Old Chinese Parable

Two boyhood friends grow up and go their separate ways. One becomes a humble monk, the other a rich and powerful minister to the king. 

Years later they meet again. 

As they catch up, the minister in his fine robes takes pity on the thin, shabby monk. 

Seeking to help, he says, “You know, if you could learn to cater to the king you wouldn’t have to live on rice and beans.”

To which the monk replies, “If you could learn to live on rice and beans you wouldn’t have to cater to the king.”

The Dying Of The Light

Superhero Movie Idea

Our hero, a mild mannered office worker, runs out of staples and on his way to the corner shop takes a wrong turn and stumbles accidentally into a top secret underground laboratory. Here he discovers a chemical substance that swells his body with muscles and transforms him into a historical-materialist with a big beard. Calling himself Theoryman, he dons a cape and ragged trousers and decides to fight hypocrisy and old Young-Hegelians with no sense of humour. After sharing his discovery with his girlfriend -who dresses in tight clothing and becomes his crime-fighting partner known as the Bakunin- the duo fight recurring enemies such as the mutant robot monkey Cheetor whilst highlighting the inherent contradictions of the capitalist method of production. The finale is a spectacular city battle which sees Cheetor unleash his demon undead army and Theoryman respond by telling them that they are oppressed and that education leads to freedom. A fierce criticism of society's superstructure weakens it and it ultimately collapses on itself taking Cheetor with it. Theoryman and the Bakunin make love amongst the ruins as mindless celebrity worship burns brightly around them…

Notes to self: Give Cheetor a flying surfboard? Make demon undead army unionised?  

It's Not Propaganda, It's PR

I recently came across this...

'The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.' - Bernays

But also remember this...

'The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion but allow very lively debate within that spectrum - even encourage the more critical and dissident views.' - Chomsky

Unless...

Encouraging the division of a population into groups prone to clash makes rational  debate and agreement between these extremely unlikely. Not only does the population thus become further divided and weakened as a whole but it is also diverted away from the actions behind the scenes...

Oh well, work tomorrow, time for bed.

War Of Position

I was reading about Gramsci and cultural hegemony.

He observed that, “Reality is defined through words. Therefore, whoever controls the words controls reality.”

When one group gets its ideas accepted as common sense by society, if everyone thinks the same, then there’s no need to use force: control is already in place.

Gramsci opposed the 'war of manoeuvre' and the taking of power by force, with the 'war of position' which is the slow and cultural war of ideas.

Those who control ideas, control power.

Everybody seems to be involved in their own culture war these days. 

And when that doesn't work, they hit each other.

Everything Will Not Be Better Tomorrow

Simplexity

How come, with everything now making our lives simpler, everything now seems more complex?
I call it simplexity: a complex simplicity. (I know, but ‘complicity’ already exists…)
Everything obviously does not make our lives simpler if it makes it more complex. This is because simpler does not equal less complex. In fact, simpler now usually equals more complex. It may be simpler for me but the mechanics will be more complex. I press a button and the car window goes down. I press a button and I call a friend in a China. So it is simpler for me to do more things but I have less understanding of how the things are done. And when the things break down then I have no clue how to fix them.
So everything is not making our life simpler, we are simply introducing more things -complex things- into it allowing us to do ever more things.
God, I miss the good old days when things were simple and we missed the previous good old days when things were even simpler...