One of the things that my father taught me besides Physics—whether it’s correct or not—was a disrespect for certain kinds of things. For example, when I was a little boy, and he would sit me on his knee, he’d show me rotogravures in (The New York Times—that’s printed pictures which had just come out in newspapers.
One time we were looking at a picture of the pope and everybody bowing in front of him. My father said. “Now, look at those humans. Here’s one human standing here, and all these others are bowing in front of him. Now, what’s the difference? This one is the pope”—he hated the pope anyway. He said, “This difference is the hat he’s wearing.”(If it was a general, it was the epaulets. It was always the costume, the uniform, the position.) “But,” he said, “this man has the same problems as everybody else: he eats dinner; he goes to the bathroom. He’s a human being.” (By the way, my father was in the uniform business, so he knew what the difference is in a man with the uniform off and the uniform on—it was the same man for him.) — Richard P., Feynman (1999). "What Do You Care What Other People Think?": Further Adventures of a Curious Character. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 18. ISBN0-393-02659-0.
As the Roman Empire went down on a diet of gladiatorial shows, free bread and circuses, so the modern world buries itself understandably in soap operas and obscure sporting contests rather than heeding the preachers of doom. If there is a lesson learned from any history then certainly the history of propaganda is a candidate for pointing out pitfalls which are highly likely to recur in the future. To help avoid them it is reasonable to suggest that there should be continuous research into explanations at all levels, old and young, of the mechanics of racialist indoctrination and nationalism so that groups are not falsely led into impractical rebellions or unnecessary persecutions. There should be the same activity with regard to techniques of religious propaganda to prevent dangerous, over-fanatical cult propagation. These two assertions do not ascribe the right for any individual to condemn any nationalist movement or any religious cult, only to be provided with immunization training so that he or she can make a balanced judgement as to whether to join such movements.
People should be encouraged to be alert to the techniques adopted by all potential leaders, religious and political, in the build-up of their personal images and following. There should be training and understanding of the way which moral standards are propagated, both out of the past and out of the present, both out of dominant majorities and minority groups. In the same way there should be full recognition of the methods used for communal health and social education, the use of propaganda to prevent the spread of disease, overpopulation, pollution, road accidents and so on. In parallel we need to be aware of manipulation of attitudes in economic matters, the persuasion to save or spend, work hard or have a relaxed work ethic, to beg, lend, investor buy. This also applies to the adjustment of moral standards undertaken by self-appointed opinion leaders, some good, some not so good, but certainly with no divine right to dictate new attitudes on sex, marriage, temperance or any other matter. — Oliver, Thomson (1999). Easily led: a history of propaganda. Stroud: Sutton, (Sutton Publishing). p. 327-331. ISBN0-7509-1965-5.
Later, he had wandered off. The huge ship was an enchanted ocean in which you could never drown, and he threw himself into it to try to
understand if not it, then the people who had built it.
He walked for days, stopping at bars and restaurants whenever he felt thirsty, hungry or tired; mostly they were automatic and he was served by little floating trays, though a few were staffed by real people. They seemed less like servants and more like customers who'd taken a notion to help out for a while.
'Of course I don't have to do this,' one middle-aged man said, carefully cleaning the table with a damp cloth. He put the cloth in a little pouch, sat
down beside him. 'But look; this table's clean.'
He agreed that the table was clean.
'Usually,' the man said. 'I work on alien - no offence - alien religions; Directional Emphasis In Religious Observance; that's my speciality... like when temples or graves or prayers always have to face in a certain direction; that sort of thing? Well, I catalogue, evaluate, compare; I come up with theories and argue with colleagues, here and elsewhere. But... the job's never finished; always new examples, and even the old ones get reevaluated, and new people come along with new ideas about what you thought was settled... but,' he slapped the table, 'when you clean a table you clean a table. You feel you've done something. It's an achievement.'
'But in the end, it's still just cleaning a table.'
'And therefore does not really signify on the cosmic scale of events?' the man suggested.
He smiled in response to the man's grin, 'Well, yes.'
'But then, what does signify? My other work? Is that really important, either? I could try composing wonderful musical works, or day-long
entertainment epics, but what would that do? Give people pleasure? My wiping this table gives me pleasure. And people come to a clean table, which gives them pleasure. And anyway,' the man laughed, 'people die; stars die; universes die. What is any achievement, however great it was, once time itself is dead? Of course, if all I did was wipe tables, then of course it would seem a mean and despicable waste of my huge intellectual potential. But because I choose to do it, it gives me pleasure. And,' the man said with a smile, 'it's a good way of meeting people. So; where are you
from, anyway?'
— Banks, Iain M. (1990). Use of Weapons. London: Orbit. p. 88. ISBN1-85723-135-X.
