“Neither past events nor great metaphysical problems challenge the average individual, the ordinary man of our times.  He is not sensitive to what is tragic in life; he is not anguished by a question that God might put to him; he does not feel challenged except by current events, political or economic …

“A man caught up in the news must remain on the surface of the event; he is carried along by the current, and can at no time take respite to judge and appreciate; he cannot stop to reflect.”

                                     — Jacques Ellul, Propaganda