resources quotations

	In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs for ever and ever. OSCAR WILDE, 1891
	ATTRIBUTION
	Original source	The Soul of Man Under Socialism, 1891
	By	Oscar Wilde
	Details	in The Fortnightly Review Vol. XLIX, No. 290, February 1891, pp. 292-319. Mason, 52.
	Reprinted in	The Soul of Man, 1895
	By	Oscar Wilde
	Details	Mason, 367.
	Reprinted in	Intentions and The Soul of Man, 1908
	By	Oscar Wilde, [Robert Ross Ed.]
	Details	Mason, 435. *Intentions and The Soul of Man* *is Vol. VIII of The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde, 1908, fourteen vols. edited by Robert Ross. Mason 420-448a.*
	Context	We are dominated by Journalism. In America the President reigns for four years, and Journalism governs for ever and ever. Fortunately in America Journalism has carried its authority to the grossest and most brutal extreme. As a natural consequence it has begun to create a spirit of revolt. People are amused by it, or disgusted by it, according to their temperaments. But it is no longer the real force it was. It is not seriously treated. In England, Journalism, not, except in a few well-known instances, having been carried to such excesses of brutality, is still a great factor, a really remarkable power. The tyranny that it proposes to exercise over people's private lives seems to me to be quite extraordinary. The fact is, that the public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing. Journalism, conscious of this, and having tradesman-like habits, supplies their demands. In centuries before ours the public nailed the ears of journalists to the pump. That was quite hideous. In this century journalists have nailed their own ears to the keyhole. That is much worse.