To find out that your worst fears have been realized means there’s nothing left to be afraid of.

Now you hear people saying things like, “Illegal wiretapping isn’t bad. If you don’t have anything to hide, then you won’t be spied on…” which is exactly how I predicted it would happen in this country pre-9/11.

IMO totalitarianism is bad because it’s the equivalent (there I go with that word again) of a girl sticking with an abusive boyfriend because her self-esteem is so low. I value individuality but I wouldn’t sacrifice it for anything that made me feel more “secure”– that defeats the whole point of being an individual or independent in the first place.

There’s no way to ever prove if we haven’t already been taken over (CTers talk about the “military-industiral complex” but even they haven’t made a complete transfer of power yet) but then again it doesn’t matter: local politics and government affect us way more than federal laws. That’s why California gets no respect from the Bushies. They tried to get another Pete Wilson in office over here but ended up settling for The Governator, who plays his politics straight down the middle. I know lots of people hate him, but it could’ve been worse: Dan Lungren? Bill Simon? Tom McClintock? All right-wing Nazi seeds that were itching to plant themselves in Sacramento.

What I’m saying is, since most people spend most of their time in one city, your civic duty lies with making sure your own city doesn’t turn into a Stepford Wives-nightmare like up in Calabasas, where the smoking ban is ther harshest in the nation.

Even “four out of five doctors smokme camels?”

NASA researchers can hear what you’re saying, even when you don’t make a sound.

When we speak aloud, we’re forcing air past the larynx and tongue, sculpting words using the articulator muscles in the mouth and jaw. But these muscles go into action regardless of whether air is sent past them. All you have to do is say the words to yourself and you’re sending weak electrical currents from your brain to the speech muscles. Jorgensen’s trick is to record those signals (known as electromyograms), process them with statistical algorithms and compare the output with prerecorded signal patterns of spoken words, phrases and commands. When there’s a match, the unspoken turns into speech.

It could probably be done, but when you omit certain words, you gut the feelings, impulses and values underlying a belief—whether it’s “you shouldn’t cheat” or “totalitarianism is awful.” So why bother when you exclude the very things that matter in the first place? And in this case, what matter are freedom, choice, privacy, and rights.

I’ve known people who lived under Hitler and had to “play along” in that atmosphere, and I can tell you that level of fear and never-ending paranoia (literally to the last breath) is nothing like the self-righteous political dissatisfaction suffered by middle class americans (myself included). I might not make ‘lasting changes’ if I protest against war or abortion or what-have-you, but there’s a lot less chance even in today’s climate that I’ll disappear just for having a difference of opinion or wanting to express my individuality.

“how do we know that one or two or three or four generations ago, our government wasn’t already taken over by a totalitarian regime? ”

We’re alive, that’s how.

A “control system” is by default a scramble for control… I don’t feel the need to address the “are we living in totalitarian state that created a mythology” right now because of the amount of paranoia (Did grandpa fight in WWII on Iwo Jima, or was that an elaborate myth to make me believe in freedom etc…) borders on an interpretation that leads to a solipsism I’m not comfortable. I also think a lot of your questions have been addressed in detail by “conspiracy” theory and research about the history of banking. E.g., the only crime JFK committed was not being part of the intelligence community, but somehow entrance wounds became exit wounds and two “high powered” low-caliber bullets wounded him an another man no less than seven times.

But the point about living memory is of key importance. I often take it for granted that the powers that be have actively and intentionally sought to reduce the length of living memory and obscure much of history. If they have not done so intentionally, they benefit from the weakening of memory nonetheless.

E.g.: “Who remembers the Armenians?” –Uncle Adolph

E.g.: In the fourteenth century (or so I’ve read in “The Distant Mirror”) there was a French baron who required his serfs to carry identification papers. He was declared the antichrist and had a revolt on his hands. A few years later in France, some princes sought to raise taxes on wheat, goods, etc., by something like 5%. They spent three years pacifying the revolt. Congress just increased their ability to sell your future by almost a trillion dollars. Did you even notice?

you know, i just finished watching good night and good luck with my girlfriend, and everytime i see something form that older era I’m struck by how much more articulate and open the public discourse was, albiet unpolished compared to now. even the ciggarette ads were erudite and thoughtful.

sometime between then and now, it was determined or simply neglected into the state it is currently.

terrence mckenna thought the sixities were the first generation of americans brought up under a universal commitment to education in the intellectual and cultural legacy of western culture. when the powers that be saw how that turned out, a significant about face was implemented.