He believed Americans were obsessed with being entertained, which resulted in senseless addictions and deadened affects.
Perhaps the tsunami, killing hundreds of thousands, deadened compassion.
The first was that the principal economic response to the slump, ie, massive public-works spending, further enriched some pressure groups and many politicians, making them even more able to resist change, and an expansionary monetary policy deadened the price mechanism that ought to have imposed discipline.
Threatening further attacks if air strikes and military intervention continues, the article continued: "Soon, by Allah's permission, a day will come when the Muslim will walk everywhere as a master…until then, the just terror will continue to strike them to the core of their deadened hearts".
The anti-politics fury over expenses has deadened the possibility of any party offering a "new politics" – a phrase that nevertheless still drops occasionally from Cameron's lips.
But by the time Debbie is gone, so is the audience emotion, deadened by all the threesomes and drug abuse.
Its corrosive impact has deadened the psyche of many economies where people look for ways to get rich quick; its easy money has corrupted politicians; and its legacy has been incendiary, plunging nations into conflict, with governments attacking their neighbours, even their own people.
This year's mountainous Tour route - criticised by some for being too tough as it deadened the yellow jersey battle in the final week, riders too exhausted to fight one another - suited Froome's climbing ability.
It'll be a show for people crippled by hangovers, deadened by a week at the office and generally knackered by life.
The seemingly deadened Devereaux endures those indignities with a stolid despair, reacting vigorously only when he's denied his one phone call.
Watch more than three at a time and one can feel peculiarly numb, nerves deadened by too much experience delivered too quickly.
