What is the dominant mode of experience at the end of the twentieth century? How do people see things, and how do they expect to see things? The answer is simple. In every field, from business to politics to marketing to education, the dominant mode has become entertainment. . . . In other centuries human beings wanted to be saved, or improved, or freed, or educated. But in our century, they want to be entertained. The great fear is not disease or death, but of boredom.
The causes behind this insistence on being amused are grave. Behind the happy faces are empty heads and hearts. Entertainment becomes necessary when life has lost all meaning — where nothing in the outside world connects with or energizes what is going on within.
Michael Casey, OSCO; Strangers in the City, p. 40.
