[107864] in Cypherpunks
Re: _1984_ vs _This_Perfect_Day_
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Anonymous)
Tue Jan 26 19:08:21 1999
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1999 00:42:36 +0100
From: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>
To: cypherpunks@toad.com
Reply-To: Anonymous <nobody@replay.com>
>The difference between the two stories is that Orwell's story lets you believe
>that no matter how hard you try, there's no way to escape the system while
>Levin's story makes you understand that if you have enough knowledge about a
>given system, there's always a way to bust it. It is quite ironic that the
>most positive novel is almost forgotten (actually, out of print) while the
>other one that spells of doom, resignation and submition is considered a
>"classic", a "must read". I thanks my french teacher to have us read it!
It's because desperation works !
The scheme is simple. Discovering the truth about propaganda, government,
etc. exhilarates most people to the extent that they spend the rest of
their lives _talking_ about it, and feel too desperate to do anything and
so superior to those that did not see the light yet.
Some also exercise escapism in several forms (depending on testosteron
levels - collecting guns, bs-ing on cpunks and other kinds of
self-deceit) that are completely harmless to the "system" that they hate
so much. Actually, I think that some more extreme activities (like threats
to government officials) help the system because they provide a good
excuse for preventive measures. Face it - survival rate of armed
individuals (or even large groups) against organized government is 0%.
But there are some non-glamorous ways in which one can make a dent,
albeit a small one:
- Cancel TV subscriptions. Leave outside paraphenalia (dishes etc.) not
to raise suspicion. Get one person every month to do the same.
- Pay with cash as much as you can. Stop buying things that you do not
need.
(If the above leaves you with no purpose in life, kill yourself. You are
wasting the air.)
- Use encryption in your e-mail every day for everything. Get one other
person every week to start using encryption.
- Consider how much the things you do for living perpetuate the system
you do not like and what can you do to change that. Note that 70-80% of
the computer industry manufactures brainwashing instruments. Note that
in the US more than half of working population work on persuading the
others to do things they would not do in their right mind (marketing,
sales, advertizing, media.) Exercise responsibility to yourself now and
then.
- Talk with people. You may find it amazing.
