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 4
... once a featured player on television's most glamorous show of the 1960's , that is to say , an astronaut . Naturally , a movie has been made about his extraterrestrial adventure . For- mer nominee George McGovern has hosted the popular ...
... once a featured player on television's most glamorous show of the 1960's , that is to say , an astronaut . Naturally , a movie has been made about his extraterrestrial adventure . For- mer nominee George McGovern has hosted the popular ...
Page 27
... once again that I am no relativist in this matter , and that I believe the epistemology cre- ated by television not only is inferior to a print - based epistemol- ogy but is dangerous and absurdist . The second point is that the ...
... once again that I am no relativist in this matter , and that I believe the epistemology cre- ated by television not only is inferior to a print - based epistemol- ogy but is dangerous and absurdist . The second point is that the ...
Page 91
... once the feet of a tap dancer on the " Major Bowes ' Amateur Hour . " ( Indeed , if I am not mistaken , he even once featured a pantomimist . ) But ventriloquism , dancing and mime do not play well on The Age of Show Business 91.
... once the feet of a tap dancer on the " Major Bowes ' Amateur Hour . " ( Indeed , if I am not mistaken , he even once featured a pantomimist . ) But ventriloquism , dancing and mime do not play well on The Age of Show Business 91.
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