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"Human society is, after all, only a product of the collective struggle of all people. If we say that we have no power to change things, who does?
"If we answer that the power is in the hands of an elite who alone are making the decisions, we will be doing exactly what the established forces of power want of us. We will have folded our arms in defeat, saying that we prefer to build shells to protect ourselves from reality, to keep out the bad news...people prefer a protective shell only because they are overwhelmed with negative information that they cannot integrate...but some would say our choices, if we do indeed have them, are limited - that since human nature is basically self-centered, all we can do is build on that trait...[but] history has shown human potential for cooperation as well as our potential for cruelty and cut-throat competitiveness. With this view, the most pressing question becomes: What kind of structures of human organization can we help create that will elicit our best, not our worst qualities?" Frances Moore Lappé & Joseph Collins Food First: Beyond the Myth of Scarcity
From Bondage to spiritual faith;- Alexander Tyler, The Fall of The Athenian Republic (1787)
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.
"An Atheist seeks to know himself then and his fellow rather than to know a god. An Atheist understands that a hospital must be built instead of a church. An Atheist knows that a deed must be done instead of a prayer said. An Atheist strives for involvement in life and not escape into death. He wants disease conquered, poverty vanquished, war eliminated. He wants man to understand, love and accept all of mankind. He wants an ethical way of life. He knows that we cannot rely on a god, channel action into prayer, or hope for an end to our troubles in a hereafter. He knows that we are not only our brother's keepers – but keepers of our own lives foremost, that we are responsible persons and that the job is here and the time is now." -Murray vs. Curlett, 374 U.S. 203 (1963)
"What the media's taught my fellow citizens is that all the world is dangerous in some irrational, non-specific way. Terrorists are everywhere. Nature is in open rebellion. Making love can kill you. Your fellow humans are liars in suits, thugs, zealots, psychopaths, and mostly, victims who look a lot like you.
"Television amplifies the world's mayhem and gives you no way to talk back. No way to ask, `Is this the way the world is?' Just as right now it's giving you no way to argue with me.
"Why does television prefer terrifying images? Because it lives on your attention. That's what television is really selling. And scaring the hell out of you is, like sex, one of those really efficient ways to get your undivided focus. To gain it, they flood your living room with images designed to hit your fear glands like electricity.
"So we have erected a glowing altar in the center of our lives that feeds on our terror, and fear has become our national religion." -John Perry Barlow, To Be At Liberty