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25.
Chinese, Japanese and Russian.
unanimity.
One and all display a pathetic
One might look in vain for even constructive criti-
cism.
At most there is a hint here and a suggestion there but
no discordant note arises. Government measures are explained
and related to the great principles which are repeated in sea-
son and out of season. As a sop to the desire of the public
for sensationalism the wrongdoings of social butterflies and
the harpies that trade on their love of frivolous entertainment
are castigated.
65. Propaganda is constant. Patriotic associations arrange
sports and other meetings whenever occasion offers, at which
loyal speeches are made. Films are sponsored which regale the
fans with touching stories of the nobility of the soldier, the
happiness of the farmer, the conversion and repentance of the
bandit, the stern punishment of the evil-doer who persists in
his refusal to see the light. The press play up similar stor-
ies, each with its moral carefully underlined. Even if they
involve a tragedy, it is treated in the Greek manner: selfish
feelings of sorrow are transmåted into the purer joy of
sacrifice that others may benefit.
66. It is difficult for an outsider to estimate the value
of all this propaganda. A westerner would be nauseated but
similar methods work in Japan where the bulk of the people
cheerfully swallow the gilded pill. One might expect them to
do the same here if it were not that the patient knowe it is
an alien doctor prescribing. on the other hand he possibly
does not reason too much about the matter and as the carefully
conditioned dog waters at the mouth at the sound of a bell, no
it is possible, though not probable, that in course of time
the response to the government call may become almost automatic.
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