"Empires communicate in two languages. One language is expressed in imperatives. It is the language of command and force. This militarized language disdains human life and celebrates harshness and brutality. It demands. It makes no attempt to justify the flagrant theft of natural resources and wealth or the use of indiscriminate violence.
The other language of empire is softer. It employs the vocabulary of ideals and lofty goals and insists that the power of empire is noble and benevolent. The language of beneficence is used to speak to those outside the centers of death and pillage, those who have not yet been totally broken, those who still must be seduced to hand over power to predators.
The road traveled to total disempowerment, however, ends at the same place. It is the language used to get there that is different."
Chris Hedges
"Go now, write it on a tablet for them,
inscribe it on a scroll,
so that in the days to come
it may be a witness to them, for ever and ever.
For these are a rebellious people, deceitful children,
unwilling to listen to the instructions of the Lord.
They say to their seers,
‘Do not see!’
and to the prophets,
‘Say nothing of what is right!
Tell us only things that please us,
prophesy illusions."
Isaiah 30:8-10