The peoples of other continents look to America half in hope and half in alarm. They see that their own future is inextricably involved with it, and their judgment is based on what they see in the cinema, what they read in the popular magazines, what they hear from the loudest advertiser. Gratitude for the enormous material benefits received is tempered with distaste for what they believe is the spiritual poverty of the benefactor. It is only when one travels in America that one realizes that most Americans either share this distaste or are genuinely unaware of the kind of false impression which interested parties have conspired to spread.

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "The peoples of other continents look to America half in hope and half in alarm. They see that their own future is inextricably involved with it, and their judgment is based on what they see in the cinema, what they read in the popular magazines, what they hear from the loudest advertiser. Gratitude for the enormous material benefits received is tempered with distaste for what they believe is the spiritual poverty of the benefactor. It is only when one travels in America that one realizes that most Americans either share this distaste or are genuinely unaware of the kind of false impression which interested parties have conspired to spread." in the context of "Evelyn Waugh, "The American Epoch in the Catholic Church", Month, November 1949." to mean that wisdom is timeless.