No confrontation ever occurs between the event and the truth no relationship ever exists between the event and the person. Because he is immersed in current affairs, this man has a psychological weakness that puts him at the mercy of the propagandist. He is unstable because he runs after what happened today he relates to the event, and therefore cannot resist any impulse coming from that event. Indeed, such a man is highly sensitive to the influence of present-day currents lacking landmarks, he follows all currents. This situation makes the "current-events man" a ready target for propaganda. In so doing, man denies his own continuity to the same extent that he lives on the surface of events and makes today's events his life by obliterating yesterday's news, he refuses to see the contradictions in his own life and condemns himself to a life of successive moments, discontinuous and fragmented. The best defense here is to forget the preceding event. Moreover, there is a spontaneous defensive reaction in the individual against an excess of information and - to the extent that he clings (unconsciously) to the unity of his own person - against inconsistencies. This is one of the most important and useful points for the propagandist, who can always be sure that a particular propaganda theme, statement, or event will be forgotten within a few weeks. He is even less capable of spotting any inconsistency between successive facts man's capacity to forget is unlimited.
He reacts, but be does not understand them any more than he takes responsibility for them. And, in fact, modern man does not think about current problems he feels them. Under these conditions there can be no thought.
One thought drives away another old facts are chased by new ones. We already have mentioned man's inability to consider several facts or events simultaneously and to make a synthesis of them in order to face or to oppose them. Such a man never stops to investigate any one point, any more than he will tie together a series of news events. There is never any awareness - of himself, of his condition, of his society - for the man who lives by current events. A man caught up in the news must remain on the surface of the event he is carried along in the current, and can at no time take a respite to judge and appreciate he can never stop to reflect. “To the extent that propaganda is based on current news, it cannot permit time for thought or reflection.
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