Bondage and Freedom
“Nothing appeared to make my poor mistress more angry than seeing me, seated in some nook or corner quietly reading a book or a newspaper. I have had her rush at me, with the utmost fury, and snatch from my hand a newspaper or a book, with something of the wrath and consternation which a traitor might supposed to feel on being discovered in a plot by some dangerous spy.” My Bondage and My Freedom, Frederick Douglass
If you can for a second, think that the world is much like that mistress. The more you learn and the more initiative you show, the less power it holds over you. That is a very scary thought. A threat. Subversive. Not ‘totally subversive, man‘ but real, undermining, ‘tell me what you know about [name]’ kind of shit.
My relationship with a major Hollywood player – a guy whose clients and companies you know – was irrevocably shattered by the books I read. The ones that piled up on my desk. The new one I carried when I went to eat. The research papers I print on the copy machine. An Amazon package, twice a week.
I was not supposed to know that stuff. What was I doing? What was I planning? Who the fuck did I think I was?
If you can understand that every bit you steal, every word you sneak, is part of a larger struggle. Each one makes you just a little more free. It’s light penetrating the dungeon, Douglass said. They show you the whip and the chain. And then eventually, the revelations weigh you down so heavily that you have to make a choice. Are you a Slave For Life or are you a Free Man Now?
They know that. They know whether you’ve been informed of it or not. So you might as well start to take the thing seriously. It’s the only job that matters.
And if you don’t like the story or the analogy, let’s put it another way: Douglass risked violence and death to read whenever he could, what excuse do you have?
I tried to put it in but I couldn’t make it fit. My favorite Thomas Sowell quote is this:
“A recently reprinted memoir by Frederick Douglass has footnotes explaining what words like ‘arraigned,’ ‘curried’ and ‘exculpate’ meant, and explaining who Job was. In other words, this man who was born a slave and never went to school educated himself to the point where his words now have to be explained to today’s expensively under-educated generation.”
I like to think of learning as adding additional pivot points to the great rock climb that is life. The trick is to realise that although you may not need a pivot point now, like rock climbing, you’ll always need more down the track. You can never have enough places to rest your foot, and the more that surround you, the more confidence you have in your own rock climbing abilities. Sometimes the pivot point isn’t needed until much further up the wall; its the great men who have the foresight to recognize that although what they’re learning might not be useful in the short term, later down the track it becomes essentially for finishing the climb.
Speaking of exculpation, this reminds me of when I was chastised for reading a book instead of watching television in the military. No word or reason has the power to explain away a lower ranking individual’s decision to better oneself. Their reasoning? Walker Texas Ranger is less intellectually distracting and therefor it is easier for the viewer to tear oneself away from the story and get back to mopping. After two years to really digest that reasoning I’m still aghast by the wisdom of that statement.
The number one rule will always, always be, “do not get caught”.
This is just what I needed to read right now. I might print that last paragraph off and put it on my wall – or better yet, next to my ever-growing pile of unread or half-finished books.
Ryan, you’ve said that there was a time before when you didn’t read much. What made you start reading as much as you do now? Was there a specific event, or was it more of a gradual process?
Ryan,
Just wanted to say thank-you. Your writing inspires me. I’m twenty years old also, and a runner and reader. Your blog inspires me to be better — to enjoy life, define myself, treat others with respect, and always improve.
It’s true knowledge can make you more powerful, but one thing to always be careful of is to balance the knowledge you acquire from books with knowledge of human nature in order to discern the truth and lies in what you read.
For example, Hollywood is not really a town understood by most people, even those within it. On one hand you have the creatives who want to make entertaining art. On the other hand you have the business types who are out to make a buck.
But there is a secret third power who has the most control of all that you will never read about in any book, and that is those who control the movie industry and see entertainment as a tool of social control, indoctrination, and mass brainwashing.
Hollywood has since the beginning been a mass propaganda factory for indirect brainwashing and social conditioning through entertainment, not any different in purpose than Stalin’s Propaganda factories if only different in form.
If you spend too much time reading only what is printed or what makes it into books, you fall risk of being a victim of the propaganda mill yourself. The real players and the real objectives behind the movie industry are never talked about and never published in any public way. They can only be understood through a study of the way the industry has operated and a core knowledge of basic human nature, or through direct insider connections.
As Hitler said, History is written by those who control the world. Spend too much time getting all your knowledge from the books they give you and you become another pawn in their game, no matter how brilliant you may be.
I like that Sowell quote, and I’ve been thinking about it throughout the day.
While responding to a girl’s Facebook message, I checked out her profile. Since most college people don’t read, I decided to see if she had any favorite books. She had two things listed, Cosmo and Elle. Not only are they not books, they’re not even intelligent magazines. The Sowell quote came immediately back to mind.
It’s both hilarious and depressing at the same time.
Let me get this straight: You are in possession of such top secret, sensitive information and have reached the absolute zenith of [self]education that your relationship with “the executive” is now over. and yet you still don’t have enough sack to tell us his name. I mean it’s clear to see all along you’ve been talking about Mark Cuban. Anyway you’re weak. Another thing, you are always tooting your own horn about how awesomely educated you’ve made yourself with your incessant references to the books you’ve read about people you admire. Have you ever realized that most of the people you idolize from these books have gotten great college educations? I like the comment that vincent wrote, it is very pertinent to ryans situation.
I’m sorry for not taking into consideration that someone would be stupid enough to think that there would be only one executive in an entire company. Don’t you think that maybe if I was talking about about TheExecutive I would have mentioned THAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT HIM?
Vincent, I don’t know what is more telling: the fact that your basic assumption is incorrect or the idiot who, after making a fool of himself, suggested to Ryan that you are worth listening to.
“If you spend too much time reading only what is printed or what makes it into books, you fall risk of being a victim of the propaganda mill yourself.”
I want you to go look at Ryan’s reading list and then come back here and tell me what the hell you are talking about.
My favorite piece you’ve ever written.
Hey Ryan, this is Chris R. (UCLA) from back home.
Great post, truly.