Life, 1925-04-23 · page 8 of 37
Life — April 23, 1925 — page 8: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This political cartoon satirizes radio as a contagious affliction spreading among the general public. The crowded scene depicts ordinary citizens—men, women, and children—apparently infected and suffering from excessive radio enthusiasm, depicted as a literal disease. The cartoon directly references Governor Smith of New York's quoted statement: "There can be no appeal to passion over the radio." The satire suggests radio itself promotes unchecked emotional manipulation and irrational behavior in audiences. "Hoof and mouth disease" is a real livestock illness; using it metaphorically implies radio-induced mass hysteria reduces people to animal-like status, unthinking and contagious in their enthusiasm. This reflects 1920s anxieties about new mass media technology's power to influence public opinion dangerously.
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Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
CCORDING to President Lowett, Harvard boasts the best college, business and law school in the country —and according to a Yale man of our acquaintance, Harvard would. We hear that many collegians are be- coming professional wrestlers these days, which just goes to show that the hoys didn’t practice the modern dances for nothing. JL “There can be no appeal to passion over the radio,” says Governor Sait of New York. “You've got to talk facts.” Which permanently eliminates the radio from all national political campaigns. If it is really true that there can be no appeal to passion over the radio, then the movies won't have to fear this com- petition after all. Jt Spring fever is what a Constant Reader of the newspapers succumbs to when he catches sight of tne line, “Mr. Borau spoke as follows.” Twenty-four thousand miles of new highways are being laid in the United States this year, and it would be a good joke on the statisticians if the con- tractors were to lay them end to end. JL It is now up to the Finns to change the 1 \) \ \\ hy iW | |, QUT ne? THE HOOF AND MOUTH DISEASE name of Helsingfors to Nurmi. Then they can boast that their capital, like Washington, D. C., is a city of mag- nificent distances. LL Nevertheless, Paavo NuxMt's example should be a lesson to all of us. You can run an awful lot and still not get anywhere in particular. New England, it seems, is still chief producer of rare American { niture, including President Exsot’s Fi Foot Shelf, and President Cootin Six-Foot Cabinet. the aL Representative H. Sr. Groxce Tucker of Virginia has refused to ac- cept the raise in pay recently voted to themselves by the patriotic Members of Congress. Lrire’s choice for President in 1928: Henry St. Grorce Tuckex. (Prolonged applause.) aL Suggested subject for a Slow Motion Picture: a Congressman deciding to reject an increase in pay. LL The school children of Atlantic City High have lately been hearing from Lieut.-Col. Wittiam A. Carceton, 78th Division, Organized Reserves, on the subject of preparedness for war. “The United States,” he told them, “could have escaped every war it has been i except the Revolutionary, if it had been prepared.” In other words, children, now is the time to prepare for the next war, which follows, as you may recall, the war to end war, and which, for want of a better name, will be called the war to debunk war. JL This space is reserved for Capt. Georcr A. Darte of the Military Order of the World War, who has in the past week said nothing that we can take exception to. In other words, so far as we know, the Captain has said nothing. Daylight Saving is back again, and the question this year is not how it hurts the farmers, but how it affects the re- ception of DX radio programs. LL This is National Misunderstood-Time- Tables Week. comicbooks.com