Draft 3.0
In the land of the free, we accept freedom by allowing a relative to be regarded as an absolute. Freedom is the grandest of all lies. We rationalize a relative through false associations via passive conditioning. Being more subtle, pervasive and less invasive, modern propaganda has advanced well beyond patriotic slogans and harsh denouncements. The target population need only acquiesce, and allow events to slowly enfold while being distracted by the constant stimulation of the technological world. Except when dealing with exemplary elements, jack boots are no longer necessary in keeping the population within line. Many, too lazy to re-evaluate their value systems, wear them anyway. The so-called "War on Drugs" is an example. A general policy failure, the struggle has been maintained by a power structure that has much to gain through scape-goating, and remains unopposed by the gutless parasites which feed off the bottom-end. A small percentage of users, generally involved in some other illicit act, are persecuted and prosecuted for the general edification of the population, even while large segments are stoned into passivity. The system wins either way by allowing the black-market commerce to operate largely unimpeded and available when the need arises, like election years. A vague ideal world is created verbally, with justifications provided for imprisoning over 2 million. Any other nation would be roundly condemned for such behavior, but not the United States. The system has devised methods against such criticism. We are different. (why?) Potential trouble makers are jailed without a peep of real complaint beyond the irrelevant printed word. An opportunist need only ride the wave and be silent or noisy when required. Of course, even and especially the propagandist are the most effected by their own propaganda. Note how the "master race" (of idiots) fared in Russia during World War II. Claiming superiority does not stop frostbite. Note how the fates of supposedly advanced totalitarian systems, like communism and fascism, have fared. Beyond sociological insight and criticism, Marx didn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. Those professing blanket solutions to social problems have always fallen into the trap created by their own terribly inflated ego. The answers are always lies. Degenerate megalomaniacs always destroy themselves one way or another. Reality has no respect for their schemes. However, although individual systems inevitably fail and fall, the techniques developed are adopted by others and live on. A technological society will always grudgingly accept the efficient. The inheritors merely improve previous failures. The lowest common denominator is only modified, never replaced. The conceptual basis is never even questioned. This steady state may be accomplished by first ensuring individual isolation in a verbal world created by the most effective means. Hence, mass gatherings are discouraged, but past events are given mythical status. Passivity is ensured by multiple, individually weak but collectively strong, contact vectors which eventually mold acceptance. The technical morality has no concern about winners and losers, only its own continuity and rapid advance into as many affairs possible. The concerns "What is moral?" always overrides "Why morality?" in any moral scheme, hence the evident universal carcinogenic properties. At least the lower branches of moral development generally factored in humanity being the central focus, even when extremely anti-natural, rather than as a necessary accommodation. However, despite the anti-natural residing within our minds, the natural will always reign supreme. Hence, the individual feels in contact with reality and always feels an exception rather than a mold. Few individuals, if any, can generally perform self-analysis. The remaining deviant minority is inconsequential and disregarded. Hence, the seeds have been sown for the eventual destruction of the technological system, but not technology. Although related, a grave error, being tantamount to regarding a tool as identical with the product, is made in equating the two. Unfortunately, such mistakes by the opposition only serve to strengthen the machine. Too much tangible evidence exists to the contrary.
The free are chained to property and debt, especially in service to the automobile. An intelligent extra-terrestrial observer would probably feel motor vehicles were the dominant life-form with human beings regarded as lesser symbiots.[1] The free may drive anywhere they please, but rarely have the time or money after being sucked dry by car payments, insurance, gasoline, maintenance and repair. In addition, the extra time required by the daily commute often substantially lengthens the workday, thus shortening time available for other activities. A medieval peasant did not work such hours and would have risen up against the mere idea. The machine tightens the chains, but we are free because we placed our own bonds.
Altruism means nothing in the land of the free, except an excuse to ease the conscience for exploiting any available opportunity to maximum advantage. Money given charitably has some blood stains, but no matter. Shoes produced by prison labor shods the feet of the poor. Any misgivings are inconsequential, and supported by older moralities co-opted to maximum advantage in all possible concerns. The remainder are discounted. The free feel better about themselves by propagating the cycles of exploitation, and have no incentive for changing anything other than cosmetically. Hence, the technical system is never threatened, and grows into something which will make the land of the free stronger while rotting inside. The technical morality can mask nature, but may never change it other than by destruction. The free are necessary fodder in such endeavors.
A man will not live forever, but may leave lasting monuments casting a shadow across the ages. The exceptional produce uncertainty, which may be regarded anathema to the technical morality, and something best discouraged. The blunting of potential must be accomplished, yet still allow the at least a shell remaining for the benefit of progress. Specialization meets the necessary requirements. Focus is intensified and narrowed toward a small area of expertise. Generalization is frowned upon and not immediately profitable. External connections and ramifications are often missed, and remain unnoticed, except those which propagate technique. The result being mediocrity except in one small sub-field which few care about anyway. Note how stupid these types sound when pontificating about anything beyond their own noses. Their drivel is not worth repeating or referencing. However, their varying obsessions do distract and occupy, lest the specialist actually think. Lest stability be threatened and technique regress, the technician must be allowed the delusion of freedom.
The free have many options, but little choice. Unless forbidden, the free may do and become anything allowed by capability and resources. The free may hypothetically accomplish any goal, but few rarely enjoy the opportunities compatible with ability. The relatively few exceptions are shamelessly exploited to maximum advantage by providing an example of valued success under this system. The billionaire with millionaire parents is self-made. The idiot athlete or actor, fodder in most cultures, becomes celebrated for unreal accomplishments. Past robber barons are given mythic status, while their corporate contemporaries continue. The corporation is afforded the same legal status as an individual, then allowed to run roughshod over everything hitherto impossible for a mere individual. Flag waving idiots cheer even while crushed under the wheels of the machine. The free deserve it.
[1] Plagiarized from somewhere forgotten (sorry).
1997 - January 1, 2001
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Monday, August 30, 2004
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Friday, August 27, 2004
MAXIMUM ADVANTAGE: The Technical Morality
The Higher Morality
Draft 3.0+
Maximum Advantage is not everything; only those things which matter in a technological society. Wholly encompassing, Maximum Advantage may be applied in all situations. Quickly mutable, Maximum Advantage will co-opt or corrupt any rival moral philosophies, belief systems, religions and long lasting traditions. Maximum Advantage is not for cowards nor heroes. Minimum effort expended for maximum gain, Maximum Advantage is the embodiment of mediocrity. Maximum Advantage exploits the mean and mitigates circumstances, thus allowing the course to always follow the path of least resistance. Maximum Advantage is morality applied technically. Maximum Advantage facilitates propaganda through efficient application of advertising, promotion and applied psychology. Encompassing attention spans and finances, Maximum Advantage is brevity. Maximum Advantage is the real 1984. Maximum Advantage is the next highest branch on a genealogical tree of Western morality. A technical morality for a technical age was inevitable. A product of reductionism, maximum advantage has arrived largely unacknowledged but hardly unnoticed. Maximum Advantage is speed. Degeneration is a by-product. Efficiency does not apply to everything. Nadir and zenith rapidly alternate and reverse in a slow downward spiral. Cultural declines occur over the span of a mere generation.[1] Past populations experienced either relatively stable transition, or forced conversion by the sword; maximum advantage is neither. A truly positivist morality would have likely produced a world nuclear funeral. The myth of progress was thankfully dulled and diluted just enough by the science it helped spawn. Although extremely destructive, sinister incarnations of deterministic thought produced blatant totalitarian machinations which were thankfully not viable. The liberal democracies prevailed, were contaminated by contact vectors, and became something different even while retaining old trappings and framework. Some continuity is necessary. Politics became an illusion due to excessive squabbling over scraps. Only technical efficiency was deemed unquestionably good. All else must be justified. A mediocre bastard child was spawned by a union with global capital and approaches maturity. Adolescence ended with the cold war.
Maximum Advantage is the moral code for the successful wielding of power in the United States. Maximum gain for minimum effort is desired in all things. The forward view is very myopic. Mitigation is attempted through subtle mutation but co-optation is the result. Maximum Advantage in all things is desired. The unity is all-encompassing. Nothing is perceived beyond its scope. Power must be unrestrained. Hence, economics becomes progressively more abstract. Reinstating the gold standard would be an economic disaster. That old verbal world has been superseded by the more evolved. Hence, outright coercion has be replaced by less direct methods. Two-million fill our national prisons. Yet we are free. Drugs have been exploited to maximum advantage in all things. One might wonder how many proverbial birds are being slain by the stone of the drug war. The technical morality learns from past mistakes. The American public only cares about body bags. Hence, we have bloodless wars where the only military footage allowed is at extreme heights. The Serbian and Iraqi Population bled, but their leaders remain in power. Thus military expenditures and imperialism are justified by digging up not-quite-neutralized threats. As long as nobody is drafted and only elite pilots are put in the line of fire, the population is apathetic. Nobody is forced to join the military. In addition, legitimacy is conferred by international coalitions after being rubber stamped by the United Nations Security Council. It shows that even pacifist sentiments and constructs may be exploited to maximum advantages. The population is united by abstractions and myths, like progress and freedom. Loyalty is maintained by statistical prosperity. If the statistics say the nation is prosperous, then it must be healthy. Data and definitions are skewed for maximum advantage in maintaining system status quo. Socialization is supplanted by a mass media verbal world supporting the consumerist world view and calling it truth. Rather than just another historical transition, the present is portrayed as eternal, but instead stagnates. However, even the failures may be exploited to maximum advantage in all things. Criminals sell paper and boost ratings. The Judicial Branch is an industry. A niche exists for all. Radical change may be portrayed as inconsequential and nothing be labeled as something, but that does not make either case so. The world moves toward the anti-natural and will pay the price. Bankruptcy only works in court. Emotions may be manipulated. The opportunist is never immune. Dissident elements may be negated without crackdowns. Their message is inconsequential to the present technical moral scheme of maximum advantage in all things. Even while promoting the opposite, the concrete is always valued over the abstract. The system creates itself. Individuals ride the wave. Some fall. Others prosper, including some dissenting voice. Ralph Nadir is a millionaire. All are products. The elite knows it.
Though not the cause, the strict positivist mentality pervading industrial societies, while infecting others, produced two World Wars and the Cold War. The human factor has failed to develop at the same pace as its tools and toys. The mental energy necessary has been directed toward progress. Rigid mechanistic doctrines were devised which fit the times but not the future. Victory was assured by the dialectic, which proved itself wrong. Nothing is inevitable except death and taxes. Nationalism proved stronger than international worker solidarity. Properly utilized, tribal rivalries are easier to promote and maintain. Xenophobic propaganda does not rely upon reason or rationale. However, the result created an unstable condition of nuclear brinkmanship culminating in the Cuban missile crisis. Excessive rhetoric can be exceedingly antagonistic, and required toning down. Propaganda became less inflammatory and over-stated. When employed too readily, blatant propaganda becomes extremely hollow. A softer touch used to maximum advantage in all things was required and developed accordingly. Art was co-opted by both propaganda and advertising industry. The emerging technological society would not allow itself to be destroyed. Rather quick destruction could be averted while enriching the arms industry. The combination was simply the most efficient societal means. The technological system encroached upon all others, meeting the approval of the positivist mindset, because its parts may be measured. One cannot quantify emotions. Hence, the qualified has no value except to be exploited for maximum advantage in all things. Manipulation assures concern to be a liability. The mediocre becomes ascendant. Slave and master moralities were quickly absorbed into the technological framework, and synthesized into a common median. The resultant system, developed by exploiting and encouraging conflict, allows justification for increased efficiency essential for technical propagation. Unlike harsher systemic schemes, the minimum effort necessary for maximum gain is the approved standard applied. The resultant mythos created is a hollow mockery. Progress rolling over everything, defining all valuations by drenching the earth in blood if necessary, is perceived as good in a world long past such quaint notions. However, progress does provide some continuity for us drones chained to its capital-controlled economic system. Else all would perceive the drift. A supposed link with past traditions has been a common error during all ages. The current era is no different. The base means are dredged for maximum advantage, a value system which attaches parasitically to any available host as a means of least action. Rebellion is subdued by commodification of its products. The elite gain by the stability necessary for maximum technical efficiency. The resultant cultural inertia often produces weak worthless decedents, whom mean absolutely nothing, slowly withering away in stupid angst. Only their money saves their useless existence from being stomped into mulch. The slow mediocre spiral drags all down by subduing natural reactions in favor of anti-natural meaning. Inefficiency is evil, but the walking dead are an abomination. Maximum advantage is not destined to be long lasting, but will permeate everything of value in a skewed technological society. The hyper-rational must allow outlets for expression, but never enough to upset the established order. Any popular appeal will be bought and sold to a hyper-stimulated populace craving new diversions. Existing pathways are exploited to natural advantage in all things by superceding nature itself. Corruption is a by-product which must be minimized by expending very little, thus little may be corrupted. Hence, decay is evidenced over collapse. While allowing less room for discontent, passivity is always encouraged and valued over submission. Populations do not rebel over boredom.
Altruism is not conducive nor compatible with maximum advantage. Its appearance has ulterior motivation. A large corporation may donate large amounts to charities, but will milk it for maximum advantage. Big Business only supports cancer research, because its pollution may be a cause. The issues become entangled and confused. Any debate regarding globalism grinds to a halt in a maze of pros and cons. The larger questions are not even considered. Progress is not viewed as a myth, but rather a definition drawn by little more than sentiment. Value judgements are supplied by propaganda, both pro and con. Most just ignore large-scale concerns and continue with their daily lives. Some things are simply never contemplated by those seeing no profit or profit in such things. The big picture is far away but the rent is due on the 5th of the month. Immediate concerns supersede all else. The periphery is less tangible and easier to manage. A landscape is constructed where before only a monolith existed to be venerated or assaulted. How could anyone, besides the insane, completely question an all-encompassing vista?
The higher technical morality supersedes older traditional moralities by smothering. Good and Evil are re-defined, but not re-evaluated, according to the dictates of technical efficiency. The absolute adherence demanded has created a higher morality above all else. Propaganda is the language of the new mediocre religion of progress for purposes of a lowest-common mean unity. Stagnation while scurrying about supposedly promotes stability. The clergy are simply supplanted by technicians, which even a thinking atheist [2] might admit is alarming. In the modern incarnation, the priest has only verbal authority, rather than the full trappings of the ultra-rational and re-definable progress. One cannot see God. The protestant reformation is long over. The religious types have no power beyond annoying rhetoric. The possible social consequences inherent in cultural rejection of religion may pose serious difficulties. According to the 19th Century themes of Dostoevsky, the removal of God from peasant societies leaves a void allowing murder with a good conscious. Russia certainly proved his predictions correct. The opportunistic will sight upon any available target. The population is a different matter. Its restraints must be removed. The priest would see slaves, but the technical would eliminate all humanity from consideration, ideally replacing it with a stagnant rationale. The result is lower than slavery. At least religion becomes decadent and decays into something tolerable, or at least easily ignored. Development is hampered by religion, but denied by technique which produces nothing different only better. Absolutes are anti-natural. Faith in the anti-natural leads to ruin. However, the technical insulates through its inherent efficiency, effectively obscuring everything outside its spotlight. Hence, the individual becomes unable to discern differences, and therefore may be exploited to maximum advantage by the most efficient means. Socialization is blunted by unstable environments masked by the delusion of stability. The force required to maintain the facade must be legitimized by propaganda techniques. Intertwined among short and long term concerns, a double-spiral guides the ascension of technical reality. The most effective delivery vectors often act through the mechanisms of market bastard capitalism. The populace actually pays to be propagandized in the ideal docility required for the efficient operation of this technical society. Even elite classes become complacent by propagating the resultant system, because these groups benefit most rapidly and maintain their position. They believe their own bullshit. The most adaptable may become the new ruling class, but will see their heirs generally stagnate due to intellectual inbreeding and otherwise. Hence, dynasties are quickly toppled, although a parasitic leisure class by-product often emerges to be replaced by fresh meat. Hence, some artificial circulation occurs, thus enabling certain myths like the American Dream.
Often society and culture become confused by being perceived as synonymous. A blurring effect is maintained for maximum advantage in all things, thus eliminating any possibility of distinction. History is erased, not by decree, but by context. Everything hitherto has lead to this height of attainment. The shining examples of strip malls and lame entertainment, are rationalized and excused by real accomplishments such as sanitation and infrastructure. Successive generations score higher on cognitive intelligence test, but becomes more stupid. The current crop will be eaten alive when the global economy depresses. The social dynamic has been supplanted by allowing malleable popular culture free reign across the consumer landscape. Decadent instincts become ascendant in any anti-natural environment. Nihilism eventually decays unto death, but may be mitigated for maximum advantage. Prime time snuff films bring high television ratings. Discontent is disbursed, then exploited for profit. The proper response is directed by consumer culture, which demands cash for overpriced goods and services even at the consequence of massive debt. Bankruptcy rates soar, but no matter. Credit may always be easily re-established. Lifestyles must be maintained as required by progress, which means meeting or exceeding preceding (de-)generations (one way or another). Hence while the technical world spirals upward, the natural slowly declines. Even the decadent becomes less creative. A short attention span would not even note any passing of stronger instincts, merely run with the herd mentality. Even the propagandist is affected by the induced perceptions. The eternal present becomes manifest. Our memories become surreal. The question is permitted, yet still forbidden, and non-existent besides. The critical becomes blunted by contact vectors, which slowly drain vitality by overwhelming with constant over-stimulation. Befitting a spent technological dream, in the end, only rusting hollow shells, with a shinney attractive exterior, will remain.
Occasionally, the technical morality will miscalculate actions and reactions. The difficulties must be handled effectively for maximum advantage. For example, an incompetent national foreign policy may lead to reprisal terrorist attacks, but these events allow and provide justification for retaliatory attacks, increasing intrusive regional influence, enrich the arms industry, and even facilitate establishing increased domestic restrictions on suspected internal threats, thus enriching the prison industry, etc. The chains that bind have many parallel links. All approaches must be extremely malleable. Goals are accomplished by overcoming social inertial forces, or merely providing the perception of change. Obscured by the spectacle of instantaneous gratification, this system may expand or contract relatively slowly in actuality. A perceptual shift is far more efficient than even the small level of actual change demanded by technical requirements. This state is not an automatic consequence of adaption of technique, rather a result of anti-natural and unbalanced development. Efficiency encompasses everything. A mixture of belief systems must be accommodated or manipulated for maximum advantages. Those beyond a certain mean (in the base sense of the word) are easy prey for exploitation as well. A common enemy is a most efficient means for instilling unity in a suitably divided and pacified population. A jester is even better. For instance, UFO believers are ridiculed, perhaps rightly so, but every unidentified flying object is not an alien from outer-space. An aborted military test flight might unfortunately stray into civilian territory, but most potential witnesses would likely avoid talking much, beyond the anecdotal, concerning a "far off streak in the sky." (Let alone file an official report.) Lest reputations suffer, only the attention starved would bother. The government need not even bother with a cover story. Technique does not just apply to machines. The path of least resistance is identified then utilized for maximum advantage. Any potential difficulties will also receive a refined, most efficient, non-invasive response as possible, which further pacifies the populace. Sensationalism swells and overloads the senses, and earns a tidy profit to boot. "Info-tainment" is not real news, but amuses and pacifies. The constant stimulation makes nothing very noticeable, even the corrupt and absurd. The technical morality does not care about cynicism, merely coopting expression for maximum advantage. The technical morality does not recognize any emotions, rather utilizes their effectiveness for maximum advantage. The unknown is exploited for maximum advantage. Any resistance is a measure of societal and cultural inertias, which may in turn be exploited for maximum advantage. Economic bad times create higher crime which may be utilized to saturate the media, which encourages fear and citizens stay indoors. Why bother with brute force methods like general curfews, when the population will do so by its own accord and pay money for it? Any unrest is vilified and demonized for maximum advantage. The meek stay meek. Maximum efficiency is constrained by thermodynamics, but may always be presented otherwise. Surpassing the natural, the technical morality will move into the realm of the anti-natural. No distinction is possible in the mythical realm of progress. The improvement can never end, although it must and will.
Any assertion contrary to the myth of progress will be met with circular arguments or proof by example. However, any system has components neither provable nor disprovable within itself. The whole is different than the sum of its parts. These theorems are true; it requires one sufficiently alienated to document this system created by the technical morality. The only self-awareness required is the extent of that disenfranchisement, and the ruthlessness to pull the wings off a fly... However, most believe such freedom from fear requires strength beyond them. Their perceptions have been lead like cattle. Under maximum advantage, "Nothing is forbidden; everything is permitted," may be allowed but will never occur in the resultant mediocre compromise. In truth, rather the opposite, but sweet lies are better. However, some errors are necessary.
[1] The generational concept is a relatively new concept. It requires rapid change, therefore different age ranges experience vastly different worlds. The resultant conflict inevitably occurs as a clash between verbal worlds. History is witnessed.
[2] As opposed to a rational or reactionary atheist. Progress and rebellion are both lies. Prayer is an order of rank higher than faith in progress.
1997 - January 1, 2001
Draft 3.0+
Maximum Advantage is not everything; only those things which matter in a technological society. Wholly encompassing, Maximum Advantage may be applied in all situations. Quickly mutable, Maximum Advantage will co-opt or corrupt any rival moral philosophies, belief systems, religions and long lasting traditions. Maximum Advantage is not for cowards nor heroes. Minimum effort expended for maximum gain, Maximum Advantage is the embodiment of mediocrity. Maximum Advantage exploits the mean and mitigates circumstances, thus allowing the course to always follow the path of least resistance. Maximum Advantage is morality applied technically. Maximum Advantage facilitates propaganda through efficient application of advertising, promotion and applied psychology. Encompassing attention spans and finances, Maximum Advantage is brevity. Maximum Advantage is the real 1984. Maximum Advantage is the next highest branch on a genealogical tree of Western morality. A technical morality for a technical age was inevitable. A product of reductionism, maximum advantage has arrived largely unacknowledged but hardly unnoticed. Maximum Advantage is speed. Degeneration is a by-product. Efficiency does not apply to everything. Nadir and zenith rapidly alternate and reverse in a slow downward spiral. Cultural declines occur over the span of a mere generation.[1] Past populations experienced either relatively stable transition, or forced conversion by the sword; maximum advantage is neither. A truly positivist morality would have likely produced a world nuclear funeral. The myth of progress was thankfully dulled and diluted just enough by the science it helped spawn. Although extremely destructive, sinister incarnations of deterministic thought produced blatant totalitarian machinations which were thankfully not viable. The liberal democracies prevailed, were contaminated by contact vectors, and became something different even while retaining old trappings and framework. Some continuity is necessary. Politics became an illusion due to excessive squabbling over scraps. Only technical efficiency was deemed unquestionably good. All else must be justified. A mediocre bastard child was spawned by a union with global capital and approaches maturity. Adolescence ended with the cold war.
Maximum Advantage is the moral code for the successful wielding of power in the United States. Maximum gain for minimum effort is desired in all things. The forward view is very myopic. Mitigation is attempted through subtle mutation but co-optation is the result. Maximum Advantage in all things is desired. The unity is all-encompassing. Nothing is perceived beyond its scope. Power must be unrestrained. Hence, economics becomes progressively more abstract. Reinstating the gold standard would be an economic disaster. That old verbal world has been superseded by the more evolved. Hence, outright coercion has be replaced by less direct methods. Two-million fill our national prisons. Yet we are free. Drugs have been exploited to maximum advantage in all things. One might wonder how many proverbial birds are being slain by the stone of the drug war. The technical morality learns from past mistakes. The American public only cares about body bags. Hence, we have bloodless wars where the only military footage allowed is at extreme heights. The Serbian and Iraqi Population bled, but their leaders remain in power. Thus military expenditures and imperialism are justified by digging up not-quite-neutralized threats. As long as nobody is drafted and only elite pilots are put in the line of fire, the population is apathetic. Nobody is forced to join the military. In addition, legitimacy is conferred by international coalitions after being rubber stamped by the United Nations Security Council. It shows that even pacifist sentiments and constructs may be exploited to maximum advantages. The population is united by abstractions and myths, like progress and freedom. Loyalty is maintained by statistical prosperity. If the statistics say the nation is prosperous, then it must be healthy. Data and definitions are skewed for maximum advantage in maintaining system status quo. Socialization is supplanted by a mass media verbal world supporting the consumerist world view and calling it truth. Rather than just another historical transition, the present is portrayed as eternal, but instead stagnates. However, even the failures may be exploited to maximum advantage in all things. Criminals sell paper and boost ratings. The Judicial Branch is an industry. A niche exists for all. Radical change may be portrayed as inconsequential and nothing be labeled as something, but that does not make either case so. The world moves toward the anti-natural and will pay the price. Bankruptcy only works in court. Emotions may be manipulated. The opportunist is never immune. Dissident elements may be negated without crackdowns. Their message is inconsequential to the present technical moral scheme of maximum advantage in all things. Even while promoting the opposite, the concrete is always valued over the abstract. The system creates itself. Individuals ride the wave. Some fall. Others prosper, including some dissenting voice. Ralph Nadir is a millionaire. All are products. The elite knows it.
Though not the cause, the strict positivist mentality pervading industrial societies, while infecting others, produced two World Wars and the Cold War. The human factor has failed to develop at the same pace as its tools and toys. The mental energy necessary has been directed toward progress. Rigid mechanistic doctrines were devised which fit the times but not the future. Victory was assured by the dialectic, which proved itself wrong. Nothing is inevitable except death and taxes. Nationalism proved stronger than international worker solidarity. Properly utilized, tribal rivalries are easier to promote and maintain. Xenophobic propaganda does not rely upon reason or rationale. However, the result created an unstable condition of nuclear brinkmanship culminating in the Cuban missile crisis. Excessive rhetoric can be exceedingly antagonistic, and required toning down. Propaganda became less inflammatory and over-stated. When employed too readily, blatant propaganda becomes extremely hollow. A softer touch used to maximum advantage in all things was required and developed accordingly. Art was co-opted by both propaganda and advertising industry. The emerging technological society would not allow itself to be destroyed. Rather quick destruction could be averted while enriching the arms industry. The combination was simply the most efficient societal means. The technological system encroached upon all others, meeting the approval of the positivist mindset, because its parts may be measured. One cannot quantify emotions. Hence, the qualified has no value except to be exploited for maximum advantage in all things. Manipulation assures concern to be a liability. The mediocre becomes ascendant. Slave and master moralities were quickly absorbed into the technological framework, and synthesized into a common median. The resultant system, developed by exploiting and encouraging conflict, allows justification for increased efficiency essential for technical propagation. Unlike harsher systemic schemes, the minimum effort necessary for maximum gain is the approved standard applied. The resultant mythos created is a hollow mockery. Progress rolling over everything, defining all valuations by drenching the earth in blood if necessary, is perceived as good in a world long past such quaint notions. However, progress does provide some continuity for us drones chained to its capital-controlled economic system. Else all would perceive the drift. A supposed link with past traditions has been a common error during all ages. The current era is no different. The base means are dredged for maximum advantage, a value system which attaches parasitically to any available host as a means of least action. Rebellion is subdued by commodification of its products. The elite gain by the stability necessary for maximum technical efficiency. The resultant cultural inertia often produces weak worthless decedents, whom mean absolutely nothing, slowly withering away in stupid angst. Only their money saves their useless existence from being stomped into mulch. The slow mediocre spiral drags all down by subduing natural reactions in favor of anti-natural meaning. Inefficiency is evil, but the walking dead are an abomination. Maximum advantage is not destined to be long lasting, but will permeate everything of value in a skewed technological society. The hyper-rational must allow outlets for expression, but never enough to upset the established order. Any popular appeal will be bought and sold to a hyper-stimulated populace craving new diversions. Existing pathways are exploited to natural advantage in all things by superceding nature itself. Corruption is a by-product which must be minimized by expending very little, thus little may be corrupted. Hence, decay is evidenced over collapse. While allowing less room for discontent, passivity is always encouraged and valued over submission. Populations do not rebel over boredom.
Altruism is not conducive nor compatible with maximum advantage. Its appearance has ulterior motivation. A large corporation may donate large amounts to charities, but will milk it for maximum advantage. Big Business only supports cancer research, because its pollution may be a cause. The issues become entangled and confused. Any debate regarding globalism grinds to a halt in a maze of pros and cons. The larger questions are not even considered. Progress is not viewed as a myth, but rather a definition drawn by little more than sentiment. Value judgements are supplied by propaganda, both pro and con. Most just ignore large-scale concerns and continue with their daily lives. Some things are simply never contemplated by those seeing no profit or profit in such things. The big picture is far away but the rent is due on the 5th of the month. Immediate concerns supersede all else. The periphery is less tangible and easier to manage. A landscape is constructed where before only a monolith existed to be venerated or assaulted. How could anyone, besides the insane, completely question an all-encompassing vista?
The higher technical morality supersedes older traditional moralities by smothering. Good and Evil are re-defined, but not re-evaluated, according to the dictates of technical efficiency. The absolute adherence demanded has created a higher morality above all else. Propaganda is the language of the new mediocre religion of progress for purposes of a lowest-common mean unity. Stagnation while scurrying about supposedly promotes stability. The clergy are simply supplanted by technicians, which even a thinking atheist [2] might admit is alarming. In the modern incarnation, the priest has only verbal authority, rather than the full trappings of the ultra-rational and re-definable progress. One cannot see God. The protestant reformation is long over. The religious types have no power beyond annoying rhetoric. The possible social consequences inherent in cultural rejection of religion may pose serious difficulties. According to the 19th Century themes of Dostoevsky, the removal of God from peasant societies leaves a void allowing murder with a good conscious. Russia certainly proved his predictions correct. The opportunistic will sight upon any available target. The population is a different matter. Its restraints must be removed. The priest would see slaves, but the technical would eliminate all humanity from consideration, ideally replacing it with a stagnant rationale. The result is lower than slavery. At least religion becomes decadent and decays into something tolerable, or at least easily ignored. Development is hampered by religion, but denied by technique which produces nothing different only better. Absolutes are anti-natural. Faith in the anti-natural leads to ruin. However, the technical insulates through its inherent efficiency, effectively obscuring everything outside its spotlight. Hence, the individual becomes unable to discern differences, and therefore may be exploited to maximum advantage by the most efficient means. Socialization is blunted by unstable environments masked by the delusion of stability. The force required to maintain the facade must be legitimized by propaganda techniques. Intertwined among short and long term concerns, a double-spiral guides the ascension of technical reality. The most effective delivery vectors often act through the mechanisms of market bastard capitalism. The populace actually pays to be propagandized in the ideal docility required for the efficient operation of this technical society. Even elite classes become complacent by propagating the resultant system, because these groups benefit most rapidly and maintain their position. They believe their own bullshit. The most adaptable may become the new ruling class, but will see their heirs generally stagnate due to intellectual inbreeding and otherwise. Hence, dynasties are quickly toppled, although a parasitic leisure class by-product often emerges to be replaced by fresh meat. Hence, some artificial circulation occurs, thus enabling certain myths like the American Dream.
Often society and culture become confused by being perceived as synonymous. A blurring effect is maintained for maximum advantage in all things, thus eliminating any possibility of distinction. History is erased, not by decree, but by context. Everything hitherto has lead to this height of attainment. The shining examples of strip malls and lame entertainment, are rationalized and excused by real accomplishments such as sanitation and infrastructure. Successive generations score higher on cognitive intelligence test, but becomes more stupid. The current crop will be eaten alive when the global economy depresses. The social dynamic has been supplanted by allowing malleable popular culture free reign across the consumer landscape. Decadent instincts become ascendant in any anti-natural environment. Nihilism eventually decays unto death, but may be mitigated for maximum advantage. Prime time snuff films bring high television ratings. Discontent is disbursed, then exploited for profit. The proper response is directed by consumer culture, which demands cash for overpriced goods and services even at the consequence of massive debt. Bankruptcy rates soar, but no matter. Credit may always be easily re-established. Lifestyles must be maintained as required by progress, which means meeting or exceeding preceding (de-)generations (one way or another). Hence while the technical world spirals upward, the natural slowly declines. Even the decadent becomes less creative. A short attention span would not even note any passing of stronger instincts, merely run with the herd mentality. Even the propagandist is affected by the induced perceptions. The eternal present becomes manifest. Our memories become surreal. The question is permitted, yet still forbidden, and non-existent besides. The critical becomes blunted by contact vectors, which slowly drain vitality by overwhelming with constant over-stimulation. Befitting a spent technological dream, in the end, only rusting hollow shells, with a shinney attractive exterior, will remain.
Occasionally, the technical morality will miscalculate actions and reactions. The difficulties must be handled effectively for maximum advantage. For example, an incompetent national foreign policy may lead to reprisal terrorist attacks, but these events allow and provide justification for retaliatory attacks, increasing intrusive regional influence, enrich the arms industry, and even facilitate establishing increased domestic restrictions on suspected internal threats, thus enriching the prison industry, etc. The chains that bind have many parallel links. All approaches must be extremely malleable. Goals are accomplished by overcoming social inertial forces, or merely providing the perception of change. Obscured by the spectacle of instantaneous gratification, this system may expand or contract relatively slowly in actuality. A perceptual shift is far more efficient than even the small level of actual change demanded by technical requirements. This state is not an automatic consequence of adaption of technique, rather a result of anti-natural and unbalanced development. Efficiency encompasses everything. A mixture of belief systems must be accommodated or manipulated for maximum advantages. Those beyond a certain mean (in the base sense of the word) are easy prey for exploitation as well. A common enemy is a most efficient means for instilling unity in a suitably divided and pacified population. A jester is even better. For instance, UFO believers are ridiculed, perhaps rightly so, but every unidentified flying object is not an alien from outer-space. An aborted military test flight might unfortunately stray into civilian territory, but most potential witnesses would likely avoid talking much, beyond the anecdotal, concerning a "far off streak in the sky." (Let alone file an official report.) Lest reputations suffer, only the attention starved would bother. The government need not even bother with a cover story. Technique does not just apply to machines. The path of least resistance is identified then utilized for maximum advantage. Any potential difficulties will also receive a refined, most efficient, non-invasive response as possible, which further pacifies the populace. Sensationalism swells and overloads the senses, and earns a tidy profit to boot. "Info-tainment" is not real news, but amuses and pacifies. The constant stimulation makes nothing very noticeable, even the corrupt and absurd. The technical morality does not care about cynicism, merely coopting expression for maximum advantage. The technical morality does not recognize any emotions, rather utilizes their effectiveness for maximum advantage. The unknown is exploited for maximum advantage. Any resistance is a measure of societal and cultural inertias, which may in turn be exploited for maximum advantage. Economic bad times create higher crime which may be utilized to saturate the media, which encourages fear and citizens stay indoors. Why bother with brute force methods like general curfews, when the population will do so by its own accord and pay money for it? Any unrest is vilified and demonized for maximum advantage. The meek stay meek. Maximum efficiency is constrained by thermodynamics, but may always be presented otherwise. Surpassing the natural, the technical morality will move into the realm of the anti-natural. No distinction is possible in the mythical realm of progress. The improvement can never end, although it must and will.
Any assertion contrary to the myth of progress will be met with circular arguments or proof by example. However, any system has components neither provable nor disprovable within itself. The whole is different than the sum of its parts. These theorems are true; it requires one sufficiently alienated to document this system created by the technical morality. The only self-awareness required is the extent of that disenfranchisement, and the ruthlessness to pull the wings off a fly... However, most believe such freedom from fear requires strength beyond them. Their perceptions have been lead like cattle. Under maximum advantage, "Nothing is forbidden; everything is permitted," may be allowed but will never occur in the resultant mediocre compromise. In truth, rather the opposite, but sweet lies are better. However, some errors are necessary.
[1] The generational concept is a relatively new concept. It requires rapid change, therefore different age ranges experience vastly different worlds. The resultant conflict inevitably occurs as a clash between verbal worlds. History is witnessed.
[2] As opposed to a rational or reactionary atheist. Progress and rebellion are both lies. Prayer is an order of rank higher than faith in progress.
1997 - January 1, 2001
Thursday, August 26, 2004
Verbal Worlds
This term is taken from the English translation of various works by Ellul. At the time, a similar less developed concept, which I called Virtual Worlds, was emerging in my own notes, but mostly concerning imagery. The synthesis will be called by the former in deference, and also to stay away from any association with virtual reality.
Draft 4.0
i. On the Herd:
The herd mentality has many manifestations. Its shadows are cast across many levels and extremes of human existence. Although corrupted by the decadent and anti-natural, the herd may be considered a natural consequence of human social interaction. The degree evident denotes the level of the anti-natural. Cultural sickness and decay, which should not be confused with parasitic adaptation, is a consequence of ignoring the world. The distasteful is not necessarily ill. The appealing is not always healthy. Strength is always corruptible. Denial is so much easier. Eclipsing those dark bodies which more slowly orbit their respective stars, stagnation may appear the fastest possible change or progress. The herd gazes transfixed upon the brilliance of the night sky. The corner of a painting is more than a brush stroke. The difference will never be appreciated by eyes dazzled by the darkness. Preservation instincts are turned inward, rather than outward, and degenerated by the alluring view. Eventually no different way can never even be conceived, let alone realized. Eventually, the blind herd tumbles off a precipice of its own making. We call that denial.
Progress is often seen by the herd as a magnificent shining fortress atop a distant hill containing all the promise of tomorrow and the potential for realization of all ideals. History contains many examples where the reality proved itself far more base. Utopia is a lie. The lowest instincts may be necessary for the continuation of the species and herd. Else why build anything or establish tradition for those generations following? The crucial unasked question pertains to whether our ideas have any actual basis in reality. Being susceptible to false projections and lies, a mix is not always possible to weigh and balance. The herd always reasons worse than the individual. Inaccuracies or falsehoods are greatly magnified and mutated. The blood-drenched 20th Century illustrated the tendency for popular appeal to prove itself disastrously wrong. Always proving lower than its loftiest seeds by necessity, the popular is base. The practical is often discounted when surveying the future, and best learned by ruin. The world is never neat and tidy. Anything may be justified in the name of a supposed higher good. The herd will accept much when popular appeals are accepted by the instincts of preservation, which may be irrational to an extreme. Lacking any grounded reference points, the herd will act upon impulse, and may be exploited accordingly. In the past, religions were formed thus among those spiritually adrift. Recent quests have followed technical routes. Preservation proves a strong herd instinct, but only considers the whole, whether it be nations or peoples. The populace must receive some benefit for any system to run smoothly. Security and comfort are perceived as indicators of stability. Were these foundational pillars undermined, the system built atop empty consumerism will collapse under a mountain of unfulfilled promises. Successful systems are stable, partly made so by a minimum level of apparent uncertainty. Wheels which never stop turning propagate belief even while spinning in mud. Only the roar of the engine is acknowledged. The believer promotes confidence. On the other hand, agreement is mostly unnecessary, as long as all factions are confident in the system to resolve disputes one way or another. Hence, anything not encompassed will either be ignored or demonized for maximum advantage in all things. The masses must legitimize any system for greatest endurance and internal stability. External threats are best mitigated along with any internal consequences. Issues become unified and confused. Vietnam was not correctly managed. Therefore the conflict produced internal strife, and eventually ended in defeat. A media saturated population lives vicariously. Soldiers returning home in body bags, for a pointless and brutal cause, brought home that conflict like no other before or since. One saw the war nightly. Such things had never before occurred. Too much public information is detrimental to any campaign. Data is an efficient substitute. Wars must endanger a minimum of personal. The officially released footage looks like a video game with poor resolution. The human element is mostly eliminated at these heights and speeds. Meanwhile, coverage is just one more distraction among many. The NATO war against Serbia was a minor concern for many. Yet, the Serbs bled just like the Vietnamese, or the Iraqis... Besides, the perception existed that they deserved it. The propaganda mill relentlessly flamed such sentiments. As the economy was perceived strong and no American casualties occurred, the populace was unaffected and mostly indifferent. The populace shares a common socialization and cultural mythology, including freedom and progress, which may be exploited to maximum advantage. The nation reigns strong and uncontested in most world matters. Employment prospects are good, if often mediocre, which keeps the populace busy. Only the idle question. Those busy working do not have the time or motivation for civil unrest. In addition, various electronic and other distractions compete for individual attention. Fewer social connections are maintained and people grow more physically isolated. Hyper-stimulated by the constant dull roar, weary from working to pay for consuming, the individual becomes mentally withdraws and becomes isolated from the natural world. No alternative to the present power structure may be conceived, therefore change is sought through reform, and legitimate channels. The greatest questions are never even conceived. The individual is immersed in a verbal world, created by beliefs constantly reinforced through shared associations and beliefs. The mass media is a major point of transmittal. The contact vectors affect even the elite and powerful. Few question everything. Some have less reason. Why give up comfort and security, even when it kills? Dissenters are demonized. Consequently any associations, no matter how distant, are painted in a dangerous light. Effectively, the system is never challenged beyond the superficial. All argument is over details rather than the larger picture. Value beyond dollar amounts are never discussed. Death is exploited to the maximum advantage of the system. The herd does not like to be reminded of death, and blinds itself even while hurling from a cliff. Survival instincts become decadent when isolated from the natural world. Verbal worlds may always be manipulated by base appeals, and nothing less so than death anxiety. A kind of death where few see beyond, the unknown becomes the end. We call that fear.
ii. Verbal worlds are shared perceptual environment formed and shaped over time by common experiences, beliefs and associations. The binding threads are many, not entirely universal, spun in a complicated pattern never fully appreciated, entwining almost all to degree. Mostly second hand, a general comprehension is always partially abstract. Direct experience or witness is rare. The weavers do not even understand their own weave. Propaganda is a preferred material. However, this strongest strand material is also the thickest and becomes easily tangled. Hence, even the propagandist becomes intertwined like a spider caught in its own web, and identifies with the product. Weaker threads, combined in a whole, are stronger and more easily managed with those from other sources. Ties may be secured by multiple connections. Eventually, the advantage becomes apparent and technique is universally applied. Those failing cannot compete and fall by the wayside. Eventually, even the opposition avails the same methods, attaches to the whole, and becomes as strongly bound as any other. Curiously, none will ever admit it. We call that pride.
iii. Verbal worlds emerge over time, and consequently experience inertia. Older forms may be grasped by certain segments for a variety of reasons. In the western world, mechanisms have evolved for apparently overcoming conservative tendencies. We call that progress.
iv. Verbal worlds are integrated with the personality, incorporated through the socialization process and mass influences, like religion, media (including advertising), and propaganda[1]. Reinforcement is achieved through family and peers, superiors, elected officials and others such as veterans. The whole comprises the system, through many different avenues, which promotes stability through its own promulgation. The individual perceives a benefit based on subsequent comparative standards and advantage. After weathering a few storms, one does not want to upset stability. We choose it, because we could theoretically walk away. Most never will. We call that freedom.
v. Verbal Worlds promote certain activities beneficial to the collective system as a whole. Through their acceptance and legitimacy, verbal worlds facilitate economic arrangements. Monetary schemes are therefore maintained by economic confidence reinforced by collective belief concerning the strength of the economy as a whole. We call that clout.
vi. Containing a reflection of those things best unspoken, cognitive development may dictate a certain predisposition to acceptance of verbal worlds. Terrible deeds may be thus justified. We call that war crimes.
vii. Verbal worlds are based upon, but also create and sustain their own mythology. In the U.S.A., we call that the American Dream.
viii. Verbal worlds may only compete, compare or contrast with other verbal worlds. Science and religion conflict due to some degree of fundamental incompatibilities in their inherent verbal world views.[2] The technical and faith are very different things, but often find expression with the same terms, like progress and freedom. Verbal worlds speak their own language and dialect. Having become decadent, the spiritual is thus trampled further by attempting to incorporate these concepts. Contact vectors find success at the weakest points. Life becomes pointless by lacking any greater meaning. We call that confusion.
ix. Verbal worlds are shadows of a will to preservation. Most productively accomplished by stability, a certain appeal is necessary. Lacking any external reference, stagnation is mistaken for stability. Hence, verbal worlds may sometimes crumble very abruptly. The decay of the Soviet Union is a prime example. The Marxist myths could not dispel the underlying reality. A new verbal world may yet rise out of these ashes, but never return. Other verbal worlds are best in the open, away from excessive shade. Verbal worlds affirm our actions. We call that freewill.
x. Verbal Worlds are often obtuse when exploited for maximum advantage. Nothing beyond the reductive may explain or justify any action or deed. Different objectives, based on the same concept, merit increasingly less concern. We call that apathy.
[1] Being a verbal world applied spiritually, religion is a far higher order of rank and therefore different...
[2] Not all religions have produced verbal worlds...
1996 - January 1, 2001
Draft 4.0
i. On the Herd:
The herd mentality has many manifestations. Its shadows are cast across many levels and extremes of human existence. Although corrupted by the decadent and anti-natural, the herd may be considered a natural consequence of human social interaction. The degree evident denotes the level of the anti-natural. Cultural sickness and decay, which should not be confused with parasitic adaptation, is a consequence of ignoring the world. The distasteful is not necessarily ill. The appealing is not always healthy. Strength is always corruptible. Denial is so much easier. Eclipsing those dark bodies which more slowly orbit their respective stars, stagnation may appear the fastest possible change or progress. The herd gazes transfixed upon the brilliance of the night sky. The corner of a painting is more than a brush stroke. The difference will never be appreciated by eyes dazzled by the darkness. Preservation instincts are turned inward, rather than outward, and degenerated by the alluring view. Eventually no different way can never even be conceived, let alone realized. Eventually, the blind herd tumbles off a precipice of its own making. We call that denial.
Progress is often seen by the herd as a magnificent shining fortress atop a distant hill containing all the promise of tomorrow and the potential for realization of all ideals. History contains many examples where the reality proved itself far more base. Utopia is a lie. The lowest instincts may be necessary for the continuation of the species and herd. Else why build anything or establish tradition for those generations following? The crucial unasked question pertains to whether our ideas have any actual basis in reality. Being susceptible to false projections and lies, a mix is not always possible to weigh and balance. The herd always reasons worse than the individual. Inaccuracies or falsehoods are greatly magnified and mutated. The blood-drenched 20th Century illustrated the tendency for popular appeal to prove itself disastrously wrong. Always proving lower than its loftiest seeds by necessity, the popular is base. The practical is often discounted when surveying the future, and best learned by ruin. The world is never neat and tidy. Anything may be justified in the name of a supposed higher good. The herd will accept much when popular appeals are accepted by the instincts of preservation, which may be irrational to an extreme. Lacking any grounded reference points, the herd will act upon impulse, and may be exploited accordingly. In the past, religions were formed thus among those spiritually adrift. Recent quests have followed technical routes. Preservation proves a strong herd instinct, but only considers the whole, whether it be nations or peoples. The populace must receive some benefit for any system to run smoothly. Security and comfort are perceived as indicators of stability. Were these foundational pillars undermined, the system built atop empty consumerism will collapse under a mountain of unfulfilled promises. Successful systems are stable, partly made so by a minimum level of apparent uncertainty. Wheels which never stop turning propagate belief even while spinning in mud. Only the roar of the engine is acknowledged. The believer promotes confidence. On the other hand, agreement is mostly unnecessary, as long as all factions are confident in the system to resolve disputes one way or another. Hence, anything not encompassed will either be ignored or demonized for maximum advantage in all things. The masses must legitimize any system for greatest endurance and internal stability. External threats are best mitigated along with any internal consequences. Issues become unified and confused. Vietnam was not correctly managed. Therefore the conflict produced internal strife, and eventually ended in defeat. A media saturated population lives vicariously. Soldiers returning home in body bags, for a pointless and brutal cause, brought home that conflict like no other before or since. One saw the war nightly. Such things had never before occurred. Too much public information is detrimental to any campaign. Data is an efficient substitute. Wars must endanger a minimum of personal. The officially released footage looks like a video game with poor resolution. The human element is mostly eliminated at these heights and speeds. Meanwhile, coverage is just one more distraction among many. The NATO war against Serbia was a minor concern for many. Yet, the Serbs bled just like the Vietnamese, or the Iraqis... Besides, the perception existed that they deserved it. The propaganda mill relentlessly flamed such sentiments. As the economy was perceived strong and no American casualties occurred, the populace was unaffected and mostly indifferent. The populace shares a common socialization and cultural mythology, including freedom and progress, which may be exploited to maximum advantage. The nation reigns strong and uncontested in most world matters. Employment prospects are good, if often mediocre, which keeps the populace busy. Only the idle question. Those busy working do not have the time or motivation for civil unrest. In addition, various electronic and other distractions compete for individual attention. Fewer social connections are maintained and people grow more physically isolated. Hyper-stimulated by the constant dull roar, weary from working to pay for consuming, the individual becomes mentally withdraws and becomes isolated from the natural world. No alternative to the present power structure may be conceived, therefore change is sought through reform, and legitimate channels. The greatest questions are never even conceived. The individual is immersed in a verbal world, created by beliefs constantly reinforced through shared associations and beliefs. The mass media is a major point of transmittal. The contact vectors affect even the elite and powerful. Few question everything. Some have less reason. Why give up comfort and security, even when it kills? Dissenters are demonized. Consequently any associations, no matter how distant, are painted in a dangerous light. Effectively, the system is never challenged beyond the superficial. All argument is over details rather than the larger picture. Value beyond dollar amounts are never discussed. Death is exploited to the maximum advantage of the system. The herd does not like to be reminded of death, and blinds itself even while hurling from a cliff. Survival instincts become decadent when isolated from the natural world. Verbal worlds may always be manipulated by base appeals, and nothing less so than death anxiety. A kind of death where few see beyond, the unknown becomes the end. We call that fear.
ii. Verbal worlds are shared perceptual environment formed and shaped over time by common experiences, beliefs and associations. The binding threads are many, not entirely universal, spun in a complicated pattern never fully appreciated, entwining almost all to degree. Mostly second hand, a general comprehension is always partially abstract. Direct experience or witness is rare. The weavers do not even understand their own weave. Propaganda is a preferred material. However, this strongest strand material is also the thickest and becomes easily tangled. Hence, even the propagandist becomes intertwined like a spider caught in its own web, and identifies with the product. Weaker threads, combined in a whole, are stronger and more easily managed with those from other sources. Ties may be secured by multiple connections. Eventually, the advantage becomes apparent and technique is universally applied. Those failing cannot compete and fall by the wayside. Eventually, even the opposition avails the same methods, attaches to the whole, and becomes as strongly bound as any other. Curiously, none will ever admit it. We call that pride.
iii. Verbal worlds emerge over time, and consequently experience inertia. Older forms may be grasped by certain segments for a variety of reasons. In the western world, mechanisms have evolved for apparently overcoming conservative tendencies. We call that progress.
iv. Verbal worlds are integrated with the personality, incorporated through the socialization process and mass influences, like religion, media (including advertising), and propaganda[1]. Reinforcement is achieved through family and peers, superiors, elected officials and others such as veterans. The whole comprises the system, through many different avenues, which promotes stability through its own promulgation. The individual perceives a benefit based on subsequent comparative standards and advantage. After weathering a few storms, one does not want to upset stability. We choose it, because we could theoretically walk away. Most never will. We call that freedom.
v. Verbal Worlds promote certain activities beneficial to the collective system as a whole. Through their acceptance and legitimacy, verbal worlds facilitate economic arrangements. Monetary schemes are therefore maintained by economic confidence reinforced by collective belief concerning the strength of the economy as a whole. We call that clout.
vi. Containing a reflection of those things best unspoken, cognitive development may dictate a certain predisposition to acceptance of verbal worlds. Terrible deeds may be thus justified. We call that war crimes.
vii. Verbal worlds are based upon, but also create and sustain their own mythology. In the U.S.A., we call that the American Dream.
viii. Verbal worlds may only compete, compare or contrast with other verbal worlds. Science and religion conflict due to some degree of fundamental incompatibilities in their inherent verbal world views.[2] The technical and faith are very different things, but often find expression with the same terms, like progress and freedom. Verbal worlds speak their own language and dialect. Having become decadent, the spiritual is thus trampled further by attempting to incorporate these concepts. Contact vectors find success at the weakest points. Life becomes pointless by lacking any greater meaning. We call that confusion.
ix. Verbal worlds are shadows of a will to preservation. Most productively accomplished by stability, a certain appeal is necessary. Lacking any external reference, stagnation is mistaken for stability. Hence, verbal worlds may sometimes crumble very abruptly. The decay of the Soviet Union is a prime example. The Marxist myths could not dispel the underlying reality. A new verbal world may yet rise out of these ashes, but never return. Other verbal worlds are best in the open, away from excessive shade. Verbal worlds affirm our actions. We call that freewill.
x. Verbal Worlds are often obtuse when exploited for maximum advantage. Nothing beyond the reductive may explain or justify any action or deed. Different objectives, based on the same concept, merit increasingly less concern. We call that apathy.
[1] Being a verbal world applied spiritually, religion is a far higher order of rank and therefore different...
[2] Not all religions have produced verbal worlds...
1996 - January 1, 2001
Welcome
Propaganda is an interesting subject. I treat it as an art and a science. I allow my Jungian shadow free reign.
As far as my motivation is concerned: I find projections amusing. Mostly, analysis is flawed by simplistic reductions. In addition, I find it annoying that I feel the need to illuminate that which is obvious. If you can't find it, then you are not looking very hard. Of course, you might not know how to look or have the time. Too many seem to feel compelled to be always doing something. They simply don't take the time to reflect on anything. Many can only be expected to take notice by the application of a blunt instrument. The result is both enjoyable (to me anyway) and educational (to me anyway). In addition, I continually require a focus. I do not require validation--only an outlet. You should be happy I have one. My psychological applications have always proven effective. I have never had to lift a (trigger) finger. I prefer agitation without doing anything. Fear is the best weapon. The record has shown the ease.
The following few postings will be excerpts from my earlier writings. We might as well be on the same page. Some are not even shadow.
As far as my motivation is concerned: I find projections amusing. Mostly, analysis is flawed by simplistic reductions. In addition, I find it annoying that I feel the need to illuminate that which is obvious. If you can't find it, then you are not looking very hard. Of course, you might not know how to look or have the time. Too many seem to feel compelled to be always doing something. They simply don't take the time to reflect on anything. Many can only be expected to take notice by the application of a blunt instrument. The result is both enjoyable (to me anyway) and educational (to me anyway). In addition, I continually require a focus. I do not require validation--only an outlet. You should be happy I have one. My psychological applications have always proven effective. I have never had to lift a (trigger) finger. I prefer agitation without doing anything. Fear is the best weapon. The record has shown the ease.
The following few postings will be excerpts from my earlier writings. We might as well be on the same page. Some are not even shadow.
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