Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show BusinessWhat happens when media and politics become forms of entertainment? As our world begins to look more and more like Orwell's 1984, Neil's Postman's essential guide to the modern media is more relevant than ever. "It's unlikely that Trump has ever read Amusing Ourselves to Death, but his ascent would not have surprised Postman.” -CNN Originally published in 1985, Neil Postman’s groundbreaking polemic about the corrosive effects of television on our politics and public discourse has been hailed as a twenty-first-century book published in the twentieth century. Now, with television joined by more sophisticated electronic media—from the Internet to cell phones to DVDs—it has taken on even greater significance. Amusing Ourselves to Death is a prophetic look at what happens when politics, journalism, education, and even religion become subject to the demands of entertainment. It is also a blueprint for regaining control of our media, so that they can serve our highest goals. “A brilliant, powerful, and important book. This is an indictment that Postman has laid down and, so far as I can see, an irrefutable one.” –Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post Book World |
From inside the book
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Page x
... example we came up with was C - SPAN , which no one watches . " Cara : " Teachers are not considered good if they don't entertain their classes . " Remarked Ben ( whose professor called him the " class skeptic , " and who , when the ...
... example we came up with was C - SPAN , which no one watches . " Cara : " Teachers are not considered good if they don't entertain their classes . " Remarked Ben ( whose professor called him the " class skeptic , " and who , when the ...
Page xvi
... example , Ted , we're having an important discussion about the culture but in thirty seconds we'll have to break for a commercial to sell cars or toothpaste . " Mr. Koppel , one of the rare serious figures on network television , smiled ...
... example , Ted , we're having an important discussion about the culture but in thirty seconds we'll have to break for a commercial to sell cars or toothpaste . " Mr. Koppel , one of the rare serious figures on network television , smiled ...
Page 3
... example , Boston was the center of a political radicalism that ignited a shot heard round the world — a shot that could not have been fired any other place but the suburbs of Boston . At its report , all Americans , including Virginians ...
... example , Boston was the center of a political radicalism that ignited a shot heard round the world — a shot that could not have been fired any other place but the suburbs of Boston . At its report , all Americans , including Virginians ...
Page 5
... examples above are not aberrations but , in fact , clichés . There is no shortage of critics who have observed and recorded the dissolution of public discourse in America and its conversion into the arts of show business . But most of ...
... examples above are not aberrations but , in fact , clichés . There is no shortage of critics who have observed and recorded the dissolution of public discourse in America and its conversion into the arts of show business . But most of ...
Contents
3 | |
Media as Epistemology | 16 |
Typographic America | 30 |
The Typographic Mind | 44 |
The PeekaBoo World | 64 |
The Age of Show Business | 83 |
Now This | 99 |
Shuffle Off to Bethlehem | 114 |
Reach Out and Elect Someone | 125 |
Teaching as an Amusing Activity | 142 |
The Huxleyan Warning | 155 |
Notes | 165 |
Bibliography | 173 |
Other editions - View all
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Neil Postman Limited preview - 2005 |
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Neil Postman Limited preview - 2005 |
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business Neil Postman No preview available - 2006 |
Common terms and phrases
advertising American Amusing answer appears argument attention audience become begin believe called century changes character claim communication continuous conversation course created culture discourse example experience expressed fact give given human idea important interest kind language largely learning least lives look matter means medium ment merely metaphor mind nature newspaper offered once opinion oral ourselves photograph play political possible present President printed printed word problem produce question rational readers reason refer religion religious remarked sense serious sion social speak speech story Street suggested symbolic taken talk telegraph television tell things thought tion tradition true truth turn understanding University viewers watch writing written wrote York