Manhattan Reborn 1978

new York.

Zina Ossevia Art Store, 660 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan.

Second floor.

David sat on the sofa in the spacious living room, glanced down at his watch, and said to Zina beside him.

"They should be here soon, please go downstairs and help me greet them."

"Okay." Zina kissed David gently, covered her hot cheeks with her hands, and quickly went downstairs.

. . .

About half an hour ago.

After taking a shower and changing his clothes at home, David immediately contacted Mag Ludwigs and asked him to bring Mr. Devinius von Spencer to meet Zina.

David made the decision to arrange the meeting here after careful consideration.

Because this Mr. Spencer, whom Mager had never met, was someone he had highly recommended, and even compared him to a living Walter Lippmann.

When Mager mentioned Walter Lippmann to David, David knew nothing about Mr. Lippmann.

But when Mager told him that Walter Lippmann, who had passed away in 74, was a sociologist, public affairs expert, and international relations expert, and had been invited by eight incumbent US presidents to join the presidential advisory group as a public relations and international relations consultant.

David immediately became very interested in this person and went directly to Mr. Gardener to ask him to help him carefully investigate the public information of Mr. Lippmann.

Walter Lippmann.

1889年9月23日生于纽约，1974年12月14日逝于纽约。

In the summer of 1910, when he was pursuing a graduate degree at Harvard University, he met the famous journalist Lincoln Stephens by chance and became his assistant, thus beginning his involvement in journalism.

In 1912, he resigned from all his jobs and settled in Maine, where he devoted himself to writing his first book, "Political Introduction".

After the publication of "Political Introduction", it achieved great success and Theodore Roosevelt highly praised the book.

Once he met President Theodore Roosevelt, who smiled and said, "I've known you for a long time. You are the most famous man under the age of 30 in the United States."

In 1914, Lippmann's new book "Trends and Domination" was published, which, together with "Political Introduction", attracted widespread attention.

In 1917, Lippmann served as Assistant Secretary of War.

In 1918, he attended the Paris Peace Conference and served as a captain in the Army Intelligence Department in Paris.

In 1919, he returned to New York to work.

From 1921 to 1931, he served as editor and chief editor of the New York World, and participated in the founding of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR).

During this decade, he wrote a large number of editorials advocating American neutrality and promoting pacifism backed by military force.

He won the Pulitzer Prize for Journalism twice, in 1958 and 1962.

In September 1964, President Lyndon Johnson awarded Lippmann the Presidential Medal of Freedom on his 9th birthday.

Moreover, the Presidential Medal of Freedom award letter stated: "With his incisive views and unique insight, Walter Lippmann has made profound analyses of the affairs of this country and the world, thus broadening people's minds."

His representative works include "American Foreign Policy", "The Cold War", "Political Introduction", "Public Opinion", "Isolation and Alliance", etc.

The most famous and widely circulated work among them is "Public Opinion".

Not only has it broken the record for reprints many times since its publication, but many journalism and communication schools at American universities have also included its relevant chapters in their journalism and communication textbooks.

. . .

The sound of footsteps coming up the stairs interrupted David's thoughts.

He stood up, straightened his clothes, quickly adjusted his mentality and expression, and waited in the direction of the stairs.

The first person who came into his sight was Zina, followed by Mag, and finally the stranger was Devinsius von Spencer.

Today, Mr. Spencer was dressed very traditionally, which made David feel like he was seeing an orthodox English gentleman.

After a brief introduction, David invited everyone to sit down, crossed his legs, looked at Mr. Spencer with a scrutinizing look, and asked.

"You should know something about my situation...right?"

"Ah."

"Why don't we be more direct then?"

"it is good."

"ok~"

David tilted his head to look at Mag, then looked at Zina who was sitting next to him. He naturally put his arms around her waist, held her in his arms, smelled the charming fragrance emanating from her, and said.

“I met Giles and Pine last August when I went to a reception hosted by Mayor Lynch Colson and became good friends with them.”

"Zina is my social etiquette teacher and also my date at the party."

After saying these two sentences, David deliberately paused for a few seconds, and after observing the eye contact between Mr. Spencer and Zina, he continued.

"When I returned from the island country of Tokyo this time, I saw Walter Lippmann's book Public Opinion on a bookshelf in the airport, so I bought it and read it carefully on the way back."

"In this book, Lippmann mentioned two important concepts in communication studies: pseudo-environment and stereotypes."

"He pointed out the helplessness of people in understanding and interpreting the world accurately."

"As modern society becomes more and more international and complex, it is impossible for people to maintain direct contact with the external environment. They can only learn about events that happen outside their own lives through the news media."

"This causes people to construct a so-called simulated environment in their minds."

"However, the simulated environment is not a perfect reproduction of the real environment, but rather the information provided to people by the media after processing and re-structuring the selected symbolic events."

"These artificially edited comprehensive information are obtained by people through various channels, and finally form a simulated environment."

"So this simulated environment is not a true reflection of the real world, but a distorted image of the real world that has been distorted."

"A person's thoughts, character, emotions, and habits all influence behavior and judgment."

"On the contrary, after people make certain actions and judgments, it will also affect their thoughts and emotions."

"As long as people are used to understanding the external world through the media, they will inevitably be influenced by the simulated environment in their minds, with some subjectivity and one-sidedness, or fragmentary and distorted understanding of the world."

"Therefore, the irrational factors in public opinion in this simulated environment have gradually become a powerful tool for some people to manipulate public speech and behavior."

"The author of this book, Lippmann, expressed his great concerns and doubts about whether the media can objectively and impartially analyze the outside world to the public."

David raised his left hand to Mr. Spencer, who was smiling, and put his fingers on his temple, also smiling.

"What I want to talk about next is another important concept in this book, stereotypes."

"Lippmann believes that people's understanding of the world is generally influenced by the simulated environment in our minds and is extremely difficult to change."

“It or they are stereotypes that are deeply rooted in people’s minds!”

"They are fixed and simplified ideas and impressions that people hold about specific things, usually accompanied by value judgments and likes and dislikes about the things."

"They also provide a convenient reference standard for people to understand things, but also hinder people's acceptance of new things."

"Everyone has their own stereotypes, and a society also has stereotypes that are widely accepted and generally practiced by its members, which sometimes play a certain role in controlling society."

"The Thomas Theorem proposed by the famous sociologist Thomas also indirectly proves the profound impact of stereotypes on people~"

"If people define their perception as true, then it must be true in the end."

"Nowadays, we live in an era where the latest information dissemination technology is increasingly advanced~"

"The public image of a person, a group or a country will quietly affect the pseudo-environment of the people who receive this information through the spread of media and public opinion, and then help them build stereotypes in their minds that are enough to influence their behavior."

"The use of public opinion as a weapon is now most widely used in the presidential election!"

"We can easily see this from the huge changes in presidential election funding over the past two decades."

"In a presidential campaign, whoever can raise more select funds has a greater chance of winning."

"Isn't this... a huge irony?"

"Mr. Spencer, what do you think?"

"Hehe~" Spencer leaned back on the sofa and laughed

He looked at David with an ambiguous look and said, "There are countless short-lived views, opinions, and ideas that grow on the surface of solid beliefs that serve as a foundation."

"The longest-lived of them...wouldn't last more than a generation."

"No matter what name a thing is given, or how it is used, it will not change its essence!"

"The simulated environment and stereotypes you just mentioned can all be classified as common beliefs among modern people who have been baptized by various media."

"This common belief, although somewhat absurd from a philosophical point of view, has never been an obstacle to the success of some people."

“So absurdity is a necessary prerequisite for the success of universal beliefs.”

"Without a certain absurdity that these beliefs provide, success would be impossible."

Mr. Spencer saw David's surprised expression after hearing this and continued speaking with great interest.

"You mentioned the presidential election..."

"Every candidate participating in the presidential election, when trying to win supporters for himself, often explains his governing philosophy and political ambitions to them, and makes various promises, guaranteeing that he will fulfill the promises to his supporters after winning the election."

"But~"

"When these promises have to be fulfilled one by one, they often expose the many contradictions and shortcomings within the president and his campaign team."

"I was there last night when Mager spoke with former President Nixon."

"Later, I talked on the phone with Mr. Nixon, who was called a liar president by the media, for more than an hour."

"Oh?"

"What did you talk about?" David looked at Mag and asked.

Spencer slowly put away the smile on his face and answered seriously: "He and I have never met in any private occasion."

"His understanding of me only stops at five years ago..."

"So this time he found out on the phone that I decided to accept Mag's invitation and work for you..."

“He was in shock!”

"Shocked?" David repeated, looking at Mag and smiling.

"How many good things have you said for me?"

"Not much, just a little bit!" Mag gestured with his fingers deliberately and exaggeratedly, and said with a smile.

"Hahaha~" David couldn't help laughing and shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Spencer."

"Please continue~"

"..." Spencer nodded silently and did not respond immediately.

Because he could clearly feel that there was an extremely real and natural feeling between David and Mag.

It is becoming increasingly difficult for people to feel it so clearly.

So Mr. Xibinsai changed his mind and after pondering for a moment, he asked David.

“If I joined your team, what would you like me to do?”

“Uh…” David uttered a single syllable unconsciously, tilted his head and looked at Mr. Spencer, thought for a while, his expression became more serious, and said.

“I am very confident in my vision and ability.”

"I am also very confident about my career planning and future development prospects."

"But I am also human, and my time, abilities and energy are limited."

"If I want to keep moving forward and get more opportunities, I have to leave my back to you."

"With your protection, I can fight without any worries and focus more on it!"

"Fight?" Spencer repeated the word, imitating David's way of speaking.

"Yes!" David nodded slowly and said.

"In the past two months, I have increasingly felt that there are countless pairs of eyes silently watching me from behind..."

"Some of them are patiently planning to plot against me..."

"Some of them continued to help me, observing my true reactions, analyzing my behavior and thoughts, and then decided what method to use to slowly control me."

"Some of them seem to care about me, but I always feel it's not real and I think they have ulterior motives."

David said this, turned his head and looked at Zina beside him, his eyes showing tenderness.

"There are also some people who have been silently caring for me behind my back."

“Whenever I look back, I can feel encouragement, trust and love from the heart from her smile and her eyes!”

"Xina, thank you!"

Zina's eyes sparkled as she stared into David's eyes and offered him a kiss of love.

"..."

When Spencer and Mag saw the two of them actually starting to show their affection, they subconsciously looked at each other and smiled helplessly.

I don’t know how long it took, but my lips parted.

David looked closely at the tiny wrinkles around Zina's eyes, stroked them gently with his fingers, and smiled.

"I plan to work out starting tomorrow to make myself stronger."

"Hahahaha~" Zina understood the teasing in David's words, buried her head in his arms, and drew circles on his chest with her fingers.

David grinned at Mag and Spencer, squinting his eyes and smiling.

"Gentlemen, do you have any plans for lunch?"

"If not, I'll treat you to a steak at Smith & Wollensky's...how about that?"

"Okay." Mag pulled Spencer up and smiled at David.

"Twelve o'clock?"

"Ok!"

. . .

Two minutes later, outside the art shop.

Mag put on his windbreaker, looked at Spencer and asked with a smile: "How do you feel?"

"very funny!"

"interesting"

"Yes."

"Nothing else?"

"Also, he is more real and understands human nature better than I thought."

Spencer took out a silver pocket watch from his arms, looked at the time, and said.

"If a person is full at home, he can still eat more food when he goes out to a party."

"But if a person eats a lot outside, when he returns home to be with his family, he often feels that he can't eat a single bite."

"But this should never happen to David."

"Oh?"

"why?"

"Think for yourself!"

"..."

Mag stood on the street and thought carefully, then looked back at the third-floor window of the store behind him and found that the curtains had been drawn.