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[T]he job of mass entertainment is to cajole, seduce and flatter consumers to let them know that what they thought was right is right, and that their tastes and their immediate gratification are of the utmost concern of the purveyor. The job of the artist, on the other hand, is to say, wait a second, to the contrary, everything that we have thought is wrong. Let's reexamine it.

— David Mamet

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "[T]he job of mass entertainment is to cajole, seduce and flatter consumers to let them know that what they thought was right is right, and that their tastes and their immediate gratification are of the utmost concern of the purveyor. The job of the artist, on the other hand, is to say, wait a second, to the contrary, everything that we have thought is wrong. Let's reexamine it." in the context of "Interview by Richard Covington, Salon, October 25, 1997, retrieved: 2013-06-17" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "David Mamet" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
David Mamet

About David Mamet

David Alan Mamet (born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director, director, poet, essayist and novelist.