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The poem by Brecht "General Your Tank Is Some Strong Car" touches on the idea in a way, the Technosphere is not autonomous.

General, your tank is a powerful vehicle

It smashes down forests and crushes a hundred men.

But it has one defect:

It needs a driver.

General, your bomber is powerful.

It flies faster than a storm and carries more than an elephant.

But it has one defect:

It needs a mechanic.

General, man is very useful.

He can fly and he can kill.

But he has one defect:

He can think.”

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Good point. It takes the active participation of everyone. Including ourselves.

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"Sweden is now being fast-tracked into NATO, abandoning two centuries of policy of neutrality in armed conflicts."

Clearly that old moronic catch phrase that we needed more women in places of power to reduce war and violence was just that... moronic!

I also enjoyed that other catch phrase "Just be a good human"!

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Where "Propaganda" of Jacques Ellul slows down, Paul Virilio's "The Information Bomb" will quicken one's heartbeat.

Thanks for writing. Good stuff.

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Missed that one, thanks for the tip!

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Jerry Mander had a lot of insight into this, but he was just talking about TV! Exponentially worse with wrap around "interactive" another oxymoron, in a way digital media.

Mander did, I think, touch on the macro-level of myth, but he was really just talking about the atomization and isolation bred by TV consumption, as destroying a more family or community based outlook.

I'd never actually heard the three levels articulated as well as you just did. I was part of a covid dissident group in my state in US, and I've seen how in the past year it has actually turned into a pro-Republican echo chamber, this sort of mission creep has definitely to do with the macro narrative--you're for "freedom" so you're against "lefties" and "communism." So ergo, if you're against mandatory vac, then you must also be against "CRT". Which is irrational. But--it's myth level. Sorry if this is rambling. But yes--these macro myths are of course the product of longterm (ha, maybe 16th century colonialism/primitive accumulation too) indoctrination. Much easier though today to make people switch on a dime, or to force things under an umbrella that shouldn't be under the same umbrella. Then, there is, I think, an underlying knowledge of being played, which, if not understood as such, turns into anger to be pointed at the latest target. Oh too much to say here. Excellent article, gracias.

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Thanks, nice to hear from you.

I remember reading Mander's In the Absence of the Sacred about 2008 or so, and something I thought a lot about back then was whether or not his and Postman's arguments were relevant in relation to the Internet and the emerging digital sphere. As it looked back then, I thought a case could be made for the net having a positive effect on critical thinking and real-life culture.

It doesn't... Look like that anymore.

Very interesting to hear about your experiences, and I think you're entirely right, I think what you're seeing is connected to how the macro narrative stabilizes the discourses in a certain direction or along certain lines. These are slow and elastic structures that kind of snap back in a way, you know?

And yeah, there seems to be an underlying knowledge of being oppressed and played, which doesn't get articulated and tends to be focused on whatever enemy image is offered to us. That's key to a lot of what's going on right now I think.

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"Hikikomori (Japanese: ひきこもり or 引きこもり, lit. "pulling inward, being confined"), also known as acute social withdrawal"

This was fascinating but especially love totally new insights & new questions. Since terms tend to become universal when once unique events become commonplace makes me wonder if somewhere in the future "Hikikomori" is a term widely known among folks in English & European languages or adaptation like harakiri.. not a happy trend metric.

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I think I read about it in 2008 or so. Just a couple of weeks ago, I saw a sign in the streets of Uppsala for some sort of local "hikikomori" treatment facility or support group.

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