Antipopulism
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Contrary to today, where reading is seen as beneficial and where television and the internet are the scapegoats of the cultural pessimists, in the early 20th century not everyone was convinced that reading was a good thing. "Let all schools be closed at once. The great mass of humanity should never learn to read and write," said D. H. Lawrence.
Lawrence was a fervent antipopulist. He also said in a 1908 letter that "If I had my way, I would build a lethal chamber as big as the Crystal Palace, with a military band playing softly, and a Cinematograph working brightly; then I’d go out in the back streets and main streets and bring them in, all the sick, the halt, and the maimed; I would lead them gently, and they would smile me a weary thanks; and the band would softly bubble out the ‘Hallelujah Chorus’."
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