[Ads-l] "All art is propaganda."

[Jonathan Lighter]

That occurred to me too, but I don't see a ref. in GB or Hathi.

Prob. Marx said something more prolix.

JL

On Sat, Nov 15, 2014 at 6:13 PM, 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: "All art is propaganda."
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 11/15/2014 04:57 PM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>
> >Not in YBQ, but it gets 30,000 raw Googlits.  I recently read it in a
> movie
> >review.
> >
> >1925 Upton Sinclair _Mammonart_ (Pasadena: pub. by the author) 9: All art
> >is propaganda. It is universally and inescapably propaganda; sometimes
> >unconsciously, but often deliberately, propaganda.
> >
> >Rather a dilute meaning of "propaganda," wouldn't you say? The relevant
> OED
> >def. is
> >
> >"The systematic dissemination of information, esp. in a biased or
> >misleading way, in order to promote a political cause or point of view.
> >Also: information disseminated in this way; the means or media by which
> >such ideas are disseminated."
> >
> >Sinclair seems to mean rather that all art exerts some influence on
> >beliefs, willy-nilly.  As dothose who repeat the assertion (usu. without
> >attribution).
>
> Sinclair was a utopian, left-wing, progressive Democrat, Socialist,
> Wobbly-supporting pinko, wasn't he?  "All art is propaganda" is
> something I could imagine said by Karl Marx.
>
> Joel
>
>
> >Factoid:  Wackipedia calls the book-length essay _Mammonart_ a "novel."
> >
> >JL
> >
> >
> >--
> >"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> >
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