Look, every government has a need to frighten it’s population, and one was of doing that is to shroud it’s workings in mystery. The idea that a government has to be shrouded in mystery is something that goes back to Herodotus [ancient Greek historian]. You read Herodotus, and he describes how the Medes and others won their freedom by struggle, and then they lost their freedom when the institution of royalty was invented to create a cloak of mystery around power. See, the idea behind royalty was that there’s this other species of individuals who are beyond the norm and who the people are not supposed understand. That’s the standard way you cloak and protect power: you make it look mysterious and secret, above the ordinary person—otherwise why should anyone accept it? Well, they’re willing to accept it out of fear that some great enemies are about to destroy them, and because of that they’ll cede their authority to the Lord, or the King, or the President or something, just to protect themselves. That’s the way governments work—that’s the way any system of power works—and the secrecy system is part of it.
Source: Noam Chomsky — Understanding Power
Posted on 24 September, 2011, 5:01pm. This post has 147 notes.
-
blue-ashes likes this
-
istirmyteawithcadmium reblogged this from randyreverie
-
randyreverie reblogged this from noam-chomsky
-
iamnot-thereforeithink likes this
-
enabiah likes this
-
heroin-e reblogged this from myselfandmyother
-
the-thorned-rose reblogged this from ishipitlikeups
-
madame-anaca likes this
-
ishipitlikeups reblogged this from theworldofsleepers
-
music-fox reblogged this from socialuprooting
-
rb919 likes this
-
elige likes this
-
from-the-water reblogged this from amodernmanifesto
-
angrydumpling likes this
-
sigmundfrood likes this
-
yourlittlemonsterr likes this
-
mobscenity likes this
-
theamericandaydreamer reblogged this from 100percenthipster
-
sabersandphasers likes this
-
ghesquiere reblogged this from 100percenthipster
-
missgreenwalt likes this
-
100percenthipster reblogged this from fionaelle
-
100percenthipster likes this
-
fionaelle reblogged this from thephrygiancap
-
naturesdopeflow likes this
-
suciomalvestido reblogged this from atarimcgregor
-
atarimcgregor reblogged this from socialuprooting
-
versosdeliberacion likes this
-
veganoclastic likes this
-
-collateraldamage reblogged this from thephrygiancap
-
fionaelle likes this
-
theworldofsleepers posted this