mass-communication-theory

THE RISE OF MEDIA THEORY IN
THE AGE OF PROPAGANDA
CHAPTER 4
Imagine that you have gone back in time to the beginning of the twentieth century.
You live in a large metropolitan area along the East Coast of the United States, and
you are a second- or third-generation American. You are a white, middle-class,
Anglo-Saxon, Protestant. Your city is growing rapidly, with new neighborhoods
springing up daily to house waves of immigrants from poorer nations in Eastern
Europe and the Far East. These people speak strange languages and practice
strange cultures. Many claim to be Christians, but they don’t behave like any
Christians you’ve ever met. Most keep to themselves in ghetto neighborhoods in
which there are many social problems.
Most disturbing of all, these people seem to have no sense of what it means to
live in a free and democratic nation. They are governed by political bosses who
turn them out to vote for what you perceive to be corrupt party-machine candidates.
If you pay attention to gossip (or read the right books or magazines), you
hear about groups like the Mafia or Cosa Nostra. You also hear (or read in your
newspaper) that various extremist political groups are active in these ghettos,
spreading all sorts of discontent among these ignorant, irresponsible aliens. Many
of these nefarious groups are playing upon the newcomers’ loyalties to foreign nations.
What would you do about this situation?
Well, you might adopt a Conservative approach and start an Americafor-Americans
movement to remove these foreigners from the sacred soil of your
homeland. If you are of a more liberal bent, you might be reluctant to send these
immigrants back to where they came from (even though they do represent a threat
to your way of life). As a forward-thinking person, you may want to convert these
people away from their obviously misguided beliefs about government. You are
aware that greedy employers are exploiting these people with sixteen-hour workdays
and child labor, but you believe that’s why they should join mainstream political
parties and work within the system. Perhaps, you figure, if they would only
abstain from alcohol and adopt more rational forms of religion that might help
them see their problems more clearly. This was how the political movement known
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