| In the King James bible, you can read that 'there is no new thing under the sun'. This applies for instance to the development of human society throughout history until now, and your part in it. The following quotes are presented without further comment: Julius Caesar, 'The Gallic War', Dover Publications: 2012 "Caesar (...) fearing the fickleness of the Gauls, because they are capricious in forming designs and intent for the most part on change, he considered that no trust should be reposed in them." "It is indeed a regular habit of the Gauls to compel travellers to halt, even against their will, and to ascertain what each of them may have heard or learnt upon every subject; and in the towns the common folk surround traders, compelling them to declare from what districts they come and what they have learnt there. Such stories and hearsay often induce them to form plans upon vital questions of which they must forthwith repent; for they are the slaves of uncertain rumours, and most men reply to them in fictions made to their taste." (Book IV, 5-8) "(...) all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing (...)" (The King James bible, the book of Acts, chapter 17, verse 21). J. Ellul, 'Propaganda: The formation of Men's attitudes', Vintage: 1973 "In November 1957, a Bordeaux association organized a lecture on the atomic bomb by a well known specialist; the lecture would surely have been of great interest (and not for propaganda purposes). A wide distribution of leaflets had announced it to the student public, but not a single student came. Why? Because this happened at exactly the same time as Sputnik's success, and the public was concerned only with this single piece of news; its sole interest was in Sputnik, and the permanent problem was "forgotten". Actually, the public is prodigiously [very much] sensitive to current news. Its attention is focused immediately on any spectacular event that fits in with its myths." the "current-events man" (...) is highly sensitive to the influence of present-day currents; lacking landmarks, he follows all currents. He is unstable because he runs after what happened today; he relates to the event, and therefore cannot resist any impulse coming from that event. All this is also true of those who claim to be "informed" because they read some weekly periodical filled with political revelations." C.J. Sommerville, 'How the news makes us dumb: the death of wisdom in an information society', IVP Books: 1999 "The product of the news business is change, not wisdom. You need to go elsewhere for wisdom. Wisdom has to do with seeing things in their largest context, whereas news is structured in a way that destroys the larger context." "(...) intellectuals, of all people, seem the most addicted to news and the proudest of being "informed". (...) But we should be honest enough to admit that we do not even begin to be informed about "the world". Let's say you are really serious about staying informed, so you take four important newspapers and spend hours every day getting through them all (...). Would that do it? The CIA comprises about twenty thousand people - the population of a whole town - who collectively try to keep up to date with 180-plus countries. They read all the important newspapers as well as all their other sources of information. Are they getting the job done? Ironically, intellectuals are precisely the people who seem to have the least respect for the CIA and treat it as a joke. Where does that leave them, with their paltry four papers?" "The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun." (The King James bible, Ecclesiastes, chapter 1, verse 9). "Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain." (The King James bible, 1 Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 18-20). *** |
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