I think that this British author really captures the spirit of our times (zeitgeist), probably better than anyone else. I haven't read the book, but this introduction makes a very important statement: there is now occurring a real revolution in the minds of many ordinary people.
However, there is also much confusion and pain that people are experiencing because of this latest capitalist economic bust, the never-ending wars, the full spectrum surveillance over our communications, and the dissonance between the reality of our experience and the discourse carried over corporate media networks. Our past complacent understanding of reality (weltanschauung) that has been propagated by the media and educational institutions of the One Percent is now being seriously challenged. It is an ideologically challenging time for many people. Some simply give up and go along with their programmed thinking. Some vacillate, and others, such as those in the Occupy movement, are actively exploring new ideas to gain some measure of control over their sense of confusion.
The pursuit of truth in defiance of widely accepted errors is a kind of self-harm. If those whose opinion must be taken into account say one thing, it is painful for us to believe another. And there is more to it, even than this. We have made ourselves out of claims that are unsafe. To call things by their proper names makes a revolution in us, before it changes anything else. If we are to be free, we must change, and to change is to kill some part of ourselves. It is no wonder that we hesitate.
