Experimentally she thinks about dumping toxic waste in pristine wilderness and killing the last great apes on earth with a club. She still finds both… - John Barnes

Jesse, news for the masses, whether it's XV or all the way back to the old newspapers, is entertainment. People don't follow the news to stay informed, no matter what they tell you in school, they watch or experience to be entertained. If it were like they teach in school, they'd put the congressional budget, scientific research, and bios of every important bureaucrat in the opening slot, and they'd do special editions for the Nobel Prizes and the World Health Organization's annual report. That's not what it's about. They cover crime, sports, famous people having sex, funny animal stories, what it's like to stay in an expensive hotel in a resort area. Because that's what's interesting and fun and entertaining.
"It wouldn't matter so much except that people's lives are so dull they believe their entertainment—and for a hundred years we've been telling them that the world is very dangerous, that there are violent thugs everywhere, war is constantly imminent, sex is their most important need, all that crap.
"Well shit, Jesse, if you were a shrink and you had a patient who only wanted to talk about violence, extravagance, cruelty, and his sexual fantasies—what would you suggest? More of the same?"
Jesse's a bit startled, but he asks, "Whatever happened to freedom of the press?"
She snorts, a funny, ugly noise. Then she says, "Sorry, Jesse, but what does that have to do with the present day? You think the broadcast nets are like Ben Franklin, turning out little pamphlets for a few to read and most to ignore? Look, a few huge private corporations are making all their money by spreading fear, hate, depression, and an exploitive attitude. Justice would demand public hangings."

Almost every culture in the Thousand Cultures had some wisdom literature, and much of it was the same between any two cultures. . . . Cultures tend to be alike in much of what they think are the basic virtues, but one of the ones they are most alike in, though it rarely appears in their book of wisdom, is: Distrust strangers, fear foreigners, dread novelty.

Papa always says there’s room for everyone, but some people certainly take theirs up without making it interesting.