Let's stop for a
second.
Remember
tyranny? There's a
dictator at top surrounded by his military guards, his forces, his weapons, his death and his destruction. Then, come the people who easily bow to him. Greased joints, undoubtedly from
Yoga. Then, those who bow only stiffly. Then, lastly, those who failed to bow.
This is tyranny. This is
explicit control.
How does one fight explicit control?
Well, one arms him/herself. One fights. One sees the enemy, the dictator, aims, fires. One either dies in the process. Or is successful and the tyranny falls. The
structure is obvious - and though difficult to conquer - doable.
What, then, is
implicit control?
Take a look around. Does anyone tell you what to do? Are you forced to bow, kiss tyrannical boots? Do you run your life?
What are you doing right now? Studying? If so, why? To get a job later? Why? To earn money? What's that good for? So you can get more? Ah...wait, I don't quite see.
Will you enjoy your
job? Ah, "maybe"... ok.
What will you spend your
money on? Oh, and what makes you want to buy that? Uh-huh, your neighbor has one. I see..oh, wait. No.
The fact is that the
system we live in has
implicit control. No one
exactly tells us what to do. No one is
exactly in charge.
But, there are most certainly processes in motion in order to get from you exactly what they want.
Profit.
That is the key in today's world: profit.
The machinery of our
society works solely on this principle. And though it may appear no one is in
control, do
not believe that you aren't being manipulated.
Now, it's true enough that people in the past have set out with the direct intent of controlling us. (see
Noam Chomsky's
Propaganda and Control of the Public Mind) But, more so today, the
propaganda is internalized. We've allowed it to become a part of us. It's in the ads, in the fashion, in the arts, the literature. It's in everything that has been touched by the
capitalist system. It's in everything that has been touched by money.
Before I get reamed by the
anti-communists, I should point out that this is not necessarily against capitalism. It can still function. But, there need to be changes. Everything from the misrepresntation of
Adam Smith to the blind acceptance of
Malthus has left capitalism in something of a dangerous form. Or maybe it can't be reformed, but no one can (sensibly) argue that it's perfect.
Where does this leave us? As opposed to the explicit system, which allowed direct attack, the implicit system has no head to kill, no weapons to be raised. Is that bad? Perhaps not. Since it's an implicit system, there's no one waiting to shoot, no one watching out. At least not directly. What happens one day when we decide that the system no longer works? What happens when we decide to simply not pay attention? When we stop playing the game?
It goes away.