"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 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."
-Hilaire Belloc
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