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 34
... speak the same language with the people of Great Britain , and have usually been at peace with that country ; our commerce with it brings to us , regularly , not a small part of the books with which it is deluged . In every art ...
... speak the same language with the people of Great Britain , and have usually been at peace with that country ; our commerce with it brings to us , regularly , not a small part of the books with which it is deluged . In every art ...
Page 59
... Speaking both in Public and Private : -This is to inform all such , that they may have them re - placed with false Ones , that look as well as the Natural , and Answers the End of Speaking to all Intents , by PAUL REVERE , Goldsmith ...
... Speaking both in Public and Private : -This is to inform all such , that they may have them re - placed with false Ones , that look as well as the Natural , and Answers the End of Speaking to all Intents , by PAUL REVERE , Goldsmith ...
Page 72
... speak of " man , " only of a man ; not of " tree , " only of a tree . You cannot produce a photograph of “ nature , " any more than a photograph of " the sea . " You can only photograph a particular fragment of the here - and - now - a ...
... speak of " man , " only of a man ; not of " tree , " only of a tree . You cannot produce a photograph of “ nature , " any more than a photograph of " the sea . " You can only photograph a particular fragment of the here - and - now - a ...
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