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 103
... viewer is comforted to believe that there is nothing to be greatly alarmed about ; that , in fact , the events that are ... viewers are not pro- vided with much opportunity to be distracted from the next story since in all likelihood it ...
... viewer is comforted to believe that there is nothing to be greatly alarmed about ; that , in fact , the events that are ... viewers are not pro- vided with much opportunity to be distracted from the next story since in all likelihood it ...
Page 104
... Viewers would be quite disconcerted by any show of concern or terror on the part of newscasters . Viewers , after all , are partners with the newscasters in the " Now ... this " culture , and they expect the newscaster to play out his ...
... Viewers would be quite disconcerted by any show of concern or terror on the part of newscasters . Viewers , after all , are partners with the newscasters in the " Now ... this " culture , and they expect the newscaster to play out his ...
Page 123
... viewers were misdirecting their devotions , away from God and toward Bishop Sheen , whose piercing eyes , awesome cape and stately tones were as close a resemblance to a deity as charisma allows . Television's strongest point is that it ...
... viewers were misdirecting their devotions , away from God and toward Bishop Sheen , whose piercing eyes , awesome cape and stately tones were as close a resemblance to a deity as charisma allows . Television's strongest point is that it ...
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