FSM at 40

October 6, 2004 11:06 AM

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop."
posted by xowie (5 comments total)

and then there are other times when the dreams the machine produces become so soothing, makes you so contented, that you can't make waves; and you've got to put your bodies onto the moving parts, upon the whole system, to make sure it stay greased and gives you the comfort you crave

a lot has changed in 40 years, hasn't it?
posted by pyramid termite at 4:02 PM on October 6, 2004

This link may help to add a little more context.
posted by quadog at 4:10 PM on October 6, 2004

FYI, that link was the second link in the FPP.

And pyramid_termite sums up my feelings quite eloquently. Although it's hard to believe that the protests were 40 years ago...hard to believe that generation is currently in power...and their goal is a repression level that would have shocked even the conservatives of the 60's.
posted by dejah420 at 5:58 PM on October 6, 2004

".....you've got to put your bodies onto the moving parts, upon the whole system, to make sure it stay greased and gives you the comfort you crave

a lot has changed in 40 years, hasn't it?" - I think the user base (still only a fraction) has broadened a little.

An area of my overall emerging Metafilter oeuvre - US corporate involvement in the creation of German Fascism and the Nazi war machine - reframes this nicely.

Go back 65 years to the future. You'll see.
posted by troutfishing at 8:55 PM on October 6, 2004

Mario Savio's FBI Odyssey / How the man who challenged 'the machine' got caught in the gears and wheels of J. Edgar Hoover's bureau
posted by xowie at 6:43 AM on October 11, 2004