rigorousintuition.ca

"I've successfully privatized World Peace" ~ Tony 'ErikPrince' Stark

"There will be job growth in the spring" ~ Chauncey Geithner

The organized lying practiced by totalitarian states is not, as is sometimes claimed, a temporary expedient of the same nature as military deception. It is something integral to totalitarianism, something that would still continue even if concentration camps and secret police forces had ceased to be necessary. Among intelligent Communists there is an underground legend to the effect that although the Russian government is obliged now to deal in lying propaganda, frame-up trials, and so forth, it is secretly recording the true facts and will publish them at some future time. We can, I believe, be quite certain that this is not the case, because the mentality implied by such an action is that of a liberal historian who believes that the past cannot be altered and that a correct knowledge of history is valuable as a matter of course. From the totalitarian point of view history is something to be created rather than learned. A totalitarian state is in effect a theocracy, and its ruling caste, in order to keep its position, has to be thought of as infallible. But since, in practice, no one is infallible, it is frequently necessary to rearrange past events in order to show that this or that mistake was not made, or that this or that imaginary triumph actually happened. Then again, every major change in policy demands a corresponding change of doctrine and a revelation of prominent historical figures. This kind of thing happens everywhere, but is clearly likelier to lead to outright falsification in societies where only one opinion is permissible at any given moment. Totalitarianism demands, in fact, the continuous alteration of the past, and in the long run probably demands a disbelief in the very existence of objective truth. The friends of totalitarianism in this country usually tend to argue that since absolute truth is not attainable, a big lie is no worse than a little lie.
-- Orwell

Compare:
"We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re studying that reality - judiciously, as you will - we’ll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s actors … and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do. "

The first move a deceiver makes after deceiving someone is to warn the deceived against all other deceivers so as to avoid losing control of the deceived to some other deceiver.

Anonymous

Ben D wrote:The first move a deceiver makes after deceiving someone is to warn the deceived against all other deceivers so as to avoid losing control of the deceived to some other deceiver.

Anonymous

(OMG this is so true!)

Fusspots

Saw some fusspots today, in a cafe. The first fusspot said “I’d like an iced latte, please. And can you use milk straight from the fridge?” The barina said “This milk here is cold - I got it out of the fridge a couple of minutes ago. But I’ll be putting ice in it anyway.” The fusspot said “No, it’s at room temperature. Can I have it from the fridge, please?” He got his way. The second fusspot said “A cappuccino, no chocolate, quite wet please.” What was she on about? What’s ‘wet’? The barina handed her a cup topped with white foam. She said “Is it wet?” The barina said “I put extra water in.” The fusspot sipped fussily at the foam for a few seconds. “I can’t taste the coffee,” she said.

The cafe - where exceptionally evolved individuals seek the pamper that defines them.


- David Gale

Just as dumb creatures are snared by food, human beings would not be caught unless they had a nibble of hope.

- Petronius, Satyricon

Ben D wrote:The first move a deceiver makes after deceiving someone is to warn the deceived against all other deceivers so as to avoid losing control of the deceived to some other deceiver.

Anonymous

"I wish I was like you...etc.

Kurt Cobain

-------------
bad mood

It is of the essence of reasoning to enclose us in the circle of the given. But action breaks open the circle. If you had never seen a man swim, you would perhaps say that swimming is something that is impossible, given that, in order to learn to swim, one has to start by entering the water, and in consequence one must already know how to swim. Reasoning always effectively fixes me to solid ground. But if, quite simply, I throw myself into the water without being afraid…I shall learn to swim.

- Henri Bergson, Creative Evolution (via)

"She was more interested in forms - in what things were in themselves, not what they weren't.
She wanted essences."

Margaret Atwood
The Blind Assassin

..."There are little folds of skin all over the place, you can hardly find it. The little hole underneath is so terribly small that I simply can't imagine how a man can get in there, let alone how a whole baby can get out!..."

~Anne Frank

(Apparently this is delightful quote got the diary banned in a Virginia school recently.)

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "Universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.
~Albert Einstein

I thought that was nice. We're all in it together after all.

This, therefore, is a faded dream of the time when I went down into the dust and noise of the Eastern market-place, and with my brain and muscles, with sweat and constant thinking, made others see my visions coming true. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that all was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, and make it possible.

T. E. Lawrence
(Lawrence of Arabia)
from The Seven Pillars of Wisdom