the porous city |
"I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principals and empiricism," Suskind writes. "He cut me off. 'That's not the way the world really works anymore,' he continued. 'We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors... and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do."
It's considered unfashionably shrill to refer to the Bush administration as fascistic, but this is pretty clearly the language of totalitarianism. Indeed, in her seminal 1951 book "The Origins of Totalitarianism," Hannah Arendt wrote, "Before mass leaders seize the power to fit reality to their lies, their propaganda is marked by its extreme contempt for facts as such, for in their opinion fact depends entirely on the power of man who can fabricate it."
last modified: 15:44:27 05-Nov-2004
in categories:Other/Politik
This is Lukas Bergstrom's weblog. You can also find me on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Tech
MacOS, Security, Android, Product Management, RSS, OS, Data, Automobile, Social, Open, WRX, Development, a11y, Hardware, Javascript, Visual, Web analytics, Net, Storage, s60, Energy, Crowdsourcing, Web, Collaboration, Shopping, PIM, Medical, Mobile, AI, Audio, Business, barcamp, Wearables
Other
San Francisco, Games, Boston, Geography, Law, Clothes, Toys, NYC, Quizzes, Bicycling, Transportation, Sports, Housing, History, Surfing, Life hacks, CrowdFlower, Travel, Statistics, Activism, Politik, Berlin, Personal care, California, Agriculture, Podcasts, Feminism, Minnesota, Video, Food & Drink, L.A., Friday
Music
Making, Good tracks, Mp3s, Lyrics, History, Streams, Mixes, Shopping, L.A., Reviews, Musicians, Labels, Boston, Business, Videos, House, Hip-hop, Events, Booking, Mailing lists
People
Meditation, Friends, Exercise, Gossip, Family, Heroes, Languages, Health, Vocations, Working with, Weblogs, Life hacks, Subcultures, Enemies, Me, Stories, Buddhism, MOTAS, ADD
Arts
Sculpture, Poetry, Literature, Burning Man, Comix, Spoken Word, Visual, iPad bait, Events, Rhetoric, Humor, Outlets, Animation, Movies, Desktop wallpaper bait
Commerce
IP Law, Personal services, Taxes, Marketing and CRM, Shopping, International Development, Management consulting, Personal finance, Investing, Microfinance, Insurance, Macroeconomics, Web, Non-profit, Real Estate
Design
Process, Cool, Web, Data visualization, IA, Algorithmic, Type, Tools, Furniture, Presentations, Architecture, User experience
Science
Networks, Psychology, Statistics and Data, Zoology, Environment, Physics, Cognition
Travel
Uganda, Kenya, Kingdom of Siam, Vagabond '08
1 Comment