Albert Einstein | The ruling class has the schools and press under its thumb
"The ruling class has the schools and press under its thumb. This enables it to sway the emotions of the masses."
Albert Einstein
Posts
Benjamin Disraeli | secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents
in Benjamin Disraeli"The governments of the present day have to deal not merely with other governments, with emperors, kings and ministers, but also with the secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents, and can at the last moment upset all the governments' plans."
Benjamin Disraeli
Richard N. Gardner | The New World Order will be created
in Richard N. Gardner"The New World Order will be created and ultimately put an end to all national sovereignty. But an end run around national sovereignty, eroding it piece by piece, will accomplish much more than the old-fashioned frontal assault."
Richard N. Gardner
Jürgen Trittin | which attacks are the responsibility of terrorists and which are the responsibility of the state
in Jürgen Trittin"It may be that the history of terrorism needs to be rewritten. It is no longer known which attacks are the responsibility of terrorists and which are the responsibility of the state."
Jürgen Trittin
George Bernard Shaw | The politician who once had to learn to flatter Kings
in George Bernard Shaw"The politician who once had to learn to flatter Kings has now to learn how to fascinate, amuse, coax, humbug, frighten, or otherwise strike the fancy of the electorate."
George Bernard Shaw
James Dresden | Die ideale Tyrannei
in Donald James Wheal, James Dresden"Die ideale Tyrannei ist die, die ignorant von seinen Opfern selbstverwaltet wird. Die perfektesten Sklaven sind deshalb die, die sich glückselig und unbewusst versklaven lassen."
James Dresden
Vilfredo Pareto | All governments use force
in Vilfredo Pareto"All governments use force and all assert that they are founded on reason. In fact, whether universal suffrage prevails or not, it is always an oligarchy that governs, finding ways to give to'the will of the people'the expression which the few desire."
Vilfredo Pareto
Hannah Arendt | those who choose the lesser evil
in Hannah Arendt"In their moral justification, the argument of the lesser evil has played a prominent role. If you are confronted with two evils, the argument runs, it is your duty to opt for the lesser one, whereas it is irresponsible to refuse to choose altogether. Its weakness has always been that those who choose the lesser evil forget quickly that they chose evil.[....] Acceptance of the lesser evil is deliberately used to accustom officials, as well as the population at large, to accept the evil itself."
Hannah Arendt
Jessica Hamed | no longer be able to trust Germany’s highest
in Jessica Hamed"One of the most significant moments for me in my professional career, apart from being sworn in as an attorney, was signing my first - also successful - constitutional complaint. It pains me to no longer be able to trust Germany's highest court in a fundamental way."
Jessica Hamed
Aldous Huxley | Impersonal forces over which we have almost no control
in Aldous Huxley"Impersonal forces over which we have almost no control seem to be pushing us all in the direction of the Brave New Worldian nightmare; and this impersonal pushing is being consciously accelerated by representatives of commercial and political organizations who have developed a number of new techniques for manipulating, in the interest of some minority, the thoughts and feelings of the masses."
Aldous Huxley
Mahatma Gandhi | The state represents violence
in Mahatma Gandhi"The state represents violence in a concentrated and organized form. The individual has a soul, but as the state is a soulless machine, it can never be weaned from violence to which it owes its very existence."
Mahatma Gandhi
Milton Friedman | Every friend of freedom
in Milton Friedman"Every friend of freedom must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled with casual drug users and of an army of enforcers empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence."
Milton Friedman
Vladimir Lenin | While the State exists, there can be no freedom
in Vladimir Lenin"While the State exists, there can be no freedom. When there is freedom there will be no State."
Vladimir Lenin
Steve Jacobson | Political and economic power
in Steve Jacobson"Political and economic power in the United States is concentrated in the hands of a “ruling elite” that controls most of U.S.-based multinational corporations, major communication media, the most influential foundations, major private universities and most public utilities. Founded in 1921, the Council of Foreign Relations is the key link between the large corporations and the federal government. It has been called a “school for statesmen” and “comes close to being an organ of what C. Wright Mills has called the Power Elite – a group of men, similar in interest and outlook shaping events from invulnerable positions behind the scenes. The creation of the United Nations was a Council project, as well as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank."
Steve Jacobson
Walter Lippmann | The process by which public opinions arise
in Walter Lippmann"That the manufacture of consent is capable of great refinements no one, I think, denies. The process by which public opinions arise is certainly no less intricate than it has appeared in these pages, and the opportunities for manipulation open to anyone who understands the process are plain enough. . . . as a result of psychological research, coupled with the modern means of communication, the practice of democracy has turned a corner. A revolution is taking place, infinitely more significant than any shifting of economic power. . . . Under the impact of propaganda, not necessarily in the sinister meaning of the word alone, the old constants of our thinking have become variables. It is no longer possible, for example, to believe in the original dogma of democracy; that the knowledge needed for the management of human affairs comes up spontaneously from the human heart. Where we act on that theory we expose ourselves to self-deception, and to forms of persuasion that we cannot verify. It has been demonstrated that we cannot rely upon intuition, conscience, or the accidents of casual opinion if we are to deal with the world beyond our reach."
Walter Lippmann
Tony Cartalucci | Your Real Government
in Tony Cartalucci"These organizations represent the collective interests of the largest corporations on earth. They not only retain armies of policy wonks and researchers to articulate their agenda and form a consensus internally, but also use their massive accumulation of unwarranted influence in media, industry, and finance to manufacture a self-serving consensus internationally. To believe that this corporate-financier oligarchy would subject their agenda and fate to the whims of the voting masses is naive at best. They have painstakingly ensured that no matter who gets into office, in whatever country, the guns, the oil, the wealth and the power keep flowing perpetually into their own hands. [....] The real revolution will commence when we identify the above equation as the true brokers of power and when we begin systematically removing our dependence on them, and their influence on us from our daily lives. The global corporate-financier oligarchy needs us, we do not need them, independence from them is the key to our freedom."
Tony Cartalucci
Jacques Ellul | It is the emergence of mass media which makes possible the use of propaganda techniques on a societal scale
in Jacques Ellul"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
in Prof. Rainer Mausfeld"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
in Noam Chomsky"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
Gustave de Molinari | Anarchy is no guarantee
in Gustave de Molinari"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
Ernst Jünger | The most horrifying prospect is that of technocracy
in Ernst Jünger"The most horrifying prospect is that of technocracy, controlled rule exercised by maimed and mutilating minds."
Ernst Jünger
The Libertarian Pilot | rules of state power
in The Libertarian Pilot"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
Joost A.M. Meerloo | democratic or totalitarian
in Joost A.M. Meerloo"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
Carl Gustav Jung | confrontation with the world of darkness
in Carl Gustav Jung"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
John Adams | Fear is the foundation of most governments
in John Adams"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
Prince | We’re all indentured servants
in Prince"The other thing is the first line of the song says I was born on the same plantation in the United States of the red, white and blue, and we live in a place now that feels just about like a plantation. We're all indentured servants. When I found out there were eight presidents before George Washington, I wanted to smack somebody. I wanted to know why I was taught otherwise. Just tell me the whole story - I'll fill in the blanks. But don't tell me something that you think I'm supposed to know."
Prince
George Orwell | The further a society moves away from the truth
in George Orwell"The further a society moves away from the truth, the more it will hate those who speak it."
Napoleon Bonaparte | There is no more good-natured, but also no more gullible people
in Napoleon Bonaparte"There is no more good-natured, but also no more gullible people than the Germans. No lie can be conceived treacherous enough, the Germans believe it. They follow a slogan which was given to them, to act against their own countrymen, rather than the real enemies of their country."
Napoleon Bonaparte