The present vogue for loudly condemning the role of conditioning, propaganda, advertising and the mass media in modern society may be assumed to be a form of partial exorcism designed to reinforce a vaster and more essential mystification by distracting attention from it. Outrage at the gutter press goes hand in hand with subservience to the more elegant lies of posh journalism. These claws are not very adept, admittedly, but their effectiveness is enormously increased by the fact that people are not aware that they can resist them, and often do not even know the extent to which they are already spontaneously doing so. Stalin's show trials proved that it only takes a little patience and perseverance to get a man to accuse himself of every imaginable crime and appear in public begging to be executed. Consciousness acquiesces, and the body follows suit.
Plants transplanted to an unfavourable soil die.
Animals adapt to their environment. Human beings transform theirs. Thus death is not the same thing for plants, animals and humans. Where man fails to change his surroundings, he too is in the situation of an animal. Adaptation is the law of the animal world.