Page "Brookings Report" Paragraph 8

" An individual's reactions to such a radio contact would in part depend on his cultural, religious, and social background, as well as on the actions of those he considered authorities and leaders, and their behavior, in turn would in part depend on their cultural, social, and religious environment.

The discovery would certainly be front-page news everywhere ; the degree of political or social repercussion would probably depend on leadership's interpretation of ( 1 ) its own role, ( 2 ) threats to that role, and ( 3 ) national and personal opportunities to take advantage of the disruption or reinforcement of the attitudes and values of others.

Since leadership itself might have great need to gage the direction and intensity of public attitudes, to strengthen its own morale and for decisionmaking purposes, it would be most advantageous to have more to go on than personal opinions about the opinions of the public and other leadership groups.

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