Kierkegaard saw more and more clearly that the media’s transformation of
the population into “the public” was accompanied by increasing
infantilization, by the deprivation of the individual’s rightful authority, a
condition that was all the more catastrophic because it was said to be
identical to the public’s self-determination and its supposed possession of
influence . . . .
“Suppose someone invented an instrument, a convenient
little speaking tube that was so powerful it could be heard all over the entire
country. Wouldn’t the police forbid it
out of fear that its use would result in the whole of society becoming mentally
deranged?”
