Mediatization, polarization, and intolerance (between environments, media, and circulation)

Jacques A. Wainberg 112 a sense of urgency in the audience. The soundtrack of this type of program has the same objective, to awake the public from numbness and keeps people from drowsiness. The radio’s ability to cause a similar effect of commo- tion and panic has already been demonstrated. It occurred in the cases of the announcement of Getúlio Vargas’ suicide in 1954, a fact that gave rise to violent popular demonstrations in Brazil; and of the dramatization performed by Orson Wells of the work War of the World, in 1938, an occurrence that took more than 1 million people in panic to the streets of New York. Winston Churchill’s speeches are an additional example of a discourse populated by prosodic resources that moved the audiences of his time, in particular, because of the intonation, rhythm, pauses in his speech, and the cavernous tone of his voice. From these examples, there is evidence of the differ- ence between the soothing and the choleric tone. What one ex- pects from a Pope’s speech, for example, is serenity and calm. It is highly unlikely that a peace preacher will speak using the tics of a sports narrator or those of a general positioned on the battlefield. Dubbing the voice of an angry character, like Mus - solini, with that of a conciliator, like the Dalai Lama, produces a humorous effect that amuses the listener due to its inappropri- ate rhetor T i h c. e affection produced in the interlocutors by orality is a classic theme in the history of communication. In this case, the speaker’s mnemonic resources are particularly valuable, includ- ing rhyme, rhythm, pronunciation, and tonic emphasis. Through them, the new generations were educated, and the combatants were encouraged to go out to fight on the battlefield. Whatever was said by the voice of the tribal elder was also intended to strengthen faith in community beliefs. Knowing how to speak was an equally valued attribute in ancient Greece, where only 10 percent of the population was (poorly) literate, and then, throughout the Middle Ages until Modernity, when, finally, the world of letters and the media became channels much more fre- quent of social interaction. The voice attribute of being able to stimulate the listen- er’s feelings was and remains one of the main biases of orality. This property explains the fascination that intimate conversa-