The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. …We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society. …In almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct or our ethical thinking, we are dominated by the relatively small number of persons…who understand the mental processes and social patterns of the masses. It is they who pull the wires which control the public mind.

- Edward Bernays from his book Propaganda (1928),

It has often been lamented that Marxism seems to be a purely economic theory, which makes little place for a properly Marxian political theory. I believe that this is the strength of Marxism, and that political theory and political philosophy are always epiphenomenal. Politics should be the affair of an ever-vigilant opportunism, but not of any theory or philosophy… Marxism is not a political philosophy but rather an economic one. It incites us, not to contest or transform political power, but rather to change and transform capitalism as such, to change our whole economic system.

- Fredric Jameson, “A New Reading of Capital” (as-yet unpublished essay) (via steveshaviro)

Steven Shaviro has a Tumblr. This will be welcome news to anyone who follows his blog at The Pinocchio Theory.

The city’s richness cannot be gleaned from any critical distance, but needs a body drawn through it, like some kind of wrecking ball, to crack open it’s meanings. Insight sparks from this collision, or it adheres to it, like opium scraped from the legs of naked children set running through poppy fields.

- Matthew Stadler
from Where we live Now

The renewal of life is the great theme of our age, not the further dominance, in ever more frozen and compulsive forms, of the machine. And the first step for each of us is to seize the initiative and recover our own capacity for living; to detach ourselves from the daily routine to make ourselves self-respecting, self-governing, persons. In short, we must take things into our own hands. Before art on any great scale can redress our lop-sided [technology], we must put ourselves in the mood and frame of mind in which art becomes possible, as either creation or re-creation: above all we must learn to pause, to be silent, to close our eyes and wait.

- Lewis Mumford

Via: Huge Ass City My favorite Seattle issues blog