[ExI] hasta be a pony in here somewhere

William Flynn Wallace foozler83 at gmail.com
Sun Nov 20 16:49:50 UTC 2016


By the way Bill, do you know your text shows up as gigantic?  Just
wondering.  It's quite jarring.

will

It must be the font that John Clark is using and I am replying to.  I'll
attend to that.  And if someone can explain to me why some signatures show
up grayed out as well as the text I enter below that, I'd appreciate it.

bill w

On Sun, Nov 20, 2016 at 10:47 AM, William Flynn Wallace <foozler83 at gmail.com
> wrote:

>
> Cialdini's Pre-Suasion is quite interesting  rafal
>
> Hmm, I too am just finished reading Cialdini and Cixin.  (Rafal, what else
> are you reading?)
>
> I too hate dystopias.  I do not read downers if I can help it.  Who needs
> them?  (I can understand women reading romance novels since men won't
> provide them with much.)
>
> Point about Orwell - you cannot find anything or anyone is history like
> what he portrays.  The reason is that the authorities did not bother with
> brainwashing individuals - what's the point?
>
> What he showed us what that this sort of thing is going on all the time
> but far more subtly, and the people who are doing it are not wallowing in
> power and laughing at us believing their doublethink, but doing what they
> think is right, which is to make money.  And we tend to be happy with the
> goods and services they are providing (until they crash the market again
> and wipe out our retirement nest eggs).
>
> Will they use anything that works to manipulate us?  What do you think?
>
> But another difference is that there are no secrets.  Anyone in business
> knows about it, esp. those in marketing.  Psychologists too, of course.
>
> Politicians are like many of us - tied to the past.  Will they wake up and
> us the marketing techniques that are getting better and better to garner
> votes?  What do you think?
>
> Government got blasted today in MS.  Secret contracts a committee voted
> on, and then a total ban on legislators getting their hands on the details
> of those same contracts.  This in a state widely known for corruption.
> Leading editorial in the newspaper excoriated them for it.  Legislators
> cannot see all of the contracts they are voting on!!
>
> At least the newspaper is trying.  To what effect?  Probably little to
> none.  The average citizen has no idea of what to do to change these
> things.  Vote for another white male Baptist conservative Republican is
> what they do.  And trust them. How many times must 'Wolf!' be cried before
> change occurs?
>
> At least in the last election (sorry!) the voters, many of them for sure,
> were not apathetic.  We need more of that.
>
> bill w
>
> On Sun, Nov 20, 2016 at 8:16 AM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *>…* *On Behalf Of *Rafal Smigrodzki
>> *Subject:* Re: [ExI] hasta be a pony in here somewhere
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Sat, Nov 19, 2016 at 9:52 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> If any high school student can read Nineteen Eighty Four without being
>> deeply moved, that person cannot be moved.
>>
>>
>>
>> ### I must admit I nowadays avoid books like 1984, Fahrenheit 451 or
>> Atlas Shrugged. Dystopia affects me. The words of Wesley Mouch cut too
>> close to CNN copy (which I also avoid like the dickens)…
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> OK I get that.  I avoid dark as well, even Dickens.  Dickens had both
>> dark elements and personal redemption, so his work might be an exception,
>> but I get it if people still avoid his work like the Orwell.
>>
>>
>>
>> That being said, Nineteen Eighty Four had so many profound elements in
>> it, the work causes me to struggle to endure the darkness for its redeeming
>> quality, in a way analogous to the recent movie Hacksaw Ridge, which I
>> endured with much pain.  That was perhaps the best anti-war film ever
>> made.  Oh but it is rough going, so hard to view.  I recommend it, and
>> suggest that every person who is elected to high political office be
>> required to view Hacksaw Ridge, and to read 1984.
>>
>>
>>
>> Nineteen Eighty Four was told from the point of view of an Outer Circle,
>> with all the characters coming from that POV.  They had the persistent
>> ignorance of and disdain for the proles (apologies Will) the constant fear
>> of the Inner circle, the classic warrior mentality.  The reason why I cite
>> that Orwell work in particular is that information had become currency in
>> that world.  The control of information became the new wealth creation.
>> Wealth and political power had merged.  If one could control information to
>> the public, one had arbitrary power.
>>
>>
>>
>> It feels like what happened in the US in the past year is that those in
>> power lost control of information, which resulted in the loss of control of
>> power.  Forced transparency was the hammer hurled by the girl in the Apple
>> Macintosh advertisement.
>>
>>
>>
>> >###…Stay ornery my friends, don't let anybody pull the wool over your
>> eyes… Rafal
>>
>>
>>
>> Read Orwell like the Dickens.
>>
>>
>>
>> May information be forever free.
>>
>>
>>
>> spike
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
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>> http://lists.extropy.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi/extropy-chat
>>
>>
>
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