On May 8, 11:48=A0pm, Fred Weiss <fredwe...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> On May 8, 1:22 am, Immortalist <reanimater_2...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> > Isn't the cor****ate world of influences really a "distributed
> > despotism" where we might be free to choose but it is like a multiple
> > choice question where many of the answers don't cover many of the
> > possibilities?
>
> I've actually thought of it terms of a similar metaphor. But it's not
> only a "cor****ate world of influences". It is the "established wisdom"
> in general on almost any subject - and it is actually that "wisdom"
> which influences cor****ate thinking as much as anything else.
>
> In terms of *fundamental* ideas, the universities - and intellectuals
> in general - are much more influential than the cor****ations. They may
> not think they are - but think they should - and in fact they do.
>
> In any culture in any given time there will be "multiple choice
> questions" within a certain limited range. Radical ideas only appeal
> to a small minority. But some of those ideas, with concerted effort
> and great determination (often taking years, even decades), eventually
> come to the fore, even prevail. In a free society, neither
> cor****ations or any other institution can stop them.
>
> "All the armies of the world cannot stop an idea when its time has
> come" -
> Victor Hugo
>
> Fred Weiss
What I meant was that if "I am convinced that if despotism ever came
to be established in the United States it would find it even more
difficult to overcome the habits that have sprung from freedom than to
conquer the love of freedom itself." and cor****ate research cracks the
code of persuasion then they may be able to overcome the habits that
have sprung from freedom, I think.
|
