Thought That Accepts Reality As Given Is

The Existing Liberties And The Existing Gratifications Are Tied To The Requirements Of Repression: They Themselves Become Instruments Of Repression.

Free Election Of Masters Does Not Abolish The Masters Or The Slaves. Free Choice Among A Wide Variety Of Goods And Services Does Not Signify Freedom If These Goods And Services Sustain Social Controls Over A Life Of Toil And Fear – That Is, If They Sustain Alienation. And The Spontaneous Reproduction Of Superimposed Needs By The Individual Does Not Establish Autonomy; It Only Testifies To The Efficacy Of The Controls.

The Soul Contains Few Secrets And Longings Which Cannot Be Sensibly Discussed, Analyzed, And Polled. Solitude, The Very Condition Which Sustained The Individual Against And Beyond His Society, Has Become Technically Impossible. Logical And Linguistic Analysis Demonstrate That The Old Metaphysical Problems Are Illusory Problems; The Quest For The "meaning" Of Things Can Be Reformulated As The Quest For The Meaning Of Words, And The Established Universe Of Discourse And Behavior Can Provide Perfectly Adequate Criteria For The Answer.

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.

At The Highest Stage Of Capitalism, The Most Necessary Revolution Appears As The Most Unlikely One.