A Meme for Mimi

I was just over reading Jeze Whiz (a fave, of which I've gobbled up the archives) and found a call-to-meme:

"The meme goes like this:
Find the nearest book. Name the Author & title. Turn to page 123. Post sentences 6-8. Tag three more people."

Jezer says her readers ought to consider themselves tagged, so here goes.

The nearest book is to my left, under the can of pens on my desk. It's a library book: The Lonely Crowd: A study of the changing American character, by David Riesman. I notice now that it's an abridged version. This is a pretty famous book actually, first out in 1950. It's kind of like the non-fiction companion, if you will, to a novel like The Man in the Grey Flannel Suit.

Here's sentences 6-8 of page 123:

"In the fairly tale the protagonist is frequently an underdog figure, a younger child, an ugly duckling, a commoner, while the villain is frequently an authroity figure, a king, a giant, a stepmother. In the comics the protagonist is apt to be an invulnerable or near invulnerable adult who is equipped, if not with supernatural powers, at least with two guns and a tall, terrific physique. Magical aid comes to the underdog--who remains a peripheral character--only through the mediation of this figure."

Um, ok. This is from a section on the development of social character in children, entitled "The mass media in the stage of other-direction: The child market." 'Other-direction' is a social orientation whereby people (in this case, children) gain their sense of self and well-being from the tacit or explicit approval of others, of the peer-group, a situation the author marks in contrast to the prior prevailing code that we might call self-reliance, or individualism, or 'character'.

Oh dear. I hope I'm not as boring as this sounds, but actually I'm finding the book fascinating.

Now I wanna know what Alpha Dogma, Ewe are Here, and Beck are reading ... Tag!