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 68
... sense of what is meant by context - free information by asking yourself the fol- lowing question : How often does it occur that information pro- vided you on morning radio or television , or in the morning newspaper , causes you to ...
... sense of what is meant by context - free information by asking yourself the fol- lowing question : How often does it occur that information pro- vided you on morning radio or television , or in the morning newspaper , causes you to ...
Page 73
... sense to disagree with an unfaked photograph . The photograph itself makes no arguable propositions , makes no extended and unambiguous commentary . It offers no assertions to refute , so it is not refutable . The way in which the ...
... sense to disagree with an unfaked photograph . The photograph itself makes no arguable propositions , makes no extended and unambiguous commentary . It offers no assertions to refute , so it is not refutable . The way in which the ...
Page 107
... sense in which it is used by spies in the CIA or KGB . Disinformation does not mean false informa- tion . It means misleading information — misplaced , irrelevant , fragmented or superficial information - information that cre- ates the ...
... sense in which it is used by spies in the CIA or KGB . Disinformation does not mean false informa- tion . It means misleading information — misplaced , irrelevant , fragmented or superficial information - information that cre- ates the ...
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