"The discovery of the current of history is the classic panacea of our good intellectuals and thinkers; indeed, it was the happiest day of their lives. The disappearance of the Eternal Father from our mental horizon had left a large void. The situation was becoming impossible, the universe and our lives seemed incomprehensible, we had neither compass nor sextant nor Ariadne's clue nor radar. Everything was getting out of control. Then, all of a sudden, the thread of history was discovered. If we take one end of the thread and pull, the whole ball of world history, past and future, unrolls in order, very nicely, at our disposal. What mastery, gentlemen! Much stronger than the shamans! Much stronger than all the theologians! We can see where we are going, so we know what we have to do."

- Jacques Ellul

Dicta of the Common Wisdom: "Follow the current of history"; "Keep in step with the times"; "Be on the side of progress"; "Change is necessary"; "History will be the judge"; "You're going against the Zeitgeist"; "You're being reactionary"; "You can't turn back the clock"; "This is the 21st Century!"

Bach: "What the world / contains / Must vanish like smoke."

Alexander the Weightless: "hoo nedz hisstree whn i kn twittr? go wth th flo, man! thts th wav uv th Dow!"

Aristides the Aristocrat: "Keeping up with the latest technology of the Joneses is the opiate of the masses; keeping up with Historical Determinism the opiate of the educated and intellectual classes. Never dare look at things or the world sub specie aeternitatis."

[Ellul, Jacques. A CRITIQUE OF THE NEW COMMONPLACES, 1968 (1st pub., 1966).]