Andrew

“In America, organized athletics teach militarism, authoritarianism
, racism, and sexism, thereby perpetuating the
"false consciousness" of the masses. Sports serve as an "opiate" of
the people, diverting the masses from their real problems with a
"dream world" of glamour and excitement. They promote sexual
-rivalry among males-with "vestal virgins" leading the cheers
from the sidelines-and thus prevent the proletariat from achieving
revolutionary solidarity in the face of its oppressors.”
― Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations

“The master propagandist, like the advertising expert, avoids obvious emotional appeals and strives for a tone that is consistent with the prosaic quality of modern life—a dry, bland matter-of-factness. Nor does the propagandist circulate "intentionally biased" information. He knows that partial truths serve as more effective instruments of deception than lies. Thus he tries to impress the public with statistics of economic growth that neglect to give the base year from which growth is calculated, with accurate but meaningless facts about the standard of living—with raw and uninterpreted data, in other words, from which the audience is invited to draw the inescapable conclusion that things are getting better and the present régime therefore deserves the people's confidence, or on the other hand that things are getting worse so rapidly that the present régime should be given emergency powers to deal with the developing crisis.”
― Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations

“It appears that the prostitute, not the salesman, best exemplifies the qualities indispensable to success in American society.”
― Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations

“For all his inner suffering, the narcissist has many traits that make for success in bureaucratic institutions, which put premium on the manipulation of interpersonal relations, discourage the formation of deep personal attachments, and at the same time provide the narcissist with the approval he needs in order to validate his self-esteem.”
― Christopher Lasch, The Culture of Narcissism: American Life in An Age of Diminishing Expectations