Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Naofumi" data-source="post: 47589" data-attributes="member: 39">3.22 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SPOKEN WORDOnce they had members in parliament, their outside supporters hopedand waited for miracles. Of course, no such miracles occurred, or couldoccur. The supporters of the movement soon grew impatient, becausereports they read about their own deputies was in no way up to theirexpectations. The reason for this wasn&#039;t hard to find. It was due to the factthat a hostile press failed to give a true account of what the pan-Germandeputies were actually doing.As the new deputies became accustomed to this mild form of&#039;revolution,&#039; and to the provincial diets, they gradually became reluctantto resume the more hazardous work of expounding the movement&#039;sprinciples to the broad masses of the people.Mass meetings in public became rarer and rarer, though these are theonly means of exercising an effective influence on people. Here, theinfluence comes from direct personal contact, and earns the support oflargenumbers.Once the parliamentary platform was substituted for the beer-hall table,where thousands were addressed, and once speeches were no longeraddressed to the people directly but to the so-called &#039;chosen&#039;representatives, the pan-German movement lost its popular character. Itsoon degenerated to the level of an academic discussion club.Thus, the misleading impression created by the press was no longercorrected by personal contact with the people through public meetings,wherein a true account might be given. The end result of this neglect wasthat the word &#039;pan-German&#039; came to have an unpleasant sound in the earsof the masses.The knights of the pen and the literary snobs of today must realize thatthe great transformations that have taken place in this world were neverconducted by a goose-quill!No-the task of the pen must always be reserved to that of presentingthe theoretical foundations.The force that has ever and always set in motion great historicalavalanches of religious and political movements is the magic power of thespoken word.The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal ofrhetoric than to any other force. All great movements are popularmovements. They are the volcanic eruptions of human passions andemotions, stirred into activity either by the ruthless Goddess of Distress or</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Naofumi, post: 47589, member: 39"] 3.22 THE IMPORTANCE OF THE SPOKEN WORD Once they had members in parliament, their outside supporters hoped and waited for miracles. Of course, no such miracles occurred, or could occur. The supporters of the movement soon grew impatient, because reports they read about their own deputies was in no way up to their expectations. The reason for this wasn't hard to find. It was due to the fact that a hostile press failed to give a true account of what the pan-German deputies were actually doing. As the new deputies became accustomed to this mild form of 'revolution,' and to the provincial diets, they gradually became reluctant to resume the more hazardous work of expounding the movement's principles to the broad masses of the people. Mass meetings in public became rarer and rarer, though these are the only means of exercising an effective influence on people. Here, the influence comes from direct personal contact, and earns the support oflarge numbers. Once the parliamentary platform was substituted for the beer-hall table, where thousands were addressed, and once speeches were no longer addressed to the people directly but to the so-called 'chosen' representatives, the pan-German movement lost its popular character. It soon degenerated to the level of an academic discussion club. Thus, the misleading impression created by the press was no longer corrected by personal contact with the people through public meetings, wherein a true account might be given. The end result of this neglect was that the word 'pan-German' came to have an unpleasant sound in the ears of the masses. The knights of the pen and the literary snobs of today must realize that the great transformations that have taken place in this world were never conducted by a goose-quill! No-the task of the pen must always be reserved to that of presenting the theoretical foundations. The force that has ever and always set in motion great historical avalanches of religious and political movements is the magic power of the spoken word. The broad masses of a population are more amenable to the appeal of rhetoric than to any other force. All great movements are popular movements. They are the volcanic eruptions of human passions and emotions, stirred into activity either by the ruthless Goddess of Distress or [/QUOTE]

Name

Verification

Layout Options

Color Schemes

Reply to thread