstützen unsere Sache
Unsere Mission ist heilig
Wer unsere Berichterstattung in Zweifel zieht, ist ein Verräter.

Adam Weishaupt | The hankering of the mind is irresistible

"Oh mortal man, is there anything you cannot be made to believe?. Of all the means I know to lead men, the most effectual is a concealed mystery.The hankering of the mind is irresistible."

Adam Weishaupt

Vladimir Lenin | Why should freedom of speech and freedom of press be allowed?

"Why should freedom of speech and freedom of press be allowed? Why should a government which is doing what it believes to be right allow itself to be criticized? It would not allow opposition by lethal weapons. Ideas are much more fatal things than guns. Why should any man be allowed to buy a printing press and disseminate pernicious opinions calculated to embarrass the government?"

Vladimir Lenin

Bill Maher | If kids knew what they wanted to be at age eight

"If kids knew what they wanted to be at age eight, the world would be filled with cowboys and princesses. I wanted to be a pirate. Thank God nobody took me seriously and scheduled me for eye removal and peg leg surgery."

Bill Maher

Mark Passio | The more moral a population is, the freer it becomes

"The more moral a population is, the freer it becomes. The more immoral a population is, the deeper into bondage and slavery it goes. Another way of saying this is to say that the presence of truth and morality in the lives of the people of any given society is always inversely proportional to the presence of tyranny and slavery in that society. The more truth and morality there is, the less tyranny and slavery there is. The less truth and morality there is, the more tyranny and slavery there is. That's the Law of Freedom. And many people don't want to understand that; that these two things are inextricably interwoven and connected and can never be separated from each other: the presence of truth and morality in a society and the presence of freedom or its lack in a society."

Mark Passio

Prof. Stephen Schneider | to capture the public’s imagination…

"We need to get some broad based support, to capture the public’s imagination… So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements and make little mention of any doubts… Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest"

Prof. Stephen Schneider

Richard Haass | The common enemy of humanity is man

"The common enemy of humanity is man. In searching for a new enemy to unite us, we came up with the idea that pollution, the threat of global warming, water shortages, famine and the like would fit the bill. All these dangers are caused by human intervention, and it is only through changed attitudes and behavior that they can be overcome. The real enemy then, is humanity itself."

Richard Haass

Edmund Burke | But what is liberty without wisdom and without virtue?

"But what is liberty without wisdom and without virtue? It is the greatest of all possible evils; for it is folly, vice, and madness, without tuition or restraint. Those who know what virtuous liberty is, cannot bear to see it disgraced by incapable heads, on account of their having high-sounding words in their mouths."

Edmund Burke

Dr. Markus Krall | Every generation has been exposed to socialist seduction

"Every generation has been exposed to socialist seduction in ever new disguises. And always a part falls for the totalitarian ideologists. And again and again there is a confrontation between humanity and totalitarianism. Also today. #EcoSocialism"

Dr. Markus Krall

Lysander Spooner | Majorities, as such, afford no guarantees for justice

"Majorities, as such, afford no guarantees for justice. They are men of the same nature as minorities. They have the same passions for fame, power, and money, as minorities; and are liable and likely to be equally - perhaps more than equally, because more boldly - rapacious, tyrannical and unprincipled, if intrusted with power."

Lysander Spooner