> It is hard to explain the place filled by political concerns in the
> life of an American.  To take a hand in the government of society and
> to talk about it is his most important business and, so to say, the
> only pleasure he knows.  That is obvious even in the most trivial
> habits of his life; even the women often go to public meetings and
> forget household cares while they listen to political speeches.  For
> them clubs to some extent take the place of theaters.  An American
> does not know how to converse, but he argues;  he does not talk, but
> expatiates.  He always speaks to you as if addressing a meeting, and
> if he happens to get excited, he will say "Gentleman" when addressing
> an audience of one.
>
> The inhabitant in some countries shows a sort of repugnance in
> accepting the political rights granted to him by the law; it strikes
> him as a waste of time to spend it on communal interests, and he
> likes
> to shut himself up in a narrow egoism, of which four ditches with
> hedges on top define the precise limits.
> ...

> Isn't the corporate world of influences really a "distributed
> despotism" where we might be free to choose but it is like a multiple
> choice question where many of the answers don't cover many of the
> possibilities?

> But some of those ideas, with concerted effort
> and great determination (often taking years, even decades), eventually
> come to the fore, even prevail. In a free society, neither
> corporations or any other institution can stop them.

> "All the armies of the world cannot stop an idea when its time has
> come" -
> Victor Hugo

> On May 8, 1:22 am, Immortalist yahoo.com> wrote:
>

>> Isn't the corporate world of influences really a "distributed
>> despotism" where we might be free to choose but it is like a multiple
>> choice question where many of the answers don't cover many of the
>> possibilities?

>
> I've actually thought of it terms of a similar metaphor. But it's not
> only a "corporate world of influences". It is the "established wisdom"
> in general on almost any subject - and it is actually that "wisdom"
> which influences corporate thinking as much as anything else.
>
> In terms of *fundamental* ideas, the universities - and intellectuals
> in general - are much more influential than the corporations. They may
> not think they are - but think they should - and in fact they do.
>
> In any culture in any given time there will be "multiple choice
> questions" within a certain limited range. Radical ideas only appeal
> to a small minority. But some of those ideas, with concerted effort ...

> On May 7, 7:56 pm, Bret Cahill aol.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
>

>> It is hard to explain the place filled by political concerns in the
>> life of an American.  To take a hand in the government of society and
>> to talk about it is his most important business and, so to say, the
>> only pleasure he knows.  That is obvious even in the most trivial
>> habits of his life; even the women often go to public meetings and
>> forget household cares while they listen to political speeches.  For
>> them clubs to some extent take the place of theaters.  An American
>> does not know how to converse, but he argues;  he does not talk, but
>> expatiates.  He always speaks to you as if addressing a meeting, and
>> if he happens to get excited, he will say "Gentleman" when addressing
>> an audience of one.

>

>> The inhabitant in some countries shows a sort of repugnance in ...