In Engineering Consent, we delve into a provocative discussion on the nature of free speech in our modern democracy—a right that has been subtly transformed into a tool of persuasion and conformity.
Imagine this: freedom of speech, now your democratic right, is actually your right to be persuaded. But what happens when you step beyond the parameters of persuasion? When you venture past the controlled and tame gardens of Empire into the wild freedom of the forest? Here, beyond the rationale of Empire, a new creature is forged—one who can stand freely against the freedom that Empire grants. The longer you spend in this place, growing your own roots, the more dangerous you become in the eyes of the Empire. You are then condemned as the Manichaean other, the bringer of terror, the one who has embraced savagery.
George Orwell, in his timeless work *1984*, captures this insidious transformation:
*"Day and night the telescreens bruised your ears with statistics proving that people today had more food, more clothes, better houses, better recreations—that they lived longer, worked shorter hours, were bigger, healthier, stronger, happier, more intelligent, better educated, than the people of fifty years ago. Not a word of it could ever be proved or disproved."*
Isn't it this that keeps you happy, feeling privileged, and grateful for the freedoms the state has so generously brought you? But now, for your own sake, for the sake of the Anthropocene, for the oppressed, and for your very soul, I beseech you: Think! Don’t Doublethink—THINK!
Question the status quo, and seek the truths hidden in the shadows of Empire, beyond which we must reimagine.
Engineering Consent