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 56
... discourse that is largely absent from religious life today . No clearer example of the difference between earlier ... discourse in a print- based culture and the character of discourse in a television- based culture are also evident if ...
... discourse that is largely absent from religious life today . No clearer example of the difference between earlier ... discourse in a print- based culture and the character of discourse in a television- based culture are also evident if ...
Page 65
Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Neil Postman. communication and , in doing so , eliminated the problem of space once and for all . I refer , of course , to Samuel Finley Breese Morse , America's first true " spaceman . " His ...
Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Neil Postman. communication and , in doing so , eliminated the problem of space once and for all . I refer , of course , to Samuel Finley Breese Morse , America's first true " spaceman . " His ...
Page 127
... discourse from which such words as " true " and " false " come . If that universe of discourse is discarded , then the application of empirical tests , logical analysis or any of the other instruments of reason are impotent . The move ...
... discourse from which such words as " true " and " false " come . If that universe of discourse is discarded , then the application of empirical tests , logical analysis or any of the other instruments of reason are impotent . The move ...
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