I think this works both ways. At the end of the day, subjugation is accomplished by precluding free debate and the open exchange of ideas. When you preclude discussion about certain ideas and topics based on group membership, subjugation and oppression transpire.

Of course, Americans criticize everything and everybody in private. As such, we need to see what is taboo to criticize in public. And the principle public forum through which a large portion of such criticism is made is through the mainstream media.

What sacred cow institutions or groups are totally "off limits" in mainstream media reporting?

The military, certainly, is often "off limits," at least among many media folks.

And the banks, too, are often off-limits. Maybe they will criticize the rogue investor, here and there, like Madoff. But the thing is, Madoff robbed the 1%, not the 99%. Bankers who rob the 99% are rarely criticized in the media. Nor are banks or our financial institutions criticized, in terms of how they engage in daily business, as a matter of course.

Of course, most mainstream newspapers never criticized Wall Street prior to 1929, either. Nor did they criticize King Cotton prior to 1861. Nor did most Dutch mainstream Newspapers criticize Tulip Dealers prior to 1637. In fact, it was seen as "immoral" and "unpatriotic" and even "subversive" to do so, even though the tulip bulb bubble was insane and stupid and lead to a major financial crash.

On the other hand, I am sure that some pure evil institutions would want to launch a media campaign full of PR that poked fun of themselves. This is because I think the best way to make people get used to you, and not be afraid of you or resent you, is to make fun of yourself. And this would provide a cover for you, if you needed such a cover, do do evil things.

As such, I am sure that many nasty-ass groups probably do the same thing in the US and world today. On the other hand, some groups probably wouldn't do that because they gain from the fear they create.

For example, the KGB doesn't want to publicly mock itself.

What do you think?

The banks don't think it's necessary to poke fun at themselves.

I'm afraid that someone will apply Voltaire to the N word, where it really doesn't apply

Or the J word because of the H word. I'm afraid some aphorisms have a nice ring to them but just don't work.

Knowing who rules over you should give some power shouldn't it? Knowing your enemy is half of the solution. R.

I think I know exactly what you are talking about rw. My father was a racist bigot when I was a kid. The only people he didn’t hate were Jews and Italians. The people he hated most of all were Hippies and anti war protestors. He would sometimes stop the car when he saw hippies walking down the streets of Brooklyn and scream at them “quick somebody kill it with a stick!” But he always told me when he watched the Vietnam protests on the news at night. “I may not agree with what they are saying. But I will guard with my life their right to say it.”

I think Voltaire means this as an initial axiom in a larger process of resistance. So, first, find out by expressing what is most despised by those in power, who responds to repress you, and in what way. In other words, light a flag on fire to see who comes running, and observe their actions, minutely, in a scientific sense. Remember Voltaire is the original investigator of the investigators. Turn the investigation, the constant interrogation, around on itself, and investigate the system, which only seeks to mislead you in its own descriptions of itself and its operations. Politics is the obvious oppressor in a system of power, but there are many others who really wield that power beyond the mystifications of politics and political culture. The politicians might even turn out to be the least of your worries--as in the case with finance, where politics seems to be an afterthought. "Oh, we've done something illegal...well, then, legalize it retroactively"...or again..."We want to be able to do something that is presently illegal, and on a massive scale, so legalize it for us, pre-emptively." "Yes, sir, yes, sir," the politicians respond, and it's done...

Unfortunately I don't think dissident expression alone is a terribly useful way of viewing one's relationship to power today, when the problem is rather the collapse of political culture, and the absence of even the merest mystifications, at least in the way they appeared in the past. There are precious sacred cows left standing. Most of them have been ground up into hamburger for some multinational's use. Power rests now on new processes of subjectivization: indebtedness, the media mind, the security state, and blatantly false, even technocratic, "representation." Everybody knows how power operates, it's as blunt as a truncheon or a killer drone. The problem is, how to restructure, divert it long enough to create different ways of self-organizing? How to occupy the square without getting brutalized as spectacle? How to displace false representation, and the brutal technocratic project of global-capital, with the self-organizing principles of the multitude?

Subjectivity isn't a bad place to start.

I have some idea about who is in control in the world and my best use of that is to run and hide. It's a dangerous world.

By the way, it's an interesting image. Of course the diamond ring on the giant hand is supposed to cue us into the owner's wealth. But a giant hand coming down out of the sky, in reference to a quote from Voltaire, has other possible meanings. The really obscene thing in our culture, even today, is to tell somebody that their god is bullshit.

voltaire was one of the great writers. a knack for the cutting quote... thx for sharing, I cant believe I hadnt heard that one before =)

*nodding in agreement with the post*

Yes. Looking good.

I think the cartoon speaks for itself and is correct. R.

Smashing the cockroach. When you have a cockroach problem you go after the ones that has brought them to your attention (perceived threat) all the while you know that there more untouchable and invisible. You can never kill them all. It's comparable to the coined term 'mutual assured destruction' regarding media, going after something that could in turn destroy you.
It's been going on since cavemen days where one to make himself look brave would draw a picture on the wall of himself slaying a huge dinosaur with a spear and that night a rival would sneak up and draw one next to it depicting the same caveman from the first wearing a skirt and running away from the dinosaur. All this evolved into what is now Fox News and horrendous reality shows.
This is my brain on drugs at 6am. Voltaire is right, great thought exercise. My best..................o/e

Is it possible there were Creationists amongst cave men?

Jan, got it from a reliable source at the local feed store. o/e

So darn true!

In Russia, it's Putin. And in many places it's the government.

Voltaire has always been one of my favorite writers.

Voltaire screwed whores. I'd rather know what the whores thought. More interesting.