Famous quote of tomorrow?

[Jonathan Lighter]

But now it's accompanied by electronic, often irrelevant images.  That
works better!

JL

On Fri, May 11, 2012 at 10:16 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Famous quote of tomorrow?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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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