Recently I’ve read Neil Postman’s book, “
Amusing Ourselves to Death.” The book, written in 1985, describes the effects of electronic media on our society. Most of its contents relate to today’s media and society. Sometimes I hate to agree with Postman’s arguments, but I can’t deny the reality of his thoughts. I think that’s what makes the book so “amusing.”
In chapter two Postman discusses his thoughts about “Media as
Epistemology.” Postman compares speech,
print and television
epistemology. He describes ways in which people consume and trust each medium. A statistic I found on the internet that goes along with Postman’s views on media as
epistemology was in an article titled,
“Medium or Message? Predicting Dimensions of Political Sophistication.” The article stated, “A telephone survey data revealed that people who both frequently use and rely on newspapers outperform their television counterparts in knowledge and cognitive elaboration, but television is more effective in producing political interest and active processing of news information.”
In chapter nine, Postman describes how
politics has become entertainment because of the television. This is noticeable in today’s society. With the election approaching, the candidates are plastered all over the television. They are guests on talk shows and provide commercials to help boost their campaigns. Politicians’ television presence is more for entertainment purposes and to promote the public’s interests. They have become celebrities.
Postman describes television as purely entertainment saying, “American television, in other words, is devoted entirely to supplying its audience with entertainment.” Check out my post
Where's the News? to see how this statement relates to today’s society.
Although I agree with several of Postman’s arguments, some of his statements could use revising for today’s time. I don’t think today's younger generation could completely agree with Postman’s statements because they have grown up with electronic media and don’t know or rely on much else. Postman brings up this point about our culture when he says, "Television is our culture’s principle mode of knowing about itself." The majority of the younger generation's primary sources for knowledge and information are television and internet.
I wish I could quote and elaborate on several of Postman’s remarks, but if I did, I’d be typing a book of my own. Postman is snippy and snobbish at times, but his analysis of television and the media of today’s society, for the most part, are right on the nose.
