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 6
... attention on the forms of human conversation , and postulates that how we are obliged to con- duct such conversations will have the strongest possible influ- ence on what ideas we can conveniently express . And what ideas are convenient ...
... attention on the forms of human conversation , and postulates that how we are obliged to con- duct such conversations will have the strongest possible influ- ence on what ideas we can conveniently express . And what ideas are convenient ...
Page 74
... attention to the fierce assault on language made by forms of mechanically reproduced imagery that spread unchecked throughout American culture - photo- graphs , prints , posters , drawings , advertisements . I choose the word " assault ...
... attention to the fierce assault on language made by forms of mechanically reproduced imagery that spread unchecked throughout American culture - photo- graphs , prints , posters , drawings , advertisements . I choose the word " assault ...
Page 105
... attention of anyone but instead to provide constant stimulation through variety , novelty , action , and movement . You are required . . . to pay attention to no concept , no char- acter , and no problem for more than a few seconds at a ...
... attention of anyone but instead to provide constant stimulation through variety , novelty , action , and movement . You are required . . . to pay attention to no concept , no char- acter , and no problem for more than a few seconds at a ...
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