Image of the Addressee

Perusal of the column over a longer period of time permits one to figure out the columnist's image of his reader, the basis of the techniques he employs. The over-all rule is that this picture must mainly be flattering, offer gratifications even before actual advice is tendered, but must be at the same time of such a nature that the addressee can still identify himself and his petty worries with the picture of himself he is constantly offered.

No American data were available as to the sex distribution of astrology fans, but it seems reasonable to assume that their majority are women or at least that women are equally represented among them. The columnist is very likely well aware of this. Strangely enough, however, the implicit picture of the addressee, though rarely quite articulate, is predominantly male. The reader is presented as a professional person who has authority and has to make decisions; he is presented as a practical person, technically minded and able to fix things. Most characteristic of all, whenever the erotic sphere is touched upon, the addressee has to see an »attractive companion.« As a popular psychologist, the columnist seems to be better aware than many supposedly serious writers of the inferior status of women in modern society in spite of their supposed emancipation, their participation in professional life and the glamor heaped upon some of them. He seems to feel that women will usually feel flattered if they are treated as men as long as the specific sphere of their femininity and its conventional attributes are not involved which does not happen in the column; it is suggested to each housewife that she might be a V.I.P. Possibly the columnist draws even on some psychoanalytic knowledge of penis envy¹³ when talking to an audience of women as though he were addressing men.

An additional factor may be contributing to the male characterization of the addressee. Since the column is continuously tendering advice, wants people to act and takes the over-all attitude of the »practical,« it appears necessary to speak as though one would address those who really act, the decision makers – men. The more women are actually dependent, on a deeper level, the more important it may be to them that they are treated as though they were the ones on whom everything depended though actually the treatment they are given by the column to which they are tied really enhances their own dependence.

The standard image is that of a young person or one in his early thirties, vigorous in his professional pursuits, given to hearty pleasures which must somehow be held in check and prone to romance – rather a subtle gratification to presumably frustrated readers who are likely to identify themselves with the addressee if born under the astrological sign mentioned and transfer the imaginary addressee's qualities upon themselves.

The addressee belongs to some church though no reference is made to which denomination and no specific dogma is ever expressed or mentioned. But it is taken for granted that he attends some service on Sunday as a »regular« person and a solemn semireligious tone is usually reserved for holidays.

The image of religion is entirely conventionalized. Religious activities are restricted to leisure time and the reader is encouraged to attend some »good sermon,« as though he were to select a show.

Fine for inexpensive entertaining, sports, recreation, romance. Attend worship, then keep living religion.

(December 14, 1952, Cancer)

Routine tasks seem dreary. Forget them. Go to church where you can find better religious ideas that are able to support your many burdens.

(December 28, 1952, Capricorn)

The addressee is sometimes presented as a car owner. Whereas this seems realistic enough in view of the tremendous number of car owners in greater Los Angeles, even here some cuddling might be involved in as much as one might expect to find among the devoted readers of the column quite a few persons who do not own cars but like the idea that they are treated as though they did.

It should also be noted that no reference of the addressee's educational level is made. Whenever his personal qualities are summoned, they are either completely severed from what he might have learned, stressing merely »gifts« such as charm, »magnetism,« etc., or they pertain vaguely to his family back-ground. But it does not make any difference whether the addressee went through college, through high school or only to grammar school. This might be indicative of the fact that the columnist's real image of the addressee differs significantly from the one he promotes. While he evinces the idea that the addressee is a superior person he is very careful not to draw a picture of this superiority which would be definite enough to alienate the reader by making him aware that he does not fit the picture at all.

By far the most important feature of the addressee is his socioeconomic status. The image presented in this area may be called, with some exaggeration, that of the vice-president. The people spoken to are pictured as holding a superior place in life which forces them, as mentioned before, to make decisions all the time. Much depends on them, on their reasonableness, their ability to make up their minds. Representing them in so many words as impotent or unimportant small men is carefully avoided. One may think of the well-known technique of magazines such as Fortune which are written to give the impression that each of their presumably very numerous readers is a big shot in some major corporation. The vicarious gratification thus provided, the strong appeal exercised by the transference of the American ideal of the successful business-man upon the none-too-successful is obvious. Yet – and this is why the column addresses vice-presidents rather than presidents – the reality situation is never lost sight of. Whereas the illusion of importance and autonomy is superficially kept intact, the fact is not forgotten that these much desired assets are really not being fully enjoyed by the addressee. He is therefore presented as someone who although fairly high himself in the business hierarchy has essentially to depend on others who are even higher. Since this may be the situation even of some real vice-presidents, the feeling of humiliation is somewhat attenuated at the same time. Advice can be proffered that befits the underling without revealing that he really is an underling although on a deeper level he may very well be made to understand that he has only little to say. The addressee's ego ideal and his realistic experience of his actual place in life are somehow fused. At the same time, the hierarchical way of thinking often to be met among compulsive¹⁴ lower-middle-class people is met halfway.

Treating the addressee as an important link in the hierarchy is indicative of one of the basic psychological constructs of the addressee suggested by the setup of the column. While he is figured out probably quite realistically as a basically weak and dependent person both with regard to his actual function in the social setup and to his psychological characteristics, he is not likely to admit his weakness and dependence. This defense is taken into account as much as the dependency needs themselves. Hence, the reactive picture of themselves developed by dependent people is strengthened. Here belongs, above all, hyperactivity. Continuous advice is given to take some action, to behave like a successful go-getter. What is thus emphasized is not so much the addressee's real ego power as his intellectual identification with some socialized ego ideal. He is led to interpret his actions as though he were strong and as though his activity would amount to something. The phoniness of this concept is indicated by the spuriousness of most of the activities encouraged by the column. »Pseudo-activity,«¹⁵ a very widespread behavioral pattern in our society, is represented rather clearly by the column and the psychological calculations on which it is based.

It would be one-sided, however, to reduce the psychological image of the addressee entirely to categories such as dependence and ego weakness and the infantile fixation specifically involved – orality.¹⁶ The columnist is by no means committed to these categories which, particularly as far as ego weakness is concerned, would be inadequate even for a popular psychologist. The underlying ideas of the psychology of the addressees are much more polymorphous. The column starts from the generalized assumption that his readers are regressive, warped persons, and all the major dimensions of regression actually involved in most defects of intellect and personality, are somehow taken care of and catered to. In order to understand how this works, one will have to distinguish between the image of the addressee, which is projected by the column, and the columnist's real underlying estimate of his readers. While he creates the addressee in the image of the big shot with some worries, he reckons with an average lower-middle-class reader. Throughout psychoanalytic literature down to its current popularization, the affinity between the lower-middle-class mentality and certain infantile fixations has been recognized. Even the popular psychologist today has heard that the petty bourgeois is likely to be an anal character.¹⁷ While the column neglects quite a few of the implications of anality such as sadism and stinginess (they are incompatible with the synthetic ego ideal it promotes), the more general pattern of anality (and one of the most widespread of retrogressive personalities) is underscored the more heavily: compulsiveness.

It is intrinsic to the astrological pattern itself: one believes he has to obey some highly systematized orders without, however, any manifest interconnection between the system and himself. In astrology as in compulsive neurosis, one has to keep very strictly to some rule, command, or advice without ever being able to say why. It is just this »blindness« of obedience which seems to be fused with the overwhelming and frightening power of the command. In as much as the stars as viewed in astrology form an intricate system of do's and don't's, this system seems to be the projection of a compulsive system itself.

Just as advice from the stars enhances irrational authoritarian dependence and submissiveness, reference to inscrutable and inexorable laws which one somehow has to imitate by one's own rigid behavior strengthens the compulsive potential with the addressee. Numerous recommendations of the column which make a major affair of the painstakingly strict fulfillment of requirements and tasks which are actually meaningless and have very little influence on reality are plainly encouraging compulsive behavior. There are innumerable passages like the following ones:

In P.M. more charm in environment brings desired peace ...

(November 11, 1952, Sagittarius)

Your own day to take those beauty treatments, get haircuts, do whatever increases your personal charm and sense of well-being.

(November 13, 1952, Libra)

In P.M. arrange cleaning, laundry, clothing, furnishing, diet problems.

(November 21, 1952, Virgo)

This is one of the major demonstrations of the fact that the psychological insight on the part of the columnist is not utilized in order to really develop psychological insight on the part of the reader but rather in the opposite direction, in order to maintain his defenses and to fixate him to irrational patterns, thus making him more obedient to the columnist, the self-styled spokesman of social norms. The underlying idea of compulsive behavior (if he fulfills this or that unpleasant duty, it will liberate him from guilt feelings and earn him some sort of compensation) is directly reflected by the logic of the column. It should be stressed, however, that just as in the case of dependence, even here a realistic element is not altogether absent. Just as the exploitation of the addressee's susceptibility to psychological dependence exploits his truly dependent status in society, the compulsive traits worked out by the column are frequently those which are expected of those persons who are likely to believe in the column's revelations. To overrate the importance of fulfilling mechanical chores, may be a symptom of compulsive neurosis, but the little fellow who has no space for »creative« or spontaneous activities and who is expected to function as a cog in a bureaucratic machinery, must do his chores strictly and conscientiously, nothing less, but also nothing more. In fact, if he were to try to do more, he might be suspected as an »apple polisher« or as having big ideas in his head, as maladjusted to his job and might be fired. Realistic considerations of this kind are thoroughly blended by the column with psychological lore.

Nevertheless, the »realism« in the addressee served so punctiliously by the advice of the column, is never entirely realistic. The overemphasis on realism in the actual content of the column is also calculated to make the addressee forget the irrationality of the whole system about which one should not think too much, whereas the almost complete absence of any hint at the sources of advice tendered therein mirrors the severe repression that always works upon the instincts of the compulsive. Nowhere is the relationship between realism and its counterpart so hard to distinguish as in the area of compulsiveness.