My goal is to try to get people into a state of generalized agnosticism, not agnosticism about God alone, but agnosticism about everything.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
A monopoly on the means of communication may define a ruling elite more precisely than the celebrated Marxian formula of monopoly in the means of production.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that control over communication is a key marker of power in society, potentially more so than control over production.
Robert Anton Wilson's quote highlights the significance of communication in establishing and maintaining power dynamics within society. He argues that a monopoly on communication not only shapes public perception but also solidifies the rule of an elite class, indicating that controlling the narrative and flow of information can be as crucial, if not more so, than controlling economic resources. This perspective invites us to reflect on how access to information can empower or disenfranchise various groups.
Themes
CommunicationMonopolyPowerEliteSociety
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on media influence, one could cite this quote to emphasize how narratives are controlled.
More from Robert Anton Wilson
All quotes βThere is no governor anywhere. You are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped. If anybody could go into dhyana at will, nobody could be controlled - by fear of prison, by fear of whips or electroshock, by fear of death, even. All existing society is based on keeping those fears alive, to control the masses. Ten people who know would be more dangerous than a million armed anarchists.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
I see anarchism as the theoretical ideal to which we are all gradually evolving to a point where everybody can tell the truth to everybody else and nobody can get punished for it. That can only happen without hierarchy and without people having the authority to punish other people.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
To work for libertarianism - to oppose the growth of government and aid the liberation of the individual - used to be an idealistic choice taken for purely idealistic reasons. Now it is an act of intelligent and almost desperate self-defense.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
The abandoned infant's cry is rage, not fear.
Robert Anton WilsonRead
The only way to stave off boredom, in a complex domesticated primate like humankind, is to increase one's intelligence. This is not appealing to the average primate, who instead invents emotional games (soap opera and grand opera dramatics).
Robert Anton WilsonRead
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