Propaganda

[close] I've created this group for people who wish to sharpen or maintain their critical thinking skills by reading books on the process of thinking itself, as well as books on topics which merit thorough critical analysis.

[close] Each month a theme will be set with a suggested book for each age group (adult, young adult, 8-12 years, young children). You do not have to stick to your age group, it's just to provide a little something for everyone. Some months adult themes may be included, there will be a warning given prior if this is the case. If you add a book to the tbr please let a moderator know the key themes, genres and age range that it falls under.

[close] ...December 16, 2011 to January 15, 2012...

[close] Jacques Ellul cracks open political and sociological commonplaces, destructively and wittily demonstrating how our unthinking acceptance of them encourages hypocrisy, smugness, and mental inertia. Among the stereotypes of thought and speech thus exploded are such phrases as "You can't act without getting your hands dirty," "Work is freedom" and "We must follow the current of history". A certain number of these old saws preside over our daily life. They permit us to understand one another and to swim in the ordinary current of society. They are accepted as so certain that we almost never question them. They serve at once as sufficient explanations for everything and as "clinchers" in too many arguments. Ellul explores the ways in which such clichés mislead us and prevent us from having independent thoughts--and in fact keep us from facing the problems to which they are theoretically addressed. They are our "commonplaces." Just as the nineteenth century brought forth many such commonplaces so our century has been busy creating its own. What Ellul has done is to stand still long enough to look at them carefully, attack them with cool reason, and leave them nakedly exposed. His remarkable caustic fearlessness is at the service of truths that often are cruel, but always are lucid and impassioned. He represents the voice of intelligence, and while doing so is often hilarious and always therapeutic about matters of first importance.