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 37
... freedom of information which , in the Old , had begun a century before . Harris ' abortive effort inspired other attempts at newspaper publication : for example , the Boston News - Letter , published in 1704 , generally regarded as the ...
... freedom of information which , in the Old , had begun a century before . Harris ' abortive effort inspired other attempts at newspaper publication : for example , the Boston News - Letter , published in 1704 , generally regarded as the ...
Page 138
... freedom of in- formation . Orwell quite reasonably supposed that the state , through naked suppression , would control the flow of informa- tion , particularly by the banning of books . In this prophecy , Orwell had history strongly on ...
... freedom of in- formation . Orwell quite reasonably supposed that the state , through naked suppression , would control the flow of informa- tion , particularly by the banning of books . In this prophecy , Orwell had history strongly on ...
Page 141
... freedom to read is not seriously injured by someone's banning a book on Long Island or in Ana- heim or anyplace else . But as Gerbner suggests , television clearly does impair the student's freedom to read , and it does so with innocent ...
... freedom to read is not seriously injured by someone's banning a book on Long Island or in Ana- heim or anyplace else . But as Gerbner suggests , television clearly does impair the student's freedom to read , and it does so with innocent ...
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