Tyrants do not always need chains.
Empires do not always need walls.
And power does not always require violence.
There is a far more effective way to rule:
To ensure that a generation stops thinking.
For a people who think ask questions.
And questions have always troubled those who hold power.
So minds are filled with noise.
Eyes are kept occupied.
Fears are carefully nurtured.
Desires are constantly stimulated.
People are endlessly entertained until they no longer have time to ask why they live, where they are going, or who truly shapes their future.
Slowly, the search for truth fades.
People become content to consume the ideas placed before them.
And it is then that domination reaches its most perfect form.
For power no longer needs to impose silence when individuals have stopped questioning.
The real danger for a civilization is not a youth that rebels.
Rebellion is still a sign of consciousness.
The real danger is a youth that believes in nothing.
That no longer reads.
That no longer dreams.
That no longer seeks to understand.
For when a generation ceases to think for itself, it eventually entrusts its destiny to those who think on its behalf.
And whoever possesses the mind of a generation already possesses its future.
— Hakim Dridi
