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Bantam Books/ Non-Fiction / $1.25 / Test Pattern For Living / Nicholas Johnson / 553 07441 125
# p. book cover #
Q7441 * $1.25 * A BANTAM BOOK
"A great many Americans have been searching for some new meaning in their personal lives during the past few years. You may be among them. I am.
"I am also a federal official who's concerned about the national consequences of our failure to provide the quality of life that would permit us to attain more of our full potential.
"No one -- save fanatics and corporate profiteers -- represents that he has "the" answer. Your answer must be found for you and by you.
"At the same time, it seems to me we ought to share with each other such incomplete and imperfect insights as we've evolved. We ought to help each other. We damn sure aren't getting any help from Big Business, Big Broadcasting, or Big Government."
I am waiting for someone
to really discover America.
Excerpts from poems by Mason Williams.
From The Mason Williams FCC Rapport. Copyright © 1969
by Mason Williams. Reprinted by permission of Liveright Publishers,
New York.
Excerpt from "I Am Waiting," by Lawrence
Ferlinghetti. From his A Coney Island of the Mind. Copyright
© 1955, 1958 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. Reprinted by permission
of New Directions Publishing Corporation.
Excerpt from "Hungry Freaks, Daddy,"
by Frank Zappa. Copyright © 1967 by Frank Zappa Music, Inc.
and reprinted with their permission.
Excerpt from "Don't It Make You Wanna
Go Home," by Joe South. Copyright © 1969 by Lowery Music Co.,
Inc. and reprinted with their permission.
Excerpt from "Talk" by Yevegeny Yevtushenko
from Yevtushenko: Selected Poems translated by Robin Milner-Gulland
and Peter Levi, S.J. Copyright © 1962 by Robin Milner-Gulland
and Peter Levi. Reprinted by permission of Penguin Books, Ltd., London.
Excerpt from "The World is a Beautiful
Place . . ." by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. From his A Coney Island
of the Mind. Copyright © 1955, 1958 by Lawrence Ferlinghetti.
Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation and Laurence
P. Pollinger, Ltd., London.
Excerpt from "Monster," by John Edmonton,
John Day and Nick St. Nicholas. Copyright © 1970 by Trousdale
Music Publishers, Inc. and reprinted with their permission.
Excerpt from "I-Feel-Like-I'm-Fixing-To-Die-Rag,"
by Joe McDonald. Copyright © 1968 by Tradition Music and reprinted
with their permission.
Excerpt from "Get Up, Get Into It, Get
Involved," by J. Brown, B. Byrd and R. Lenhoff. Copyright ©
1970 by Crited Music, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Unichappell
Music, Inc.
Excerpts from Paul Swatek. From
his The User's Guide to the Protection of the Environment.
Copyright © 1970 by Paul Swatek.
Reprinted by permission of Ballentine Books, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Excerpt from "What Have They Done to
My Song, Ma," by Melanie Safka. Copyright © 1970 by Kama Rippa
Music, Inc. and Amelanie Music. All rights reserved. Used by
permission of Kama Rippa Music, Inc.
Excerpt from "Put Your Hand in the Hand,"
by Gene MacLellan. Copyright © 1970 by Beechwood Music of Canada.
All rights for U.S. assigned to Beechwood Music Corporation and reprinted
with their permission.
Excerpt from poem by Henry David Thoreau.
From The Portable Thoreau, edited by C. Bode. Copyright ©
1947 by The Viking Press, Inc. and reprinted with their permission.
Excerpt from "Goodbye and Hello," by
Tim Buckley. Copyright © 1968 by Third Story Music, Inc. and
reprinted with their permission. All rights reserved.
Excerpt from "The Revolution Will Not
Be Televised," by Gil Scott-Heron. Copyright © 1970 by Bob Thiele
Music, Ltd. and reprinted with their permission.
Excerpt from "On Teevee," by Eve Merriam.
From her The Inner City Mother Goose. Copyright © 1969
by Eve Merriam. Reprinted by permission of International Famous Agency.
Excerpt from "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction,"
by Mick Jagger and Keith Richard. Copyright © 1962 by Abkco
Music, Inc. and reprinted with their permission. All rights reserved.
International Copyright Secured.
Excerpt from "Woodstock," by Joni Mitchell.
Copyright © 1969 by Siquomb Publishing Corporation. All rights
reserved. Reprinted by permission of Warner Bros. Music.
Excerpt from "What Every Little Boy Ought
to Know," by R. Self. Copyright © 1970 by Cedarwood Publishing
Co., Inc. and reprinted with their permission.
Excerpt from "Oh, Singer," by Margaret
Lewis and Mira Smith. Copyright © 1971 by Shelby Singleton Music,
Inc. and reprinted with their permission.
Excerpt from "Everything A Man Could
Ever Need,"by Mac Davis. Copyright © 1969, 1970 by Ensign Music
Corporation. Reprinted by permission of Famous Music Publishing Companies.
Excerpt from "Money Can't ?Buy Love,"
by Betty Craig. Copyright © 1970 by Cedarwood Publishing Co.,
Inc. and reprinted with their permission.
Excerpt from "Reading the poem of an
Absent Friend," by Ou Yang Hsui. From One Hundred Poems From
the Chinese. Copyright © 1971 by Kenneth Rexroth. All
rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing
Corporation.
"The Great TV Blackout," by Art Buchwald.
Copyright © 1971 by Art Buchwald and reprinted with his permission.
"Back To Where It's At," by Bobby Bond.
Copyright © 1970 by Acuff-Rose Publications, inc. and reprinted with
their permission. All rights reserved.
Excerpt from "Baking Soda," by John Hartford.
From his Word Movies. Copyright © 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969,
1970, 1971 by John Hartford. Reprinted by permission of Doubleday
& Co., Inc.
Excerpt from "Commuter," by E. B. White.
From his The Lady Is Cold. Copyright
© 1923 by Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. and reprinted with their
permission. Originally appeared in THE NEW YORKER.
Excerpt from "The Good Old Electric Washington
Machine Circa 1943," by John Hartford. From his Word Movies.
Copyright © 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971 by John Hartford.
Reprinted by permission of Doubleday & Co. Inc.
Excerpt from "Big Yellow Taxi," by Joni
Mitchell. Copyright © 1970 by Siquomb Publishing Corporation.
All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission of Warner Bros. Music.
Excerpt from "New World Coming," words
and music by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. Copyright © 1970 by
Screen Gems-
Columbia Music, Inc., 711 Fifth Avenue, New York 10022
and used with their permission. All rights reserved.
Excerpt from "Speech to a Crowd," by
Archibald MacLeish. From his Public Speech. Copyright
1936 © 1964 by Archibald MacLeish. Reprinted by permission
of Holt, Rinehart & Winston, Inc.
Excerpt from "Nickel Song," by Melanie
Safka. Copyright © 1970 by Kama Rippa Music, Inc. and Amelanie
Music. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Kama Rippa
Music, Inc.
Excerpt from "The World Needs a Melody,"
words and music by Red Lane, Larry Henley and Johnny Slate. Copyright
© 1971 by Tree Publishing Co., Inc. Reprinted by permission
of the publishers.
Excerpt from "Spanish Pipe Dream," by
John Prine. Copyright © 1971 by Cotillion Music, Inc. and Sour
Grapes Music, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Cotillion Music, Inc.
Johnson, Nicholas, 1934--
Test pattern for living.
Bibliography: p. 146.
1. Mass media--Social aspects--United States.
2. United States--Social conditions--1960-
I. Title.
HM258J62 301.16'1'0973 72-5204
Bantam Books are published by Bantam Books, Inc., a National General company. Its trade-mark, consisting of the words "Bantam Books" and the portrayal of a bantam, is registered in the United States Patent Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, Inc., 666 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10019.
Contents
Foreword, by Mason Williams viii
Introduction xv
Mass Communication and Mass Disintegration 3
The Corporate State 17
The Television Business 33
Caution! Television Watching May Be Hazardous to
Your Mental Health 41
Life as an Alternative I 55
Life as an Alternative II 79
Antidote to Automobiles 111
Working in a Corporate State 119
Voting in a Corporate State 133
Conclusion 144
Bibliography 146
Acknowledgments; Credits; Sources 150
[sheet music; only lyrics follow]
I can tell there has been a cave in
By the look in your eyes
I know you're trapped deep in the mind
Half buried in lies
I'll try and reach you if I can
I just hope it's in time
© 1971 Irving Music, Inc. (B.M.I) All Rights
Reserved.
International Copyright Secured.
Now start working this way from your end
And I'll start from mine
Do you believe in what you feel
And in the love of time?
You've got to hold on to the truth now
When I throw you this line
Are you the same man inside and out?
Do you speak your mind?
You've got to catch up to yourself
When you get behind
And don't think you'll be a fool
To try and understand
And don't think I'm fooling you
It's just a helping hand
Don't think about thinking nothin'
Drop all of your plans
You can't think your way into the outside
It takes faith in the man
If you can
If you can
If you can
If you can
If you can you'll be standing out in the sunshine
A cold drink in your hand
And when you see that you're safe and sound
Then you'll understand
The only thing that's worth the time
Is helping others find
The way to get outside of themselves
Free of the mind
I can tell there has been a cave in
By the look in your eyes
I know you're trapped down deep in the mind
Half buried in
lies
I'll try and reach you if I can
I just hope it's in time
Start workin' this way from your end
And I'll start from mine
Start workin' this way from your end
And I'll start from mine
[blank]
A great many Americans have been searching for some new meaning in their personal lives during the past few years. You may be among them. I am.
I am also a federal official who's concerned about the national consequences of our failure to provide the quality of life that would permit us to attain more of our full potential.
No one -- save fanatics and corporate profiteers -- represents that he has "the" answer. The answer is that the answer changes. It is to be found, in part, in the act of searching for the answer. Your answer must be found for you and by you. You cannot buy it in a store or read it in a book.
At the same time, it seems to me we ought to share with each other such incomplete and imperfect insights as we've evolved. We ought not be shy about the personal facts of our lives just because we're unsure of ourselves. We ought to help each other. We damn sure aren't getting any help from Big Business, Big Broadcasting, or Big Government.
If I were to wait until I was qualified to write this book, I'd never be able to start it. There are lot of books I haven't read, experiences I've yet to have, and theories I haven't tested fully. Between the time this manuscript is finished and the book reaches you there will probably be a lot of things I'll want to change in it. All I can represent is that this book, when written, was intended to be honest and helpful.
Many of the ideas here are borrowed. The Greeks
philosophized about-and practiced-the "balanced life." All the world's
great religions have warned of
materialism for centuries. Our parents and grandparents know the value of good nutrition, walking in the woods, and 80 forth. It's preposterous for a person today to announce that these are truths he has personally discovered and presented to mankind.
Moreover, any honest author will admit he has drawn heavily from the writings of others. I have emphasized this fact by the use of quotations from diverse sources even though many of them came from reading I did after I wrote the text. All I can do is update these ideas a bit, give them a personal twist, and perhaps arrange them together in a way that strikes a chord in you.
Another reason I have emphasized the quotes is that my search involves the discovery of common themes in men's wisdom. When different people start saying the same thing -- when a blue-collar worker expresses frustrations similar to those of college students, when the teachings of Buddha are consistent with the insights of psychiatrists, or when ecologists echo the sentiments of poets -- I feel excitement. If you want, you can just read the quotes, and skip my text entirely -- or read it later. (If you care about sources and citations, they're listed at the back of the book. )
My own perspective on the world comes from two directions.
My professional life has been spent as a law clerk
(to Chief Judge John R. Brown, U.S. Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit, and
to the late Supreme Court Justice Hugo L. Black); as a law professor (University
of California, Berkeley, and Georgetown University); as a lawyer (Covington
and Burling, Washington, D.C.);
as a public official (U.S. Maritime Administrator, and Federal Communications Commissioner); and as an author (How to Talk Back to Your Television Set). So it is my professional responsibility to think about, and help fashion, societies that will contribute to the "life, liberty and pursuit of happiness" of their members (the reason "governments are instituted among men," according to our Declaration of Independence). It is not the business of government to fashion and feed the souls of its citizens, but it most certainly is the business of government to create the kind of society in which men can properly tend to the flourishing of their own souls.
The other direction to my life is personal. The usefulness to you of what I have written depends upon where you are right now -- geographically, emotionally, economically, professionally, and personally. No one leads a "typical" life; each of us is different from others in a thousand ways. We've all had our own personal crises. In some ways I may have been in a better position to innovate than you; in other ways I have probably been more restricted.
During the time this book was being thought through
and written, I was living alone. Because I don't have a boss, my job permits
some idiosyncrasies and flexibility. Living in apartments gives me an easy
choice (and change) of locations not permitted by a suburban mortgage.
And my income is at least enough that my simplistic life style can be in
part a matter of choice. On the other hand, I come out of a very "straight"
(disciplined, achievement-oriented) background. I still have significant
family ties and obligations (including
that mortgage) and I have some administrative and personal responsibilities to a staff and seven-year Presidential appointment that (I felt) precluded my "dropping out." You may be less restrained.
When I write of the pressures in our society generated by Big Business, Big Broadcasting, and Big Government, it is for two reasons. I think some analysis of such pressures is necessary to an understanding of what's wrong with our lives as individuals. Otherwise it's like a fish trying to understand why he doesn't feel good in terms of physiology and philosophy, when the real problem is the polluted water in which he's swimming.
But the wisest readers will recognize that this book is as much a professional as a personal statement. As a political scientist, lawyer, and government official, I am also trying to say that these concerns -- about the true quality of our lives -- ought to be the business of our elected and appointed public officials. Most of the time they are not. Public officials lead bad lives just like the rest of us -- maybe worse. And bad lives produce bad laws. No public official who really reads and feels what I am saying in this book could ever vote the funds to support vicious killing in Southeast Asia, or the numerous other legislative appropriations and tax schemes that rob from the poor and give to the rich. He could not fail to support increased appropriations for programs to feed the hungry, or to support the Public Broadcasting System and the arts.
John Lennon once announced he and Yoko Ono were
going to send two acorns for peace to every world leader along with the
suggestion that the acorns be
I don't know if they ever did it or not. But I'm afraid all too many world leaders wouldn't get the idea into their heads -- unless you "staffed it out" for them in a memo. For them this is:
At last
New from us
This amazing dramatic proof
There.
See?
You can.
It's easy!
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-- Mason Williams
Test Pattern for Living