Topic 1

"The Conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in a democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government, which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is the logical consequence of the way our democratic society is organized. Whatever attitude one chooses toward this condition, it remains a fact that in almost every act of our daily lives, whether in the sphere of politics or business, in our social conduct, and in our ethical thinking, we are dominated by a relatively small number of persons. It is they who pull the wires that control the public mind, who harness old social forces and contrive new ways to bind and guide the world."

Edward Bernays - Propaganda, 1928

Topic 2

"Civil disobedience practiced by a single individual is unlikely to have much effect. He will be regarded as an eccentric more interesting to observe than to suppress.  Significant civil disobedience therefore will be practiced by a number of people who have a community of interest. Civil disobedience arises when a significant number of citizens have become convinced either that the normal channels of change no longer function, and grievances will not be heard or acted upon or that on the contrary the government is about to change and has embarked upon and persists in modes of action whose legality and constitutionality are open to grave doubt."

​

Hannah Arendt - Crises of the Republic, 1972

topic 3

“Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it. While it lies there it needs no constitution, no law, no court to save it. And what is this liberty which must lie in the hearts of men and women? It is not the ruthless, the unbridled will; it is not freedom to do as one likes. That is the denial of liberty, and leads straight to its overthrow. A society in which men recognize no check upon their freedom soon becomes a society where freedom is the possession of only a savage few; as we have learned to our sorrow.”

​

Learned Hand - The Spirit of Liberty Speech, 1944

Topic 5

"Totalitarianism masquerades under a variety of slogans and shibboleths, such as government by the grace of God, by the people, by the proletariat, and by the will of the revolution, all of which constitute merely a smoke screen designed to conceal the basic despotism and autocracy whereby the liberties and inalienable rights of the citizenry are trampled underfoot. The only essential difference between various totalitarianism is that one is coercively imposed upon the citizens whereas they willingly accept another – moreover it is hard to decide which is mainly compulsory and which for the most part, is voluntarily accepted."

Pitirim Sorokin - Man and Society in Calamity, 1942