In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman alerts us to the dangers brought about by the way television conditions us to tolerate the brevity of visual entertainment. His message is that with each new technological medium introduced, there is a significant trade-off. His primary example was the medium of television. TV is structured to provide information to the viewer on a platform which is both quick and entertaining. This discourages any viewer subjectivity, allowing television to shape and dictate [politics, education, religion, and journalism] the essence of our discourse. Except for a few pages of "enlightenment", the entire book was a conglomerated resource of evidence to support his hypothesis. Important facts underlined generalizations to present logical and agreeable viewpoints.(e.g. "Television is our culture's principle mode of knowing about itself. Therefore... how television stages the world becomes the model for how the world is properly to be staged..."( Postman 92) In other words, how life is depicted on television is how we expect life to be.) And in most cases some truth could be found in Postman's statements (e.g. "For no medium is excessively dangerous if its users understand what its dangers are.") (Postman161) Postman's final critical point was not merely enlightenment, but was a message to his reader and a solution aimed at educators: "the point I am trying to make is that only through a deep and unfailing awareness of the structure and effects of information, through a Bibbs 2 demystification of media, is there any hope of our gaining some measure of control over television , or the computer, or any other medium." (Postman 161) I agree. Until we begin to question the content, origin, and purpose of what is expressed through television, only then can we truly understand and control the medium known as TV. More specifically my report will stress the merit of chapters six through eleven. The Age of Show Business...
