Do you feel the need to "escape the system"?
Sorry to burst your bubble - but so does everyone else right now.
If you think you are unique in that, you're deluded. Everyone is TRAPPED in the system, very few are able to figure out how to escape it.
But even those who do manage somehow to escape it, i.e. start their own business, work for themselves and so on and so on, are still trapped in the system.
Are you a Millennial? A 20 something GenZed? Are you a 40 year old (or approaching 40) IT Worker? Are you a parent of children yet to join the work force?
You owe it to yourself and to those you care about to understand our world.
To understand our current situation, you have to understand the past.
Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding, understanding is not wisdom.
Wisdom?
Bear with me here, this is complicated and touches on many different concepts simultaneously.
How to understand what I'm trying to convey here?
- Read this article
- Watch the DAMO video below
- Re-Read this article
Deprived of stable community values or economic security, they may swing between idealizing the promises of the American Dream and feeling deep resentment or hopelessness when those promises prove hollow. Byung-Chul Han notes that under neoliberal self-exploitation, individuals turn aggression inward, blaming themselves for systemic failures: “people are turning their aggression against themselves… the exploited are not inclined to revolution so much as depression” (Psychopolitics Quotes by Byung-Chul Han). In Han’s analysis, anyone who fails in the hyper-competitive “achievement society” assumes it is their own fault and “feels ashamed, instead of questioning the society or the system” (Psychopolitics Quotes by Byung-Chul Han). This dynamic is extraordinarily effective for social control. It creates what Fisher calls a “privatization of stress” (Capitalist Realism Quotes by Mark Fisher)—an epidemic of anxiety, shame, and mental illness that is processed in isolation (often with the help of corporate pharmaceuticals) rather than sparking collective criticism of the conditions that produce it.
Is this a video about a 1970's Sci-Fi film? Or is it a ghost from our past, that not only predicted our lives today, but also now serves as a Rosetta Stone for understanding our present situation?
This excellent DAMO Video Essay explains movie from the 1970's breaks down how our society works now.
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The idea that the most effective propaganda is "total" or all-encompassing is a key theme in the work of French philosopher and sociologist Jacques Ellul. It is not a direct quote but a summary of his theory of modern propaganda, which he argues is a constant and saturating force in technological societies.
According to Ellul's analysis in his 1962 book, Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, this type of "total" propaganda operates differently from the historical stereotype of crude, overt lies. Instead, it aims to create a complete psychological environment that leaves no room for independent thought or resistance. Key aspects of this theory of total propaganda include:
1. Constant impregnation: Propaganda must be "nonstop" and "continuous" to be effective. It is not a single, powerful message but a slow, constant process of impregnation that builds convictions through repetition.
2. Encircling all aspects of life: It utilizes every possible channel—press, radio, television, meetings, and even personal interactions—to surround the individual with a consistent message. It operates on both conscious and unconscious levels, influencing feelings, ideas, and needs.
3. Propaganda of integration: Ellul identifies "propaganda of integration" as a type that seeks to adapt individuals to their everyday life and integrate them fully into the established social order. The goal is to make people participants in society in every way, so they feel they can only fulfill themselves as members of the group.
4. Invisibility: The most successful propaganda works invisibly, penetrating a person's life without them realizing they are being influenced.
5. Creates a complete system for understanding the world: By surrounding individuals and offering explanations for everything, total propaganda provides an organized myth that gives them immediate incentives for action.
In this view, even those who believe they can distinguish truth from falsehood are susceptible. When propaganda occasionally tells the truth, their self-confidence makes them more vulnerable to the manipulations they don't notice.
According to Ellul's analysis in his 1962 book, Propaganda: The Formation of Men's Attitudes, this type of "total" propaganda operates differently from the historical stereotype of crude, overt lies. Instead, it aims to create a complete psychological environment that leaves no room for independent thought or resistance. Key aspects of this theory of total propaganda include:
1. Constant impregnation: Propaganda must be "nonstop" and "continuous" to be effective. It is not a single, powerful message but a slow, constant process of impregnation that builds convictions through repetition.
2. Encircling all aspects of life: It utilizes every possible channel—press, radio, television, meetings, and even personal interactions—to surround the individual with a consistent message. It operates on both conscious and unconscious levels, influencing feelings, ideas, and needs.
3. Propaganda of integration: Ellul identifies "propaganda of integration" as a type that seeks to adapt individuals to their everyday life and integrate them fully into the established social order. The goal is to make people participants in society in every way, so they feel they can only fulfill themselves as members of the group.
4. Invisibility: The most successful propaganda works invisibly, penetrating a person's life without them realizing they are being influenced.
5. Creates a complete system for understanding the world: By surrounding individuals and offering explanations for everything, total propaganda provides an organized myth that gives them immediate incentives for action.
In this view, even those who believe they can distinguish truth from falsehood are susceptible. When propaganda occasionally tells the truth, their self-confidence makes them more vulnerable to the manipulations they don't notice.
So you see friends, everything that you think is new is old, and everything that is old, is new.
the notion that only you are feeling a certain way about life, about the world, is false.
The Burnout Society already predicted that we would all want to "escape the system", but in escaping the system, we became more entrapped in it.
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