large/7264/free_press_1206_librivox_64kb_mp3/freepress_20_belloc_64kb_19
large/7264/free_press_1206_librivox_64kb_mp3/freepress_20_belloc_64kb
English
7264
XX What I do doubt in the approaching and already apparent success of the Free Press is its power to effect democratic reform. CLEAN WHAT I DO DOUBT IN THE APPROACHING AND ALREADY APPARENT SUCCESS OF THE FREE PRESS IS ITS POWER TO EFFECT DEMOCRATIC REFORM
With this increasing and cumulative effect of truth-telling, even when that truth is marred or distorted by enthusiasm, all the disabilities under which it has suffered will coincidently weaken. The strongest force of all against people's hearing the truth--the arbitrary power still used by the political lawyers to suppress Free writing--will, I think, weaken. The Courts, after all, depend largely upon the mass of opinion. Twenty years ago, for instance, an accusation of bribery brought against some professional politician would have been thought a monstrosity, and, however true, would nearly always have given the political lawyers, his colleagues, occasion for violent repression. To-day the thing has become so much a commonplace that all appeals to the old illusion would fall flat. The presiding lawyer could not put on an air of shocked incredulity at hearing that such-and-such a Minister had been mixed up in such-and-such a financial scandal. We take such things for granted nowadays.  CHAPTER TWENTY OF THE FREE PRESS BY HILAIRE BELLOC RECORDING BY SHAW MC
large/7264/free_press_1206_librivox_64kb_mp3/freepress_20_belloc_64kb
file
download/librilight/large/7264/free_press_1206_librivox_64kb_mp3/freepress_20_belloc_64kb.flac