--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Sometimes, because of its immediacy…" description: "\"Sometimes, because of its immediacy, television produces a kind of electronic parable. Berlin, for instance, on the day the Wall was opened. Rostropovi..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b83/john-berger-1590_allowance_sometimes-because-of-its-immediacy-telev_1687623.jpg" --- # Sometimes, because of its immediacy, television produces a… ![“Sometimes, because of its immediacy, television produces a kind of electronic parable. Berlin, for instance, on the day the Wall was opened. Rostropovich was playing his cello by the Wall that no longer cast a shadow, and a million East Berliners were thronging to the West to shop with an…” quote by John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b83/john-berger-1590_allowance_sometimes-because-of-its-immediacy-telev_1687623.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b83/john-berger-1590_allowance_sometimes-because-of-its-immediacy-telev_1687623.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/b83/john-berger-1590_allowance_sometimes-because-of-its-immediacy-telev_1687623.jpg) > “Sometimes, because of its immediacy, television produces a kind of electronic parable. Berlin, for instance, on the day the Wall was opened. Rostropovich was playing his cello by the Wall that no longer cast a shadow, and a million East Berliners were thronging to the West to shop with an allowance given them by West German banks! At that moment the whole world saw how materialism had lost its awesome historic power and become a shopping list.” [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Television can turn current events into vivid, simplified stories that shape public perception like modern parables. **In simple terms:** TV turns news into simple stories that affect how we see events. Key Takeaway Recognize media’s power to simplify reality. Themes media perception history consumerism Mood critical reflective Type analytical observational When to use this quote - political change - cultural analysis - media literacy - public opinion Key Concepts narrative framing symbolic representation Questions to Reflect On - How does media framing affect your understanding? - What details are lost in a televised story? A Different Perspective Simplification may obscure nuance and complexity. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Berlin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/berlin/) [Immediacy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/immediacy/) [Materialism](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/materialism/) [Moments](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/moments/) [Parables](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/parables/) [Shadow](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shadow/) [Shopping](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/shopping/) [Television](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/television/) [Wall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wall/) [Whole world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/whole-world/) [World](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/world/) ## Related quotes > [Films are artifice. We're telling stories on film. At the same time, when it works, there is a real tough immediacy and spontaneity to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/paul-mcgann/films-are-artifice-we-re-telling-stories-on-film-at-the-same-time/) [Paul McGann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/paul-mcgann/) > [The immediacy of mystic experience simply means that we know God just as we know other objects. God is not a mathematical entity or…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/muhammad-iqbal/the-immediacy-of-mystic-experience-simply-means-that-we-know-god-just/) [Muhammad Iqbal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/muhammad-iqbal/) > [The immediacy of public interaction is just unbeatable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/nick-kroll/the-immediacy-of-public-interaction-is-just-unbeatable/) [Nick Kroll](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/nick-kroll/) > [We live in a world of absolute immediacy. It is an interconnected, combustible world, where technology and many other actions have given nonstate actors…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-hagel/we-live-in-a-world-of-absolute-immediacy-it-is-an-interconnected/) [Chuck Hagel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-hagel/) > [The immediacy of the mobile changes it from what we're accustomed to in the personal computing world to something that's instantaneous... What's interesting and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vint-cerf/the-immediacy-of-the-mobile-changes-it-from-what-we-re-accustomed-to/) [Vint Cerf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vint-cerf/) > [I do like the immediacy of audience's reaction. I like when I can hear the stillness and I know that they're with us.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-paulson/i-do-like-the-immediacy-of-audience-s-reaction-i-like-when-i-can-hear/) [Sarah Paulson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-paulson/) > [In stark contrast to two nights ago, when I felt Peeta was a million miles away, I'm struck by his immediacy now. As we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suzanne-collins/in-stark-contrast-to-two-nights-ago-when-i-felt-peeta-was-a-million/) [Suzanne Collins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suzanne-collins/) > [I am sure everyone has had the experience of reading a book and finding it vibrating with aliveness, with colour and immediacy. And then,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/doris-lessing/i-am-sure-everyone-has-had-the-experience-of-reading-a-book-and/) [Doris Lessing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/doris-lessing/) > [The whole machinery of our intelligence, our general ideas and laws, fixed and external objects, principles, persons, and gods, are so many symbolic, algebraic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-santayana/the-whole-machinery-of-our-intelligence-our-general-ideas-and-laws/) [George Santayana](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-santayana/) > [My favorite part is being engaged with somebody's story and life, and getting a laugh with people I have a tremendous amount of respect…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marc-maron/my-favorite-part-is-being-engaged-with-somebody-s-story-and-life-and/) [Marc Maron](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marc-maron/) > [But I think that's a particular kind of experience involving a certain immediacy between you and the canvass, you and the particular kind of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/donald-judd/but-i-think-that-s-a-particular-kind-of-experience-involving-a/) [Donald Judd](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/donald-judd/) > [Killing Lincoln is a must-read historical thriller. Bill O'Reilly recounts the dramatic events of the spring of 1865 with such exhilarating immediacy that you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vince-flynn/killing-lincoln-is-a-must-read-historical-thriller-bill-o-reilly/) [Vince Flynn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vince-flynn/) > [Take any writer you want in the 19th century: they wrote with quill pens, dipping a piece of goose feather in ink and writing.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-murch/take-any-writer-you-want-in-the-19th-century-they-wrote-with-quill/) [Walter Murch](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-murch/) > [When one has made a decision to kill a person, even if it will be very difficult to succeed by advancing straight ahead, it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/yamamoto-tsunetomo/when-one-has-made-a-decision-to-kill-a-person-even-if-it-will-be-very/) [Yamamoto Tsunetomo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/yamamoto-tsunetomo/) > [Human cultures are all experiments in trying to find a form that will fit the matter of our immediacy; but it is absolutely not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kenny-smith/human-cultures-are-all-experiments-in-trying-to-find-a-form-that-will/) [Kenny Smith](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kenny-smith/) ## More by John Berger > [When we read a story, we inhabit it. The covers of the book are like a roof and four walls.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/when-we-read-a-story-we-inhabit-it-the-covers-of-the-book-are-like-a/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [The impulse to paint comes neither from observation nor from the soul (which is probably blind) but from an encounter: the encounter between painter…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/the-impulse-to-paint-comes-neither-from-observation-nor-from-the-soul/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Oil painting did to appearances what capital did to social relations. It reduced everything to the equality of objects. Everything became exchangeable because everything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/oil-painting-did-to-appearances-what-capital-did-to-social-relations/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Landscapes can be deceptive. Sometimes a landscape seems to be less a setting for the life of its inhabitants than a curtain behind which…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/landscapes-can-be-deceptive-sometimes-a-landscape-seems-to-be-less-a/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [We live in a dominant culture of ceaseless Departure and Progress that has so far lasted two or three centuries.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/we-live-in-a-dominant-culture-of-ceaseless-departure-and-progress/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [My heart born naked was swaddled in lullabies. Later alone it wore poems for clothes. Like a shirt I carried on my back the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/my-heart-born-naked-was-swaddled-in-lullabies-later-alone-it-wore/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [ There's the artist's intimacy and truthfulness to himself, but an equal intimacy to the Other \[the one drawn\]. Picasso drawings are like that... the… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/there-s-the-artist-s-intimacy-and-truthfulness-to-himself-but-an/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Traditional Chinese art looked at the Earth from a Confucian mountain top; Japanese art looked closely around screens; Italian Renaissance art surveyed conquered nature…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/traditional-chinese-art-looked-at-the-earth-from-a-confucian-mountain/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Never again shall a single story be told as though it were the only one.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/never-again-shall-a-single-story-be-told-as-though-it-were-the-only/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [In drawing after drawing, pastel after pastel, painting after painting, the contours of Degas's dancing figures become, at a certain point, darkly insistent, tangled…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/in-drawing-after-drawing-pastel-after-pastel-painting-after-painting/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [We never look at just one thing; we are always looking at the relation between things and ourselves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/we-never-look-at-just-one-thing-we-are-always-looking-at-the-relation/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [We can become anything. That is why injustice is impossible here. There may be the accident of birth, there is no accident of death.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/we-can-become-anything-that-is-why-injustice-is-impossible-here-there/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [Capitalism survives by forcing the majority, whom it exploits, to define their own interests as narrowly as possible. This was once achieved by extensive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/capitalism-survives-by-forcing-the-majority-whom-it-exploits-to/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [The camera relieves us of the burden of memory.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/the-camera-relieves-us-of-the-burden-of-memory/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) > [“Today we see the art of the past as nobody saw it before. We actually perceive it in a different way.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-berger/today-we-see-the-art-of-the-past-as-nobody-saw-it-before-we-actually/) [John Berger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) [Explore all 214 John Berger quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-berger/) ## More Allowance quotes > [I like buying clothes, especially as I get a tax-deductible allowance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wendy-cope/i-like-buying-clothes-especially-as-i-get-a-tax-deductible-allowance/) [Wendy Cope](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wendy-cope/) > [There's plenty of great stuff out there. I think it's just what we do is we all spend our allowance on the thing that…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-englund/there-s-plenty-of-great-stuff-out-there-i-think-it-s-just-what-we-do/) [Robert Englund](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-englund/) > [A realistic expectation also demands our acceptance that one's allotted time on earth must be limited to an allowance consistent with the continuity of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sherwin-b-nuland/a-realistic-expectation-also-demands-our-acceptance-that-one-s/) [Sherwin B. Nuland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sherwin-b-nuland/) > [Anyhow, we obviously understand that, being a United States' ally and having a special relationship with it, the UK in its relations with Russian…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vladimir-putin/anyhow-we-obviously-understand-that-being-a-united-states-ally-and/) [Vladimir Putin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vladimir-putin/) > [If you want to be rich, don’t allow yourself the luxury of excuses.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-kiyosaki/if-you-want-to-be-rich-don-t-allow-yourself-the-luxury-of-excuses/) [Robert Kiyosaki](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-kiyosaki/) > [I'm a big advocate of a work-for-pay setup rather than an allowance that isn't attached to chores - it's a great way to impart…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/suze-orman/i-m-a-big-advocate-of-a-work-for-pay-setup-rather-than-an-allowance/) [Suze Orman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/suze-orman/) > [Few human creatures would consent to be changed into any of the lower animals for a promise of the fullest allowance of a beast's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-stuart-mill/few-human-creatures-would-consent-to-be-changed-into-any-of-the-lower/) [John Stuart Mill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-stuart-mill/) > [In regard to the amount of difference between the races, we must make some allowance for our nice powers of discrimination gained by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-darwin/in-regard-to-the-amount-of-difference-between-the-races-we-must-make/) [Charles Darwin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-darwin/) > [Besides, there is more that binds us to Bolshevism than separates us from it. There is, above all, genuine, revolutionary feeling, which is alive…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adolf-hitler/besides-there-is-more-that-binds-us-to-bolshevism-than-separates-us/) [Adolf Hitler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adolf-hitler/) > [So scanty is our present allowance of happiness that in many situations life could scarcely be supported if hope were not allowed to relieve…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-johnson/so-scanty-is-our-present-allowance-of-happiness-that-in-many/) [Samuel Johnson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-johnson/) > [Ain't trickin I just treat her like she need allowance .](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wiz-khalifa/ain-t-trickin-i-just-treat-her-like-she-need-allowance/) [Wiz Khalifa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/wiz-khalifa/) > [You have to learn how to take an allowance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rakim/you-have-to-learn-how-to-take-an-allowance/) [Rakim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rakim/) > [“modest allowance. Giving your children a small weekly or monthly allowance that they can spend as they wish will help them learn the value…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/devin-d-thorpe/modest-allowance-giving-your-children-a-small-weekly-or-monthly/) [Devin D. Thorpe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/devin-d-thorpe/) > [Negative emotion is your indicator of resistance, while positive emotion is your indicator of allowance. And they are on the same meter: allowance; resistance.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/esther-hicks/negative-emotion-is-your-indicator-of-resistance-while-positive/) [Esther Hicks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/esther-hicks/) > [Old Madame du Deffand and her friends talked for fifty years without stopping. And of it all, what remains? Perhaps three witty sayings. So…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/virginia-woolf/old-madame-du-deffand-and-her-friends-talked-for-fifty-years-without/) [Virginia Woolf](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/virginia-woolf/) Browse all 167 Allowance quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Sometimes, because of its immediacy, television produces a kind of electronic parable. Berlin, for instance, on the day the Wall was opened. Rostropovich was playing his cello by the Wall that no longer cast a shadow, and a million East Berliners were thronging to the West to shop with an allowance given them by West German banks! 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