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By
launching a vast process of social learning – an experiment in
anticipatory democracy in many nations at once – we can head off the
totalitarian thrust. We can prepare millions for the dislocations and
dangerous crisis that lie before us. And we can place strategic
pressure on e xisting political systems to accelerate the necessary
changes. Some unusual, far-seeing politicians or officials will lend
their early support to the struggle for political transformation. But
most will move only when the demands from outside are irresistible or
when the crisis is already so advanced, and so close to violence, that
they see no alternative. The responsibility for change, therefore, lies
with us. We must begin with ourselves, teaching ourselves not to close
our minds pre-maturely to the novel, the surprising, the seemingly
radical. This means fighting off the idea-assassins who rush forward to
kill any new suggestion on grounds of its impracticality, while
defending what-ever now exist as practical, no matter how absurd,
oppressive, or unworkable it may be. It means fighting for freedom of
expression – the right of people to voice their ideas, even if
heretical.
Alvin Toffler – The third wave
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