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 9
... culture . I refer specifi- cally to the Decalogue , the Second Commandment of which prohibits the Israelites from making concrete images of any- thing . " Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image , any likeness of any thing that ...
... culture . I refer specifi- cally to the Decalogue , the Second Commandment of which prohibits the Israelites from making concrete images of any- thing . " Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image , any likeness of any thing that ...
Page 25
... culture means by intelligence is derived from the character of its important forms of communication . In a purely oral culture , intelligence is often associated with aphoristic ingenuity , that is , the power to invent compact sayings ...
... culture means by intelligence is derived from the character of its important forms of communication . In a purely oral culture , intelligence is often associated with aphoristic ingenuity , that is , the power to invent compact sayings ...
Page 61
... culture and thinking in an image - centered culture . It is also the difference between living in a culture that pro- vides little opportunity for leisure , and one that provides much . The farm boy following the plow with book in hand ...
... culture and thinking in an image - centered culture . It is also the difference between living in a culture that pro- vides little opportunity for leisure , and one that provides much . The farm boy following the plow with book in hand ...
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