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 75
... entirely illusory . You may get a better sense of what I mean here if you imagine a stranger's informing you that the illyx is a subspecies of ver- miform plant with articulated leaves that flowers biannually on the island of Aldononjes ...
... entirely illusory . You may get a better sense of what I mean here if you imagine a stranger's informing you that the illyx is a subspecies of ver- miform plant with articulated leaves that flowers biannually on the island of Aldononjes ...
Page 84
... entirely how television redefines the meaning of public dis- course . Television does not extend or amplify literate culture . It attacks it . If television is a continuation of anything , it is of a tradition begun by the telegraph and ...
... entirely how television redefines the meaning of public dis- course . Television does not extend or amplify literate culture . It attacks it . If television is a continuation of anything , it is of a tradition begun by the telegraph and ...
Page 97
... entirely . It is no matter . The men were less concerned with giving arguments than with " giving off " im- pressions , which is what television does best . Post - debate com- mentary largely avoided any evaluation of the candidates ...
... entirely . It is no matter . The men were less concerned with giving arguments than with " giving off " im- pressions , which is what television does best . Post - debate com- mentary largely avoided any evaluation of the candidates ...
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