A dictionary of Marshall McLuhan’s quotations

Now, the difference between a public and a mass audience has nothing to do with cultural values. It has to do with the fact that a public consists of separate individuals, each with a private point of view. A mass audience has no point of view at all. It is so involved – people are so involved with one another at the speed of electric circuitry that they have a sense of relationship and offer responsibility to their society that is quite new. Involvement in the mass or electric circuitry creates a tremendous sense of responsibility and anxiety that is new.
“The Open Mind”, TV interview with Eric Goldman, WNBC television, March 1966, transcript p 16
Year: 1966
↪ Also at #525
Compiled by William Kuhns
© 2026, The Estate of Marshall McLuhan