Social Deprogramming and the Levers of Control

"Like any advertising slogan, the catchphrase "We are the 99%" owes its effectiveness not to what it says but to what it doesn't say. What it doesn't say is the identity of the powerful 1%. What characterizes the 1% is not their wealth... it's not their celebrity -- they tend to be discreet, and nowadays who doesn't have a right to their fifteen minutes of fame? What characterizes the 1% is that they are organized. They even organize in order to organize the lives of others. The truth of this slogan is quite cruel, and it's that the number doesn't matter: one can be 99% and still be completely dominated." The Invisible Committee, To Our Friends pg.16-17 Semiotext 2015

 
Correction: The 99 percent (unaware of their power) can be dominated. Cultural consciousness is the key to unlocking this power.  One must come to understand the levers of control which work toward the subjugation of the masses. The masses are a herd to be moved by those who have the levers of control. We must become aware of these levers (which implies social deprogramming) so that we can control ourselves. Ignorance is the great enemy of man's freedom, he that does not care will be controlled by those who do.

The question is a matter of desire in the realm of man's freedom. Those who shift the masses seek to pacify man's individual discontent. Those who rule understand that man will renounce his freedom for the delusion of comfort. This is a complex psychological game: man is instilled with desires he did not create for himself, the ruling class then seeks to appease these artificial desires thereby bringing about the impression of happiness, but in reality this is mere emptiness. This is what it looks like to make a slave content in his slavery--- behold the psychology of slavery from the vantage of the slaveholder! The tactic is one of creating artificial desire [happiness fulfilled by the possession of abstract commodities-- abstract in relation to life], behold the plastic world in which man lives! Behold the bondage of his plastic chains! As Rousseau said so long ago: "All ran headlong to their chains!"

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THE MAN OF WEALTH

Thought experiment:

There are people with large bodies of wealth. Why do these people not use their wealth to make the world a better place?

Are they socially unconscious or socially irresponsible?

I fancy they would not accept the charge of social ignorance!

What can we say, are these people malevolent? How can this not be the case seeing they have the power to prevent evil? What prevents them from using their power for good?

{I suspect they have an ideology, a false morality, by which they see themselves as doing good. But the question is whether or not this ideology is consistent with social reality?}

If I have the power of wealth, and I am a social being, then what kind of social responsibility do I have, seeing wealth makes me an agent of power?

If our man of wealth rejects the fact that he is socially ignorant, then he must admit to being socially immoral.

The same argument that applies to an all-power-deity is the same argument that applies to our man of wealth:

If God is all-powerful, then why does he not prevent evil; because he is not all-good. If God is all-good, then why does he not prevent evil; because he is not all-powerful.

Indeed, it is even worse with the man of wealth, precisely because wealth, in the context of a capitalist society, is an undeniable signifier of power (which means we cannot argue that the man of wealth lacks power)!

The man of wealth can't have it both ways, by hoarding wealth he is either socially evil or socially ignorant... But surely his psychology transcends this dichotomy; he rejects both these conclusions on the basis of some faulty, moral ideology, which to his eyes, beams as the haven of Truth, the-axiom-of-personal-peace. 

At the end of the day the man of wealth sees himself at the head of society; he sees himself as the most important agent in society. So complete is his ideology of power (so distant from reality) that the man of power is convinced that he is not only superior, but also necessary to the existence of society. Such a man sees himself in relation to society, as a God would stand in relation to the universe!   

We must seek to reform society by knocking down this ideology, by exposing its false morality. [Let the great refuters come forth!] A true morality not only shows man to be free, but it shows him to be free (only) in relation to society itself. Because a freedom outside society would not be a freedom worth having, precisely because it would not be a freedom of quality! The abundance that makes an individual (which is required for the existence of an individual) is not possible outside the context of society!  

We must seek to reform the penal institutions of society, because this is how the man of wealth deals with those who reject his ideology of power. 

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