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Thinking has become a superfluous exercise... purely internal, without compelling force, more or less a game.

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
Exercise
Game
Games
Less
Superfluous
Force
Purely
Become
Internals
Without
Internal
Thinking
Compelling

More quotes by Jacques Ellul

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The fact of knowing how to read is nothing, the whole point is knowing what to read.
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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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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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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.
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I describe a world with no exit, convinced that God accompanies man throughout his history.
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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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When there is propaganda, we are no longer able to evaluate certain questions, or even to discuss them
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(Propaganda) proceeds by psychological manipulations, character modifications, by creation of stereotypes useful when the time comes - The two great routes that this sub-propaganda takes are the conditioned reflex and the myth
Jacques Ellul
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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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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
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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The individual who is the servant of technique must be completely unconscious of himself.
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Mass media provides the essential link between the individual and the demands of the technological society.
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Our civilization is first and foremost a civilization of means in the reality of modern life, the means, it would seem, are more important than the ends.
Jacques Ellul
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No technique is possible when men are free. Technique requires predictability and, no less, exactness of prediction. It is necessary, then, that technique prevail over the human being.
Jacques Ellul
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Almost always, it is the conviction that 'I am right' or 'my cause is the cause of justice' that triggers violence. That is, ...the moment propaganda does its work, violence is unleashed. And violence can be reduced by countering this propaganda.
Jacques Ellul
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The most favorable moment to seize a man and influence him is when he is alone in the mass. It is at this point that propaganda can be most effective.
Jacques Ellul
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To the ideal of high consumption and the downgrading of spiritual values corresponds a conception of injustice that centers exclusively on the problem of consumption and equality in consumption cannot be achieved except by violence.
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.
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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