#semen

I emphasise it now; I had little-to-nothing in common with other people. Their values I did not comprehend, their ideals were to me a living horror. Call it ostentatious but I even sought to provide tangible proof of my withdrawal from the world. I posted a sign in the entrance to the building wherein I dwelt; a sign that indicated I had no wish to be disturbed by anyone, for any purpose whatsoever. As these convictions took hold of me and, as I denied, nay even repudiated, the hold that the current society of men possesses over its ranks, as I retreated into a hermitage of the imagination, disentangling my own concerns from those paramount to the age in which I happened to be born, an age with no claim to be more enlightened, significant or progressive than any other, I tried to make a stand for the spirit. Tyranny, in this land, I was told, was dead. But I contend that the replacement of one form of tyranny with another is still tyranny. The secret police now operate not via the use of brute force in dark underground cells; they operate instead by a process of open brainwashing that is impossible to avoid altogether. The torture cells are not secret; they are everywhere, and so ubiquitous that they are no longer seen for what they are. One may abandon television; one may abandon all forms of broadcast media, even the Internet, but the advertising hoardings in every street, on vehicles, inside transport centres, are still there. And they contain the same messages. Only the very rich can avoid their clutches utterly. Those who have obtained sufficient wealth may choose their own surroundings, free from the propaganda of a decayed futurity. And yet, and yet, in order to obtain such a position of freedom it is first necessary to have served the ideals of the tyranny slavishly, thereby validating it. ("The Tower") ↗

— Mark Samuels

#advertisements #brainwashing #media #rich #society

Art is creative for the sake of realization, not for amusement... for transfiguration, not for the sake of play. ↗

— Max Beckmann

#art #creative #play #realization #sake

I'm not a very good advertisement for the American school system. ↗

— David Brinkley

#american #good #i #school #school system

Towards my husband, I often fail to show interest in his affairs and amusements, not rousing myself to respond when I'm tired or concerned with other things, forgetting he is very patient with me. ↗

— Evelyn Underhill

#amusements #concerned #fail #forgetting #his

White Zombie was a bunch of kids with the worst equipment playing in a basement. But that is what is so great about it. There is no reason to think that you can't do it. ↗

— Rob Zombie

#basement #bunch #equipment #great #kids

I love sporting events and popcorn and pizza and being outside, like at a baseball or football game. I love amusement parks, going to ride roller coasters. ↗

— Carrie Underwood

#ball game #baseball #being #coasters #events

But my husband came from a small town and hardworking parents like I did, and I don't think we've lost that mind-set. We don't have a bowling alley in our basement. We don't have houses on the beach and one in New York and one in L.A. ↗

— Carrie Underwood

#basement #beach #bowling #bowling alley #came

The endorsement process is an evolution. What you try to do is you endorse someone that you believe in and their ideas and their solutions align with yours. ↗

— Herman Cain

#believe #endorse #endorsement #evolution #ideas

One should not confuse the craving for life with endorsement of it. ↗

— Elias Canetti

#craving #endorsement #life #should

You can give men food and leisure and amusements and good conditions of work, and still they will remain unsatisfied. You can deny them all these things, and they will not complain so long as they feel that they have something to die for. ↗

— Christopher Dawson

#complain #conditions #deny #die #feel