We can no longer afford freedom. And so it must be replaced with control over man, his conduct and his culture. Professor B F Skinner, Beyond Freedom & Dignity
On June 23 2021 Britney Spears spoke publicly about her conservatorship in detail for the first time. Controlling Britney Spears, Sky Documentaries 2021, caption
It’s embarrassing and demoralising what I’ve been through … I also would like to be able to share my story with the world and what they did to me. ibid.
In 2008 Britney Spears was put under a court-ordered conservatorship amid concerns about her mental health and possible substance abuse. It gave her father significant powers over the life and finances. It was designed to protect her from harm and exploitation. ibid. captions
Everybody involved stands to make a cut. ibid. lady
He was burning with a sense of outrage. He had been tricked and made a fool of; he had been used and flung aside. And now there was nothing he could do — he was utterly helpless. What affected him most was his sense of the overwhelming magnitude of the powers which had made him their puppet; of the utter futility of the efforts that he or any other man could make against them. They were like elemental, cosmic forces; they held all the world in their grip, and a common man was as much at their mercy as a bit of chaff in a tempest. Upton Sinclair, Metropolis, 1908
The Chinese government has been using smart technology for the past two decades to create an increasingly monitored and closely controlled society. A grid-based system has been rolled out nationwide to collect data and ‘manage’ social disruptions at the grassroots level. Storyville: Total Trust: Surveillance State, captions, BBC 2024
We must mobilise the public to actively participate in security matters. ibid. enthusiast
Our phones and apps are monitored. They make changes to our profiles. ibid. critic
Another 400 million cameras are expected to be installed in the next three years. ibid. enthusiast
[Michel de Montaigne]: ‘The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to yourself.’ Psyphoria podcast: The Art of Not Caring: When You Embrace Uncertainty, Life Becomes Easier, Youtube 2025
Have you ever stopped to think about how much of your anguish comes from your obsession with control? … Internal control: the suffocating need for certainties, to know what will happen tomorrow. ibid.
No more certainties, but a new relationship with what cannot be controlled. ibid.
Montaigne was not an ordinary philosopher … He wrote from within his own skin. ibid.
Montaigne embraced the opposite: he did not know. ibid.
In a time when everyone shouts, he whispers. ibid.
Anxiety is the fear of the unpredictable. ibid.
It’s the desire for life to be different from what it is. ibid.
[Carl Jung]: ‘I am not what happened to me, I am what I choose to become.’ Psyphoria podcasts: Stop Giving a Fuck: Nothing & Nobody Will Ever Hurt You Again: Carl Jung
Have you ever wished to be someone who is unshakable? Someone who doesn’t care about rejection, loss or betrayal?
The biggest lie that you’ve been told is that you are in control of your life. Wake up because you’re not. ibid.
But control is an illusion. ibid.
What you need is not more control but more awareness. ibid.
You have already gone through the fire. You have faced your monsters. ibid.
Nothing will shield you from external suffering. ibid.
We are coerced by our fellow human beings. Since they have the ability to choose to do otherwide, our condition needs not be thus. Coercion is immoral, infefficient and unnecessary for human life and fulfilment. Samuel E Konkin, ‘New Libertarian Manifesto’