![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Mind-forged Manacles
May. 6th, 2026 08:13 am We all have them. Mind-forged manacles. The phrase is William Blake's.....
Judy and I were talking about Never Let Me Go- Ishiguro's book about clones. When I first read it I thought it was a bit far-fetched, now I'm not so sure.....
It's a book she's going to have to teach, so she's been discussing it with colleagues. Something students ask is, "Why don't they rebel?"
But why don't any of us rebel? Why don't people in shitty jobs rebel? Why didn't the kids on Epstein Island rebel?
Because rebellion costs. Unless you do it in overwhelming numbers you get squashed. Besides most of us accept the conditions we're born into as normal, our leaders say they're normal, our media says they're normal, our priests and gurus say they're normal- and who are we- poor little half-educated peons- to disagree?
We tip our forelocks to the squire, we vote for the rag dolls they put up as candidates for high office, we read the propaganda that passes for news and nod along, we accept the stuff they serve up to entertain us, we stick to our routines......
And we tut tut at people who step off the pavement. Jaywalkers, that's what they are! Something should be done to keep them in line.
Recruit more police!
And that's what the man meant by "mind-forged manacles". We willingly collude in our own oppression.
Judy and I were talking about Never Let Me Go- Ishiguro's book about clones. When I first read it I thought it was a bit far-fetched, now I'm not so sure.....
It's a book she's going to have to teach, so she's been discussing it with colleagues. Something students ask is, "Why don't they rebel?"
But why don't any of us rebel? Why don't people in shitty jobs rebel? Why didn't the kids on Epstein Island rebel?
Because rebellion costs. Unless you do it in overwhelming numbers you get squashed. Besides most of us accept the conditions we're born into as normal, our leaders say they're normal, our media says they're normal, our priests and gurus say they're normal- and who are we- poor little half-educated peons- to disagree?
We tip our forelocks to the squire, we vote for the rag dolls they put up as candidates for high office, we read the propaganda that passes for news and nod along, we accept the stuff they serve up to entertain us, we stick to our routines......
And we tut tut at people who step off the pavement. Jaywalkers, that's what they are! Something should be done to keep them in line.
Recruit more police!
And that's what the man meant by "mind-forged manacles". We willingly collude in our own oppression.
