Famous quote of tomorrow?

[Joel S. Berson]

At 5/11/2012 08:05 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>In another GQT, which I'll have to paraphrase somewhat, a media person (or
>"mediatron" as I'm starting to call them from right now) observed last
>week: "A shocking statement carries more weight than the truth."  (E.g.,
>"He's a Muslim!")

I've been reading Uriel Heyd's "Reading newspapers: press and public
in eighteenth-century Britain and America" (Voltaire [yes]
Foundation, 2012), and apparently similar reactions were true of
readers of 18th-century newspapers, for example to fabricated reports
of scandalous behavior or misfeasance.

(By the way, this is not a book I would recommend.)


>The man was talking about today's mediasphere. Some may recall that Hitler
>needed a "big lie," continually reinforced by government bigshots.
>
>Today the reinforcement is voluntary - by the people!
>
>We've come so far.

And we're back where we started our Enlightenment.

Joel

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