Future literature mobilizes people toward predetermined ends
Evidence
But this only brings up-to- date what has always been true of the literature of the future. This literature, with its body of predictions, prescriptions, and prophecies, is a cultural strat- egy for moving or mobilizing or arousing people toward predefined ends by prescribed means. It would legislate and magistrate beyond the writ of any previous parliamentary or judicial body. It presumes to arbitrarily decree what shall be done and to appeal for the enactment of the plans brought forth. In the process, parts of the past are selectively deleted and aspects of the present are ignored. If such factors contradict the desired end in view, they must be proclaimed “obsolete” or examples of cultural lag. — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 747
Categorization
- XREF: Foreshadows Carey’s transmission view critique and connects to his later discussion of communication as ritual versus transportation. — connects to: Information can simulate and control the objects it moves ahead of. — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 819; Future-oriented discourse masks the loss of a genuine public sphere — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 765; Truth about the past limits human power, future-dependent truth expands it — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2937 (+9 more)
- corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 747
Broader Connections
- Ideologies act on people structurally through a process that escapes them
#expands(0.70) - Future-oriented discourse masks the loss of a genuine public sphere
#complicates(0.60) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 765 - Truth about the past limits human power, future-dependent truth expands it
#corroborates(0.50) — Bertrand Russell, History of Western Philosophy, 2937 - People can simultaneously dread and desire the catastrophic events they anticipate
#expands(0.40) — Julien Gracq, Balcony in the Forest, 509 - A group imagining actions shifts from spectator to potential doer
#expands(0.40) — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 326