Marcuse, who was the kind of idealist given to unrelenting pessimism, predicted in 1964 that the promise of liberation would be used for further repression. "Liberty can be made into a powerful instrument of domination," he argued, for "free election of masters does not abolish the masters or the slaves" and "free choice among a wide variety of goods and services does not signify freedom if these goods and services sustain social controls over a life of toil and fear." This is where an intellectual loses his guruship: leading his followers toward a conceptual bridge too far. If the people wanted liberation, and if Pepsi was selling it, most people seemed to think, why not just buy it from them?

Tim Wu, The Attention Merchants, loc. 566