Domination Has Its Own Aesthetics, And Democratic

Freedom Of Enterprise Was From The Beginning Not Altogether A Blessing. As The Liberty To Work Or To Starve, It Spelled Toil, Insecurity, And Fear For The Vast Majority Of The Population. If The Individual Were No Longer Compelled To Prove Himself On The Market, As A Free Economic Subject, The Disappearance Of This Freedom Would Be One Of The Greatest Achievements Of Civilization.

The Society Which Projects And Undertakes The Technological Transformation Of Nature Alters The Base Of Domination By Gradually Replacing Personal Dependence (of The Slave On The Master, The Serf On The Lord Of The Manor, The Lord On The Donor Of The Fief, Etc.) With Dependence On The "objective Order Of Things" (on Economic Laws, The Market Etc.).

Self-determination, The Autonomy Of The Individual, Asserts Itself In The Right To Race His Automobile, To Handle His Power Tools, To Buy A Gun, To Communicate To Mass Audiences His Opinion, No Matter How Ignorant, How Aggressive, It May Be.

Nobody Really Thinks Who Does Not Abstract From That Which Is Given, Who Does Not Relate The Facts To The Factors Which Have Made Them, Who Does Not - In His Mind - Undo The Facts. Abstractness Is The Very Life Of Thought, The Token Of Its Authenticity.

The Organism Is Thus Being Preconditioned For The Spontaneous Acceptance Of What Is Offered. Inasmuch As The Greater Liberty Involves A Contraction Rather Than Extension And Development Of Instinctual Needs, It Works For Rather Than Against The Status Quo Of General Repression - One Might Speak Of "institutionalized Desublimation". The Latter Appears To Be A Vital Factor In The Making Of The Authoritarian Personality Of Our Time.