To hide or dissemble Fact: The birth agonies of the New IRS led to one of the great and terrible PR discoveries in modern democracy, which is that if sensitive issues of governance can be made sufficiently dull and arcane, there will be no need for officials to hide or dissemble, because no one not directly involved will pay enough attention to cause trouble. David Foster Wallace, The Pale King secretsgovernment
We infantilize ourselves Here in the US, we expect government and law to be our conscience. Our superego, you could say. It has something to do with liberal individualism, and something to do with capitalism, but I don't understand much of the theoretical aspect—what I see is what I live in. Americans are in a way crazy. We infantilize ourselves. We don't think of ourselves as citizens—parts of something larger to which we have profound responsibilities. We think of ourselves as citizens when it comes to our rights and privileges, but not our responsibilities. We abdicate our civic responsibilities to the government and expect the government, in effect, to legislate morality. David Foster Wallace, The Pale King societygovernmentpoliticsmoralitycivics
Brave New World A Novel by Aldous Huxley A man who dreams of fewer thingsBetween desire and its consummationEnding is better than mendingI am I, and wish I wasn’tSubjected to some great trial+1 More
A man who dreams of fewer things “He was a philosopher, if you know what that was.” “A man who dreams of fewer things than there are in heaven and earth.” philosophydreams
Between desire and its consummation Feeling lurks in that interval of time between desire and its consummation. emotiondesire
Ending is better than mending “We always throw away old clothes. Ending is better than mending, ending is better than mending, ending is better…” noveltyrepairtrashwastemelancholyending
Subjected to some great trial Often in the past he had wondered what it would be like to be subjected (soma-less and with nothing but his own inward resources to rely on) to some great trial, some pain, some persecution; he had even longed for affliction. As recently as a week ago, in the Director’s office, he had imagined himself courageously resisting, stoically accepting suffering without a word. Prometheus painsuffering