Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show BusinessTelevision has conditioned us to tolerate visually entertaining material measured out in spoonfuls of time, to the detriment of rational public discourse and reasoned public affairs. In this eloquent, persuasive book, Neil Postman alerts us to the real and present dangers of this state of affairs, and offers compelling suggestions as to how to withstand the media onslaught. Before we hand over politics, education, religion, and journalism to the show business demands of the television age, we must recognize the ways in which the media shape our lives and the ways we can, in turn, shape them to serve out highest goals. |
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Page 66
... actions of readers , it was at least local — about places and people within their expe- rience — and it was not always tied ... action taken by the House of Representatives on the Oregon issue . The paper concluded its report by noting ...
... actions of readers , it was at least local — about places and people within their expe- rience — and it was not always tied ... action taken by the House of Representatives on the Oregon issue . The paper concluded its report by noting ...
Page 68
... action . This fact is the principal legacy of the tele- graph : By generating an abundance of irrelevant information , it dramatically altered what may be called the " information- action ratio . " In both oral and typographic cultures ...
... action . This fact is the principal legacy of the tele- graph : By generating an abundance of irrelevant information , it dramatically altered what may be called the " information- action ratio . " In both oral and typographic cultures ...
Page 69
... action ratio was sufficiently close so that most people had a sense of being able to control some of the contingencies in their lives . What people knew about had action - value . In the information world created by telegraphy , this ...
... action ratio was sufficiently close so that most people had a sense of being able to control some of the contingencies in their lives . What people knew about had action - value . In the information world created by telegraphy , this ...
Contents
The Medium Is the Metaphor | 3 |
Media as Epistemology | 16 |
Typographic America | 30 |
Copyright | |
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advertising Aldous Huxley America amusing argument audience become believe Billy Graham called celebrities Charles Finney claims classroom coherent communication conversation course created culture Diff'rent Strokes Douglas eighteenth entertainment epistemology example exposition fact Frye Huxley idea implied intellectual irrelevant Jerry Falwell Jimmy Swaggart language learning Lincoln-Douglas debates literacy Marshall McLuhan matter means medium ment merely metaphor Mimi mind movie nature newscaster newspaper nineteenth century oral Orwell Pat Robertson photograph play preachers President printed word printing press problem public discourse question radio rational readers reason religion religious Reverend Robert Schuller rock music sense serious Sesame Street show business sion social speech story symbolic tele telegraph television commercial television program television screen television show television's thing tion tradition truth typographic viewers visual Walter Ong watch writing written word York