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The Birth of Propaganda by Jabez L. Van Cleef
Essays
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"The Birth of Propaganda" is poetic adaptation of the essay "Propaganda in a Democratic Society," by Aldous Huxley, which expresses his warnings about the manipulation of language by totalitarian governments and corporations. The original essay is interpreted as a poem, written and voiced by Jabez L. Van Cleef.
From a review on Garageband.com by Nicolas Walls: "Well spoken... this is a piece that sounds like it was written in a different time. The voice is clear and punctuated very well. It sounds like an essay from a great thinker. Not sounds like...but is! This is too much information to receive in one sitting. I find my self bogged down in thought. I feel as if I would enjoy decompressing these expressed sentiments and writing an essay of my own based upon what I have interpreted here. It is a lot to absorb even on my second listen. But I am completely intrigued...Excellent work."
An excerpt from Part 5:
"Society, most of whose members
Spend most of their time sated,
Not fully sentient, and bloated
With sense impressions of all kinds,
Awash in sweet irrelevance,
Breathing a vicarious miasma
Of sport, bare skin, soap opera,
Mythology and fantasy,
Will find it hard to resist
The assertions and encroachments
Of those who profit from their torpor,
Creating soft catatonias,
And so controlling their ideas."
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Chapters
| Title | Description | Date Created |
| Episode 01 Tradition (3.86 MB) | Tradition from all times, before / Our first countrymen settled here, / Proclaimed that we human creatures, / However several our ways, / In public life, or families, / Could not be pent from violence, / Nor bent to know forms of justice, / Without the prodding of some stick / Wielded by the authorities: / Who could dispense pain, more or less... | Mar 28, 2008 |
| Episode 02 They that have risen... (4.5 MB) | They that have risen instantly / From under brutish tyranny, / Breaking the shackle of a despot / Like a twig under the foot, / Or basking like puppies at play / In the unfamiliar display / Of political independence, / Are said to have had a fair chance / Of contriving right governance / And democratic institutions. / But, for many cogent reasons, / They may not want such a fair chance... | Mar 28, 2008 |
| Episode 03 In the light of this historyÉ (4.94 MB) | In the light of this history / Would it not be foolish to say / "This sort of thing cannot happen"? / It can happen; it is certain. / In the immediate future / The punitions of state power / Extenuate to something more:/ Reinforcements, fabrications, / Inducements, and manipulations, / Fostering more willing compliance... | Mar 28, 2008 |
| Episode 04 All this is an easy recourseÉ (4.09 MB) | All this is an easy recourse / In technology and science. / It becomes much more difficult / In politics, religion, ethics, and art. / Here the facts may elude the heart. / As for the meaning of the facts, / That may be at war with our acts, / And may depend on prejudice, / That paramorph system of ideas, / And terms, which many may choose / To interpret in different ways... | Mar 28, 2008 |
| Episode 05 Scientists of manipulation (5.89 MB) | As scientists of manipulation / Come to have better comprehension, / The dictators of the future / Will learn to work their magic better; / And the living spirit we celebrate here / Will become as a dead letter. | Mar 28, 2008 |