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Human life as a whole is not inundated by technique. It has room for activities that are not rationally or systematically ordered. But the collision between spontaneous activities and technique is catastrophic for the spontaneous activities.

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
Whole
Activities
Life
Technique
Inundated
Activity
Rationally
Room
Catastrophic
Rooms
Systematically
Technology
Collision
Human
Ordered
Humans
Spontaneous

More quotes by Jacques Ellul

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And an apprenticeship to whatever gadgetry is useful in a technical world
Jacques Ellul
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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.
Jacques Ellul
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The Holy Spirit alone can do this, the Holy Spirit alone can establish this link with one's neighbor.
Jacques Ellul
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Mass media provides the essential link between the individual and the demands of the technological society.
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Again I want to emphasize that the study of propaganda must be conducted within the context of a technological society. Propaganda is called upon to solve problems created by technology, to play on maladjustments, and to integrate the individual into a technological world.
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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Journalistic content is a technical complex expressly intended to adapt man to the machine.
Jacques Ellul
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For in a civilization which has lost the meaning of life, the most important thing a Christian can do is to live, and life, understood from the point of view of faith, has an extraordinary explosive force.
Jacques Ellul
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We have to admit that there is an immeasurable distance between all that we read in the Bible and the practice of the Church and of Christians.
Jacques Ellul
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Propaganda does not aim to elevate man, but to make him serve.
Jacques Ellul
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Philosophy which asserts that human experience repeats itself is ineffectual.
Jacques Ellul
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It is the emergence of mass media which makes possible the use of propaganda techniques on a societal scale.
Jacques Ellul
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When there is propaganda, we are no longer able to evaluate certain questions, or even to discuss them
Jacques Ellul
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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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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.
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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There are different forms of anarchy and different currents in it. I must, first say very simply what anarchy I have in view. By anarchy I mean first an absolute rejection of violence.
Jacques Ellul
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The will of the world is always a will to death, a will to suicide. We must not accept this suicide, and we must so act that it cannot take place.
Jacques Ellul
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It is the multiplication of men who are exluded from working which provokes war. We ought at least to bear this in mind when we boast of the continual decrease in human participation in technical operations.
Jacques Ellul