Political language -- and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists -- is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.
In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
If you want a vision of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face - forever.
But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.
Sometimes the first duty of intelligent men is the restatement of the obvious.
Whatever is funny is subversive, every joke is ultimately a custard pie... a dirty joke is a sort of mental rebellion.
In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.
All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome.
At fifty everyone has the face he deserves.
Most people get a fair amount of fun out of their lives, but on balance life is suffering, and only the very young or the very foolish imagine otherwise.
John Stuart Mill
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.
The amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage it contained. That so few now dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of the time.
The general tendency of things throughout the world is to render mediocrity the ascendant power among mankind.
Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called and whether it professes to be enforcing the will of God or the injunctions of men.
A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
Mark Twain
Don't let schooling interfere with your education.
All generalizations are false, including this one.
A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read.
Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please.
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
The Public is merely a multiplied "me."
Only kings, presidents, editors, and people with tapeworms have the right to use the editorial "we."
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet.
Don't go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.
Winston Churchill
The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.
I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.
Don't talk to me about naval tradition. It's nothing but rum, sodomy and the lash.
Never hold discussions with the monkey when the organ grinder is in the room.
Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfils the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.
However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.
In war as in life, it is often necessary when some cherished scheme has failed, to take up the best alternative open, and if so, it is folly not to work for it with all your might.
Otto Von Bismarck
When you want to fool the world, tell the truth.
I have seen three emperors in their nakedness, and the sight was not inspiring.
Never believe anything in politics until it has been officially denied.
Be polite; write diplomatically ;even in a declaration of war one observes the rules of politeness.
Voltaire
A witty saying proves nothing.
If God created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated.
When he to whom one speaks does not understand, and he who speaks himself does not understand, that is metaphysics.
I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: "O Lord make my enemies ridiculous." And God granted it.
To succeed in the world it is not enough to be stupid, you must also be well-mannered.
Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd.
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
The best way to be boring is to leave nothing out.
Karl Marx
Philosophy stands in the same relation to the study of the actual world as masturbation to sexual love.
All I know is I'm not a Marxist.
The writer may very well serve a movement of history as its mouthpiece, but he cannot of course create it.
Monday, June 07, 2004
Star Wars: a unified cognitive frame for the progressive movement (I'm actually not kidding)
By Nick
Although I'm hydro-plaining waters of absurdity, at least let me crash. When I say "Star Wars", I'm refering to the original three films. Moreover, this is not some list of cultish fluff that explains "why star wars kicks star trek's ass". No, do not make me speak of such things... god created all sci-fi films equal; its the nerds who make them cults. But let's leave sci-fi movie cult speak, and venture into the topic of finding coherent frames which will effectively motivate a group of voters; or in otherwords, how to present a unified message that people naturaly embrace. More importantly, how do you make that message turn into political action. Star Wars is just a peg word like Nascar.
Star Warsians, I don't know how to say it like "Nascar Dads"... Star Warrior is too trite. Young-voting-aged adult who rembers Star Wars, or YVAARSTs? Okay, so we'll work out their label later. Anyhow Star Wars is where this evolving strategy will start, deal with it. Plus, its a name that nicely encompasses the world that framed the schema of "generation y". And more importantly, Star Wars has another connotation: the Internet Era. This STAR WARS is to the Internet as NASCAR is to TV.
Thats my first punch, Bradfield. What you think: a new strategy that does not ask Generation Y to assimilate into a rusty political organization machine. It tailors itself into being a perfect fit for generation Y. Best of all, most would never know they'd been motivated by anyone besides themselves. (They hate it when they think their being used)
I think I like the underlying idea here. Basically a diverse movement unified against an Evil Empire. Is this what you're gettin at?
If so, it is very important for any political movement to see itself as the underdog. This tends to attract people who will fight for principles instead of self-interest and also it causes them to fight harder than they would otherwise.
Also, I have attempted to address the first of the following three questions you asked: What do we stand for, how are we going to do it, and why?
"What do we stand for? is addressed on a post at jaybradfield.blogspot.com. I will address the other two questions eventually. They are good questions that help clarify things.
"Netpolitik is a new style of diplomacy that seeks to exploit the powerful capabilities of the Internet to shape politics, culture, values, and personal identity. But unlike Realpolitik — which seeks to advance a nation’s political interests through amoral coercion — Netpolitik traffics in “softer” issues such as moral legitimacy, culturalidentity, societal values, and public perception." - The Rise of Netpolitik
PUN-DIT (n) : A learned man; a teacher; a source of opinion; a critic: a political pundit.