3.7
April 29, 2012

Freedom of Choice: Truth or Illusion?

Free?

Or more like Free to choose your prison?

Click to make huge.

 (Via Reddit)

Still freedom hungry? Let’s make a Noam Chomksy sandwich. I’ll have radical democracy + linguistics + misuse of mass media.

“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.”

And…

“All over the place, from the popular culture to the propaganda system, there is constant pressure to make people feel that they are helpless, that the only role they can have is to ratify decisions and to consume.”

And…

Neoliberal democracy. Instead of citizens, it produces consumers. Instead of communities, it produces shopping malls. The net result is an atomized society of disengaged individuals who feel demoralized and socially powerless. In sum, neoliberalism is the immediate and foremost enemy of genuine participatory democracy, not just in the United States but across the planet, and will be for the foreseeable future.”

 

*Bonus: Creative activism. Morgan Spurlock turns himself into an ad.

“You have a couple of choices. One choice is to allow yourself to be co-opted a little bit. You dip your toe in the water. Pretty soon you put your foot in the water, pretty soon you’re swimming. And you don’t think you’re changing, you just say okay, I’ll do it a little more. You end up swimming. That’s what they’re anticipating. The other option is to resist. And maybe end up in Montana, you know, growing your own food.”

~ Noam Chomsky (interview with Morgan Spurlock in The Greatest Movie Ever Sold)

 

But… I am not a product.

“I’m a human being, goddammit. My life has value!”

Network (1976) Howard Beale, the mad prophet of the airwaves. {We’ve got a huge problem when madness rings as true today as it did 40 years ago.}

 

Now is a good time to breathe…

The good news is that real life is still unscripted. And if you don’t like prison, you better spend your time loving and working a way out.

 

~ Like elephant culture & enlightened society on Facebook. ~

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