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Modern technology has become a total phenomenon for civilization, the defining force of a new social order in which efficiency is no longer an option but a necessity imposed on all human activity.

Jacques Ellul

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Jacques Ellul
Age: 82 †
Born: 1912
Born: January 6
Died: 1994
Died: May 19
French Resistance Fighter
Philosopher
Sociologist
Theologian
University Teacher
Writer
Bordèu
Social
Activity
Imposed
Order
Civilization
Option
Become
Becoming
Defining
Human
Longer
Efficiency
Humans
Technology
Professors
Modern
Phenomenon
Society
Necessity
Force
Total
Theologian

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Thinking has become a superfluous exercise... purely internal, without compelling force, more or less a game.
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Propaganda begins when dialogue ends.
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All human language draws its nature and value from the fact that it both comes from the Word of God and is chosen by God to manifest himself. But this relationship is secret and incomprehensible, beyond the bounds of reason and analysis.
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Technical civilization has made a great error in not suppressing death, the only human reality still intact
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Mass media provides the essential link between the individual and the demands of the technological society.
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For the word is dialectical in itself and at the same time is integrated into the whole of existence. By this I mean that the word is intended to be lived.
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Because of the myth of progress, it is much easier to sell a man an electric razor than a straight-edged one.
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When there is propaganda, we are no longer able to evaluate certain questions, or even to discuss them
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The Holy Spirit alone can do this, the Holy Spirit alone can establish this link with one's neighbor.
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The propagandist must utilize all of the technical means at his disposal - the press, radio, TV, movies, posters, meetings, door-to-door canvassing...There is no propaganda as long as one makes use, in a sporadic fashion and at random, of a newspaper article here, a poster or radio program there.
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It is not true that the perfection of police power is the result of the state's Machiavellianism or of some transitory influence. The whole structure of society implies it, of necessity. The more we mobilize the forces of nature, the more must we mobilize men and the more do we require order.
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Everyone has been taught that technique is an application of science.... This traditional view is radically false. It takes into account only a single category of science and only a short period of time
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Journalistic content is a technical complex expressly intended to adapt man to the machine.
Jacques Ellul
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Am I a pessimist? Not at all. I am convinced that the history of the human race, no matter how tragic, will ultimately lead to the Kingdom of God. I am convinced that all the works of humankind will be reintegrated in the work of God, and that each of us, no matter how sinful, will ultimately be saved.
Jacques Ellul
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I describe a world with no exit, convinced that God accompanies man throughout his history.
Jacques Ellul
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Science brings to the light of day everything man had believed sacred. Technique takes possession of it and enslaves it.
Jacques Ellul
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The individual who is the servant of technique must be completely unconscious of himself.
Jacques Ellul
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In sum, thought and reflection have been rendered thoroughly pointless by the circumstances in which modern men and women live and act.
Jacques Ellul
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Freedom is completely without meaning unless it is related to necessity, unless it represents victory over necessity.
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Fate operates when people give up
Jacques Ellul