The Whips of a New Inquisition.

[statsman]

Oh yeah, I forgot the willful blindness. But let's leave that aside for the time being.

So, not loving to be whipped is willful blindness, is it? Charming posts.

[roc_]

So, not loving to be whipped is willful blindness, is it? Charming posts.

I understood you to be saying that there are no whips. Yes, perhaps there was an ill advised facetiousness in saying the Irish seem to love being whipped. But that is how it appears to me. You must admit I may have some cause to think this way.

[roc_]

Out of curiosity, do you believe yourself outside that little diagram you posted ?

It's not so much a case of anyone being inside or outside. The point is that it is a self-stabilising system. Each box or device on the diagram has its own characteristics, and it is those characteristics that make it self-stabilising in its own way. For example, looking at the mass media box or device, we know that its characteristics include:

a. Deeply entrenched routines and institutional values predominate all aspects of its operations
b. It is closely tied to the political establishment in one way or another
c. It needs to survive in a market-lead economy (entailing that business and entertainment priorities usually dominate)
d. It must keep advertisers happy (who promote values of materialism and consumerism as well as a conservative respect for the status quo and establishment.)
e. It is under largely monopoly ownership.
f. News is looked on purely as a commodity that must be sold.

Etc.

So what a journalist or editor contributes is inherently restricted by these considerations. It is difficult for them to say something over and above these restrictions. Anyway, they have learnt it all their lives through their institutional training. There are other aspects to this institutional training too, for example, the training in the reverence of other modern secular deities like skeptical materialism, copernican objectivism, worship of science, government and their institutions, blind acceptance of the authority of our law books etc. And conversely, the demonisation of other old deities, like the Augustinian view that inner illumination was necessary to possess knowledge, etc.

In a similar manner, looking at the box or device that I have termed 'the political and business establishment', it is not as if the actors within that box are not just as institutionalised as those within the mass media box, as above. In fact, they are probably much worse. Yes, they now and again have an input at comparator B. But, they are in thrall to a will that is not entirely their own.

So it's not a case of believing oneself to be outside the box, so to speak. We all live within it.

It is just the case that when man invents new gods, certain things come about.

[PlanetBertie]

Would this be an ecumenical matter Ted?

[roc_]

Would this be an ecumenical matter Ted?

More a rant at the pious.

************************ this reverence and piety for capitalism (whether unfettered capitalism, crony capitalism, social democratic capitalism or whatever).

And ************************ this reverence and piety for the modern manifestation of so called democracy as per earlier posts on this thread.

Anyway, these are inextricably connected. They are nearly the same thing.

[statsman]

I understood you to be saying that there are no whips. Yes, perhaps there was an ill advised facetiousness in saying the Irish seem to love being whipped. But that is how it appears to me. You must admit I may have some cause to think this way.

I admit nothing; not even when being whipped.

[IrishTom]

Did you ever see the documentary "The Century of Self : Manufacturing of Consent".

It captures the essence of the dominant religion that controls the West, in the Modern era.
And how it really, is just to keep Wall Street fat and happy.
The concept of "the sheeple" and "bread & circuses" is glaringly obvious.

You obey the instruction to consume, therefore you are acceptable, and allowed to be happy.

I think you missed the over all point of the century of self Analyzer,

The main point of that documentary was showing you how we are controlled today, it is not through religion but through finely tuned psycho analytic based techniques developed by Edward Bernays who was a nephew of Sigmund Freud.

The current dominant systems in our political world is just an illusion to make you feel like you have a choice and fool you into thinking you actually can make a difference by voting, the reality is democracy is an illusion, all the politicians are the same, how many times do we have to see the process repeated and suffer the same let downs by these politicians before we realise that?