from somebody who should know ... wouldn't you think?

"This consideration brings us naturally to the subject of education, which is the second great method of public propaganda. Education has two very different purposes; on the one hand it aims at developing the individual and giving him knowledge which will be useful to him; on the other hand it aims at producing citizens who will be convenient for the State or the Church which is educating them. Up to a point these two purposes coincide in practice: it is convenient to the State that citizens should be able to read, and that they should possess some technical skill in virtue of which they are able to do productive work; it is convenient that they should possess sufficient moral character to abstain from unsuccessful crime[GM: the implication being, successful criminality thus exhibiting sufficient moral character?], and sufficient intelligence to be able to direct their own lives. But when we pass beyond these elementary requirements, the interests of the individual may often conflict with those of the State or the Church. This is especially the case in regard to credulity. To those who control publicity, credulity is an advantage, while to the individual a power of critical judgment is likely to be beneficial; consequently the State does not aim at producing a scientific habit of mind, except in a small minority of experts, who are well paid, and therefore, as a rule, supporters of the status quo. Among those who are not well paid credulity is more advantageous to the State; consequently children in school are taught what they are told and are punished if they express disbelief. In this way a conditioned reflex is established, leading to a belief in anything said authoritatively by elderly persons of importance. You and I, reader, owe our immunity from spoliation to this beneficent precaution on the part of our respective Governments.

One of the purposes of the State in education is certainly, on the whole, beneficent. The purpose in question is that of producing social coherence. In mediaeval Europe, as in modern China, the lack of social coherence proved disastrous. It is difficult for large masses of men to co-operate as much as is necessary for their own welfare. The tendency to anarchy and civil war is always one to be guarded against, except on those rare occasions when some great principle is at stake which is of sufficient importance to make civil war worth while[GM: did you get that? there are times when killing millions or hundreds of thousands ARE WARRANTED]. For this reason that part of education which aims at producing loyalty to the State is to be praised in so far as it is directed against internal anarchy. But in so far as it is directed to the perpetuation of international anarchy, it is bad. On the whole, at present in education, the form of loyalty to the State which is most emphasized is hostility to its enemies[GM: Gotta have a bogeyman]." -190

GM: The Bogeyman reference reminded me of the Bugis or Buganese pirates, which lead to a search for the details, whereupon I stumbled upon the musical curiosity that follows:

John Entwistle wrote these details of the song in the liner notes of Music From Van Pires in 2000.

Steve, Godfrey and Alan decided to play their own demo cassettes on my extremely load bar sound system. Fusion drum multi time signature stuff that sounded like a squirrel running up and down a piano; nightmare pop jingles from hell and a hundred guitars playing simultaneous solos. My brain was turning to jelly so after several threats of retaliation I searched out some of my old demos with which to exact my revenge! These consisted of songs dating back to the seventies but to my disgust - everybody loved them! The song that was to be my ultimate revenge was from the early seventies called "Bogeyman." It had been rejected by "The Who" as being far too humorous. As it reached the climax Steve and myself recognised the unmistakable drumming of Keith Moon. I had forgotten that he had returned a favor by playing on the demo. We decided that at least five of my demos should be worked on during the next sessions so while the rest were in NY I set about looking for the "master tapes." During the twenty-two years I have owned the 50 room "Castle" that I call home I have often been told by psychic guests that there is a ghostly "Presence" on my third floor. I usually laugh and say "Oh really. It must be the owner of the ghostly Golden Retriever I have to keep chasing down the stairs." However, I have actually chased that damn "see through" dog several times down corridors with closed doors at each end. I have been told that the "presence" is a female; that she likes me; and that she doesn't like anyone who doesn't like me. I guess she likes me because of my love for the house (I seem to have lived there longer than the previous owners). I must admit I've talked to her now and then whenever one of the four motorised picture windows gets stuck in the open position. It gets pretty cold in the winter with a twenty-foot draft blowing up ya bedsheets. If asked nicely the "presence" would allow the motor to work for me. So -- back to the "master tapes." I searched my tape storage room (on the third floor of course) for two and a half hours to no avail -- not a sign of "the masters." I figured they must have been lost on the move here from twenty-two years ago. I walked out of the room muttering to myself "Oh well -- that's it then (actually the words I used were a lot stronger" Suddenly -- there was a loud thud behind me. I turned back to the room; two heavy 24 track master tapes had fallen from the shelf onto the floor. My neck tingled as I read the front of the boxes "Bogey Man" and "Back on the Road" the two songs I needed. They had been wrongly labeled "The Who" on the spines of the boxes and I had passed them by. I guess the "presence" really likes me -- she really likes me! Those two songs are now on this album -- we overdubbed the original masters, taking care not to change them too much. JOHN ENTWISTLE