Puppet Ink
You can use words to sanction a man’s thoughts.
[Vol. 2 Issue #58]
Monday
It is a name they venerate.
Big Ideas
One Big Story
Words
An excerpt for this Ball of Confusion.
The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis
Screwtape sets out his proposition for managing moderns:
Democracy is the word with which you must lead them by the nose. The good work which our physiological experts have already done in the corruption of human language makes it unnecessary to warn you that they should never be allowed to give this word a clear and definable meaning. They won’t. It will never occur to them that Democracy is properly the name of a political system, even a system of voting and that this has only the most remote and tenuous connection with what you are trying to sell them…
You are to use the word purely as an incantation; if you like, purely for its selling power. It is a name they venerate. And of course, it relates to the political idea that men should be equally treated. You then make a stealthy transition in their minds from this political idea to a factual belief that all men are equal. Especially the man you are working on. As a result, you can use the word Democracy to sanction his thought the most degrading (and also the least enjoyable) of all human feelings. You can get him to practice, not only without shame but with a positive glow of self-approval, conduct which, if undefended by the magic word, would be universally derided.
The feeling I mean is of course that which prompts a man to say.
I’m as good as you.
- From “Screwtape Proposes a Toast” (The Screwtape Letters)
Big Shout
Notes and reflections to prompt curiosity in thinking people.
Lights & Sounds
Today’s Tune
The Temptations idea - covered by Post Bauhaus alums Love And Rockets.
Click on the Apple Music image to listen to the song on Apple Music or on the Spotify Image to listen to Spotify.
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Words from Gen X
Words from Gen X in age or spirit.
"I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatsoever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no ‘brief candle’ to me; it is a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got a hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
— George Bernard Shaw
With A Shout Playlist:
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🤘Good Evening! Every minute you spend with us sends ripples of gratitude through our souls! 🤘
With A Shout newsletter is written by Johnny Christian with the support of a thousand idea bits and the help of many people.
Last Call
Notes and reflections to prompt curiosity in thinking people.
O/X