<!--QuoteBegin-acharya+Jan 4 2008, 12:49 AM-->QUOTE(acharya @ Jan 4 2008, 12:49 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->Were people to think about this process too much, it might break down; but, he writes,
  <b>``the mass of absolutely illiterate, of feeble minded, grossly neurotic, undernourished and frustrated individuals is very considerable, much more considerable, there is reason to think, than we generally suppose. </b>Thus a wide popular appeal is circulated among persons who are mentally children or barbarians, whose lives are a morass of entanglements, people whose vitality is exhausted, shut-in people, and people whose experience has comprehended no factor in the problem under discussion.''
Stating that he saw a progression to ever-less-thought-provoking forms of media, Lippmann marvels at the power of the nascent Hollywood movie industry to shape public opinion. Words, or even a still picture, require an effort for the person to form a ``picture in the mind.'' But, with a movie,
  ``the whole process of observing, describing, reporting, and then imagining has been accomplished for you. Without more trouble than is needed to stay awake, the result which your imagination is always aiming at is reeled off on the screen.''
[right][snapback]76782[/snapback][/right]
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Isn't this modern experience really just a continuation of the wasteland of religion. The first step is to create the wasteland and then implant any "desirable" suggestion. The result is absolute control or, rather, a self-sufficient dysfunctionality.
  <b>``the mass of absolutely illiterate, of feeble minded, grossly neurotic, undernourished and frustrated individuals is very considerable, much more considerable, there is reason to think, than we generally suppose. </b>Thus a wide popular appeal is circulated among persons who are mentally children or barbarians, whose lives are a morass of entanglements, people whose vitality is exhausted, shut-in people, and people whose experience has comprehended no factor in the problem under discussion.''
Stating that he saw a progression to ever-less-thought-provoking forms of media, Lippmann marvels at the power of the nascent Hollywood movie industry to shape public opinion. Words, or even a still picture, require an effort for the person to form a ``picture in the mind.'' But, with a movie,
  ``the whole process of observing, describing, reporting, and then imagining has been accomplished for you. Without more trouble than is needed to stay awake, the result which your imagination is always aiming at is reeled off on the screen.''
[right][snapback]76782[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Isn't this modern experience really just a continuation of the wasteland of religion. The first step is to create the wasteland and then implant any "desirable" suggestion. The result is absolute control or, rather, a self-sufficient dysfunctionality.