Something in the world forces us to think. This something is an object not of recognition but of a fundamental encounter.
Gilles DeleuzeRead
Language is not made to be believed but to be obeyed, and to compel obedience newspapers, news, proceed by redundancy, in that they tell us what we ‘must’ think, retain, expect, etc. language is neither informational nor communicational. It is not the communication of information but something quite different: the transmission of order-words, either from one statement to another or within each statement, insofar as each statement accomplishes an act and the act is accomplished in the statement
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote suggests that language serves to enforce authority and compliance rather than simply convey information.
Gilles Deleuze argues that language is not merely a tool for communication or conveying information; instead, it functions primarily to command and dictate behavior. He posits that newspapers and news perpetuate this by instilling a sense of obligation on readers regarding what to think or expect, emphasizing that the essence of language lies in its power to convey orders and shape actions, rather than merely sharing knowledge.
Themes
LanguageObedienceCommunicationPowerAuthority
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about media influence at a journalism conference.
More from Gilles Deleuze
All quotes →Intuition is neither a feeling, an inspiration nor a disorderly sympathy but a fully developed method.
Gilles DeleuzeRead
Let us create extraordinary words, on condition that they be put to the most ordinary use and that the entity they designate be made to exist in the same way as the most common object.
Gilles DeleuzeRead
Forming grammatically correct sentences is for the normal individual the prerequisite for any submission to social laws. No one is supposed to be ignorant of grammaticality; those who are belong in special institutions. The unity of language is fundamentally political.
Gilles DeleuzeRead
Art is not communicative, art is not reflexive. Art, science, philosophy are neither contemplative, neither reflexive, nor communicative. They are creative, that's all.
Gilles DeleuzeRead
To affirm is not to bear, carry, or harness oneself to that which exists, but on the contrary to unburden, unharness, and set free that which lives.
Gilles DeleuzeRead
Similar quotes
But every soil becomes finally exhausted, and the ploughshare of evil must always come once more.
Friedrich NietzscheRead
I honestly do not know if civil disobedience has any effect on the government. I can promise you it has a great effect on the person who chooses to do it.
Martin SheenRead
I'm more than ever of the opinion that a decent human existence is possible today only on the fringes of society, where one then runs the risk of starving or being stoned to death. In these circumstances, a sense of humor is a great help.
Hannah ArendtRead
All human knowledge begins with intuitions, proceeds from thence to concepts, and ends with ideas.
Immanuel KantRead
I resolutely believe that respect for diversity is a fundamental pillar in the eradication of racism, xenophobia and intolerance. There is no excuse for evading the responsibility of finding the most suitable path toward the elimination of any expression of discrimination against indigenous peoples.
Rigoberta MenchuRead
The answer is, of course, that it would be best to be both loved and feared. But since the two rarely come together, anyone compelled to choose will find greater security in being feared than in being loved.
Niccolo MachiavelliRead