BrandonD » Wed May 13, 2015 4:55 pm wrote:My feeling is that psychological manipulations of such a subtle and vague nature, such as "change", would not be an area where TPTB would focus. It is far too broad and unpredictable, IMO.
One example among many: what if this rapid change creates a scenario where people discover they no longer need or desire endless products? Change doesn't perfectly equate to trade and products, so the plan doesn't make sense in my mind.
Of course I'm not against the idea of psychological manipulations of any kind, even direct manipulation of the psyche by unknown forces. But my feeling when reading this is that it is an attempt to simplify a complex subject, package it in an easily branded and digestible manner.
Like I said in the OP, MM's piece uses too broad a brush stroke for my taste; however, the idea of change for change's sake is I think a close match with both the capitalist agenda to expand by devouring more & more "stuff" and by conquering new lands (expanse IS change) and the "Aquarian Conspiracy" of Huxley & Harman et al., i.e, the idea of Illumineers pushing for some sort of Scientisitic New Order of the Ages. So maybe sometimes over-simplification can help us see something that may otherwise be too obvious (omnipresent) for us to notice?
I have noticed on this thread a spectrum of responses/reactions ranging from "anyone who's anyone is already bought and sold" to mocking dismissals of the idea that Dylan might be a manufactured phenomena. As always, the middle way is both the hardest to walk and, maybe, the one that gets closest to understanding ~ for me at least.
I no longer use mainstream/corporate music in my podcasts because the more I see of the Corporate Conspiracy of Culture, the more I accept that the apple never falls far from the tree; whatever poisons are in the tree, they must extend to the fruit that grew from it.
Inside Llewyn Davies (itself a corporate product, so...) was sort of a revelation to me in showing how talent and soul don't win out in our present culture (despite the myth that propagates this idea), but in fact the reverse, and that soulful expression, being the inverse of thick-skinnedness, is doomed to despair if it tries to become successful on the terms of the dominant culture and at the same time to retain its purity/vulnerability. Interestingly, that film shows Dylan showing up at the end,
out of nowhere, deus ex machina, only (as we know) to ascend to rapid glory as the legendary folk-hero/culture-maker of the era. (The ending can be interpreted in various ways; some people view Davies as a loser and a heel who is naturally being succeeded by "the real deal" ~ go figure!)
Is it over-simplification to say that, in a psychopathic (corporate) culture, only psychopaths get ahead ~ or rather, that the energy and "mood" required to get ahead is of the psychopathic variety? Or that allowing the psychopathic drive (a.k.a. the will to power) to guide and fuel one's process and progress as an artist is the psychological equivalent to becoming a "schill"? This makes it a spectrum, of sorts, a very rough guide being, the bigger the stardom, the greater the psychopathic drive in that individual, and/or the more useful his/her creative expression (or in some cases maybe just charisma) was seen by TPTB, to co-opt the sort of changes that were a-coming, and redirect them down corporate-culture-friendly channels . . .
I still watch movies & TV shows, BTW, but when it comes to my own output, I'd rather not mix my creative expression with that of the CCC. (Meaning no more David Byrne songs,
) Actually this didn't come about due to applying any conscious principle, but in a more positive fashion, as the result of discovering
how much great music is being done by total unknowns who aren't scrabbling to reach some position of power & influence on the crap-heap of culture, but just doing what they love.
Elvis wrote:Bob Dylan? I think he was merely the right man in the right place at the right time. Remember, Plato wanted to expurgate the teachings of the poets. Beware.
Sure; but again there may be a middle ground here: if TPTB can't expurgate, then they can have a hand in
creating those poetic "teachings." Plato was a Poet too, or no? (He might roll in his Merkaba to hear it.)
It is a lot easier to fool people than show them how they have been fooled.
