the main caption reads: “Whoever reads bourgeois newspapers becomes blind and deaf. Away with these stultifying bandages.” the other, in part, reads: “I AM A CABBAGE HEAD. DO YOU KNOW MY LEAVES? FROM WORRIES I AM AT MY WIT’S END, BUT I KEEP QUIET AND HOPE FOR A SAVIOUR… I DON’T WANT TO SEE AND HEAR ANYTHING, OR TO INTERFERE WITH PUBLIC AFFAIRS…” taken from that errol morris essay linked below.
can i just offer a thought: it occurs to me that there is an interesting parallel between this sentiment that newspapers in the 1930s were war propagandists (and if you read the errol morris essay, you’ll see that the photomontage movement was borne from that) and today’s critique of media (oh, how we’ve diversified since the ’30s!) as not adverserial in reporting on government. but we would never refer to the media as bourgeois and wouldn’t suggest not consuming them either. i’d love to see the 21st-century take on the image above.