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compulsory education.
In the field of compulsory education the issue is absolute and inevitable.
A universal and homogeneous system of compulsory instruction imposed by the
State upon the family cannot fit in with the Catholic Church. Even with a
society homogeneously Catholic it could not fit, for automatically the
Catholic spirit would dissolve its compulsory quality and its mechanical
uniformity of universal action. The Catholic spirit automatically restores
diversity of mind and freedom.
But with the Press it is otherwise. The popular Press is often represented
as a solvent of religion, and in particular a solvent of Catholicism; but
there is nothing in its nature to make it so.
It happens to have arisen in a world where the false conception that
religion was a private affair had taken root. Therefore it does not spread
the atmosphere of religion, it does not concern itself with life in the
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SURVIVALS AND NEW ARRIVALS 84
order which true religion demands. It presents as matters of chief
importance things not even important in natural religion, let alone in the
eyes of the Church.
It tends, for instance, to substitute notoriety for fame, and to base
notoriety upon ridiculous accidents of wealth or adventure. Again, it
presents as objects for admiration a bundle of things incongruous: a few of
some moment, the great part trivial. Above all it grossly distorts.
Its chief force as a sustainer of the "Modern Mind" lies in its power to
intensify any disease prevalent in the masses, and especially in the human
dust of our great towns. Thus the "Modern Mind" dislikes thinking: the
popular Press increases that sloth by providing sensational substitutes.
Disliking thought, the "Modern Mind" dislikes close attention, and indeed
any sustained effort; the popular Press increases the debility by an orgy
of pictures and headlines. The "Modern Mind" ascribes a false authority to
reiteration; the popular Press serves it with ceaseless iteration. The
"Modern Mind" has accepted a mythology of the prehistoric and loves to hear
both of marvels in connection with prehistory and of its own superiority to
its remote ancestry: the popular Press crams it with food for such an
appetite. It will give countless millions of years to a bit of bone of
which no mortal knows the age; it will provide at call the most horrible
beasts for our forbears, adding to them a peculiar vileness in morals to
spice the dish--though beasts can do no wrong.
In all these ways and twenty others the popular Press as we have it today
thrusts the "Modern Mind" lower than it would otherwise have fallen, swells
its imbecility and confirms it in its incapacity for civilization and
therefore for the Faith.
But the popular Press does not act thus from a sort of conspiracy against
truth and religion and our high, inherited Catholic culture; it acts thus
because the society in which and by which it lives has not yet recovered
its religion; if, indeed, it shall ever do so. In a society restored to
unity of religion and to devotion to it, the popular Press would recover
and reflect that general mood.
There are, molding a popular newspaper, three forces: the advertisement
subsidy by which it lives, the particular desires of its owner, and the
appetite of the public for that particular sheet. Of these the third is
much the most important. The first, advertisement revenue, is mainly
dependent upon public demand for the paper. The effect of the proprietor
lies chiefly in his power of private blackmail (especially, in
parliamentary countries, of blackmail exercised against politicians) and in
his power (when he acts in combination with his few fellows) to suppress a
truth of public interest. But the owner of a widely read newspaper, even
when, by some accident, he happens to be a man of intelligence, hardly ever
imposes an idea.
It may be said with justice that a popular Press in our day will always
tend to be demagogic, and therefore somewhat offensive in moral tone. In
some countries, notably in England, it has submerged the old cultivated and
educated press of a generation ago. It is, therefore, commonly ridiculous;
but it does not follow that it is a negative force against the power of the
Catholic Church in the modern world.
For all its vulgarity it may indirectly be of service to the Faith, for the
Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com
SURVIVALS AND NEW ARRIVALS 85
discussion of religion today has a high interest value, and thus the
popular Press has certain rough uses as an arena for that most profitable
form of debate. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl karpacz24.htw.pl
compulsory education.
In the field of compulsory education the issue is absolute and inevitable.
A universal and homogeneous system of compulsory instruction imposed by the
State upon the family cannot fit in with the Catholic Church. Even with a
society homogeneously Catholic it could not fit, for automatically the
Catholic spirit would dissolve its compulsory quality and its mechanical
uniformity of universal action. The Catholic spirit automatically restores
diversity of mind and freedom.
But with the Press it is otherwise. The popular Press is often represented
as a solvent of religion, and in particular a solvent of Catholicism; but
there is nothing in its nature to make it so.
It happens to have arisen in a world where the false conception that
religion was a private affair had taken root. Therefore it does not spread
the atmosphere of religion, it does not concern itself with life in the
Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com
SURVIVALS AND NEW ARRIVALS 84
order which true religion demands. It presents as matters of chief
importance things not even important in natural religion, let alone in the
eyes of the Church.
It tends, for instance, to substitute notoriety for fame, and to base
notoriety upon ridiculous accidents of wealth or adventure. Again, it
presents as objects for admiration a bundle of things incongruous: a few of
some moment, the great part trivial. Above all it grossly distorts.
Its chief force as a sustainer of the "Modern Mind" lies in its power to
intensify any disease prevalent in the masses, and especially in the human
dust of our great towns. Thus the "Modern Mind" dislikes thinking: the
popular Press increases that sloth by providing sensational substitutes.
Disliking thought, the "Modern Mind" dislikes close attention, and indeed
any sustained effort; the popular Press increases the debility by an orgy
of pictures and headlines. The "Modern Mind" ascribes a false authority to
reiteration; the popular Press serves it with ceaseless iteration. The
"Modern Mind" has accepted a mythology of the prehistoric and loves to hear
both of marvels in connection with prehistory and of its own superiority to
its remote ancestry: the popular Press crams it with food for such an
appetite. It will give countless millions of years to a bit of bone of
which no mortal knows the age; it will provide at call the most horrible
beasts for our forbears, adding to them a peculiar vileness in morals to
spice the dish--though beasts can do no wrong.
In all these ways and twenty others the popular Press as we have it today
thrusts the "Modern Mind" lower than it would otherwise have fallen, swells
its imbecility and confirms it in its incapacity for civilization and
therefore for the Faith.
But the popular Press does not act thus from a sort of conspiracy against
truth and religion and our high, inherited Catholic culture; it acts thus
because the society in which and by which it lives has not yet recovered
its religion; if, indeed, it shall ever do so. In a society restored to
unity of religion and to devotion to it, the popular Press would recover
and reflect that general mood.
There are, molding a popular newspaper, three forces: the advertisement
subsidy by which it lives, the particular desires of its owner, and the
appetite of the public for that particular sheet. Of these the third is
much the most important. The first, advertisement revenue, is mainly
dependent upon public demand for the paper. The effect of the proprietor
lies chiefly in his power of private blackmail (especially, in
parliamentary countries, of blackmail exercised against politicians) and in
his power (when he acts in combination with his few fellows) to suppress a
truth of public interest. But the owner of a widely read newspaper, even
when, by some accident, he happens to be a man of intelligence, hardly ever
imposes an idea.
It may be said with justice that a popular Press in our day will always
tend to be demagogic, and therefore somewhat offensive in moral tone. In
some countries, notably in England, it has submerged the old cultivated and
educated press of a generation ago. It is, therefore, commonly ridiculous;
but it does not follow that it is a negative force against the power of the
Catholic Church in the modern world.
For all its vulgarity it may indirectly be of service to the Faith, for the
Get any book for free on: www.Abika.com
SURVIVALS AND NEW ARRIVALS 85
discussion of religion today has a high interest value, and thus the
popular Press has certain rough uses as an arena for that most profitable
form of debate. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]