Bread and Circus and Free-range slaves
In an essay I wrote here once, when I was working on my idea that we are basically trapped in this capitalistic system, I had used the term "free-range slaves." When I used the term somebody in the comments said they liked that phrase, and the manner in which I had used it. I had been referring to my belief that actual slavery in the US had become antiquated in the 1800's, and the northern masters had deduced that, instead of clothing, and housing, and paying up front to own slaves, it would be much less stressful, and more efficient, to let the slaves run "free," but to then make all poor citizens into slaves within the capitalistic system, and require everybody to pay the masters (a lot) for the privilege of having clothing and housing, which is how I see our current existence in the US.
And just now I was at reddit, and was looking at a post on the socialism subreddit, The Perfect Dictatorship... discussing this picture above, and the contained quote.
Of course, the quote doesn't come from Brave New World, but in a link I followed to metabunk.org people supplied some rational places where a facsimile of the quote may have come from, including this video, a section of an interview with Mike Wallace:
"The perfect dictatorship would have the appearance of democracy, a prison without walls in which the prisoners would not dream of escape. A system of slavery where, through consumption and entertainment, slaves would love their servitude."
Anyway, my point for writing all this down is, (besides storing for myself all this information and all these links,) is to confess that I no longer feel anywhere near as proud of myself as I had previously for using the phrase "free range slaves." 
(Notice the sad face; playing with words, and imagining I was somewhat competent in that endeavor, had once brought me pleasure-but now I realize I am really just slow-witted and delusional, and nowhere near as innovative as I had imagined, hence the sad face emoticon.)
Reminds me of that phrase, "the more I learn, the less I know." (Who coined that phrase, anyway?)
Comments
Oh, I forgot that I wanted to include this somewhere ...
Just dim-witted me being me again. Woof.
I first read that book in a Poli Sci
class, kept it around. Loaned the hardcopy to a friend and downloaded on Kindle. Sure is/was spot on.
Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur
Yes,war is peace, freedom is slavery
https://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Less of a fake quote than an erroneous attribution.
Huxley evidently articulated something along these lines more than once (including in the foreword of later editions of BNW); somebody else writing about Huxley paraphrased it as above, and that paraphrasing has since been erroneously taken as a direct quote.
The earth is a multibillion-year-old sphere.
The Nazis killed millions of Jews.
On 9/11/01 a Boeing 757 (AA77) flew into the Pentagon.
AGCC is happening.
If you cannot accept these facts, I cannot fake an interest in any of your opinions.
Should I change it? ;-)
I used it because I though "fake quote" was punny
No, don't change the quote!
If wisdom is the knowledge of the truth, then there is a great deal to be sad about. This does not make your 'free range slavery" any less effective, but only more poignant to those of us who also realize that truth.
Wage Slaves United
Maybe the name of a new nationwide union?
We have been calling anyone who works for a living a wage slave for a year or two now. It started out as a term for anyone making less than $20/hr, because in L.A. your take home pay of $500 or so is just enough to pay rent, pay for transportation to work and meals. Pretty much zero discretionary income.
After a few discussions we decided that even those making $100k/year were wage slaves, because the minimum gross income to afford an average home in L.A. is $100k. A three bedroom ranch in South Central can easily run $300k. Once again, pretty much zero discretionary income, especially with children factored in.
"They'll say we're disturbing the peace, but there is no peace. What really bothers them is that we are disturbing the war." Howard Zinn
And people with disabilities are priced out of everything.
Literally. But what else can you expect when businesses outright refuse to hire and even when they do, most workers are just contract slaves or erratically scheduled employees?
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
A grave new world indeed.
I recommend Postman's book also.
Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.
"A grave new world" - i like :-) n/t
Boy does this sum up our situation
this looks like what is exactly happening. And our masters want more of our money, rights and pretty much our lives. I've read that if the Medicare cuts are put in the tax bill then up to $25 million will be taken from it immediately and this will make it very difficult for cancer patients to continue their treatments.
Cancer doctors are on their way to DC to discuss this with republicans. If they hear from the doctors and they do it anyway, I take this that they really are trying to kill us.
They know people are going to die anyway if cuts to social programs are enacted.
Hatch says that too many people are living off the government now. I posted the video of this in last night's EBs.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
I assume Hatch includes
himself when he states, "too many people live off the government."
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.
Thank you for your concise and interesting essay.
Listening to this now and thinking it might be relevant in some way.
[video:https://youtu.be/f-6gMH9AmLM]
the more I learn,
the less I know indeed is true. I still maintain, however, that McGovern would have been the better prez.
the little things you can do are more valuable than the giant things you can't! - @thanatokephaloides. On Twitter @wink1radio. (-2.1) All about building progressive media.