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Jon's Reviews > Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
by
by
"This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right." - Neil Postman
In 1854 Stephen A. Douglas presented a three-hour speech against Abraham Lincoln's ideas, and in return, on that same night, Lincoln responded with a three-hour argument of his own. The surprise? People actually stayed long enough to hear both men out.
Contrast that with the Republican debate that happened last night: 8 candidates were forced to answer leading, disjointed questions in 30 seconds or less. And they were given little if no time to respond directly to another candidate. Plus, there was this: "Sorry, but we have to cut you short to go to a commercial break."
Postman's point in Amusing Ourselves to Death is that the TV has turned public discourse into little more than entertainment. Politics, news, and religion all turn into mere amusement when they're on the TV. Postman's point might be summed up best by Ronald Reagan: "Politics is just like show business."
If anything, everything Postman critiqued about American society in 1985 has been amplified in 2011. We are more disjointed and fragmented than ever. Political TV is more like entertainment than ever. Every time I see a clip from FOX News there's a banner across the bottom blaring ALERT ALERT ALERT—not to mention all the other flotsam streaming across the screen. That stuff is there to make the news feel like an action movie, and it's reason enough to turn that channel off.
Postman argues that all this fast-paced, disjointed news makes us think only of the now. We think we're informed when in reality we know just enough to have an emotion about who "won" last night's debate. The talking heads don't wrestle with history and substantial ideas (you can't do that if you're constantly interrupted by commercials); the talking heads just hack at hackneyed phrases and parroted arguments. After all, wrestling with real ideas requires real thinking, and the point of the TV is to help you stop thinking and be amused.
To this quote and many others from the book, I say, True enough:
"How often does it occur that information provided you on morning radio or television, or in the morning newspaper, causes you to alter your plans for the day, or to take some action you would not otherwise have taken, or provides insight into some problem you are required to solve? . . .
"What steps do you plan to take to reduce the conflict in the Middle East? Or the rates of inflation, crime and unemployment? What are your plans for preserving the environment or reducing the risk of nuclear war? What do you plan to do about NATO, OPEC, the CIA, affirmative action, and the monstrous treatment of the Baha'is in Iran? I shall take the liberty of answering for you: You plan to do nothing about them."
The solution? Read more. In a book there are no commercial breaks. You can wrestle deep with an idea for three hours at a time and come away with real knowledge.
In 1854 Stephen A. Douglas presented a three-hour speech against Abraham Lincoln's ideas, and in return, on that same night, Lincoln responded with a three-hour argument of his own. The surprise? People actually stayed long enough to hear both men out.
Contrast that with the Republican debate that happened last night: 8 candidates were forced to answer leading, disjointed questions in 30 seconds or less. And they were given little if no time to respond directly to another candidate. Plus, there was this: "Sorry, but we have to cut you short to go to a commercial break."
Postman's point in Amusing Ourselves to Death is that the TV has turned public discourse into little more than entertainment. Politics, news, and religion all turn into mere amusement when they're on the TV. Postman's point might be summed up best by Ronald Reagan: "Politics is just like show business."
If anything, everything Postman critiqued about American society in 1985 has been amplified in 2011. We are more disjointed and fragmented than ever. Political TV is more like entertainment than ever. Every time I see a clip from FOX News there's a banner across the bottom blaring ALERT ALERT ALERT—not to mention all the other flotsam streaming across the screen. That stuff is there to make the news feel like an action movie, and it's reason enough to turn that channel off.
Postman argues that all this fast-paced, disjointed news makes us think only of the now. We think we're informed when in reality we know just enough to have an emotion about who "won" last night's debate. The talking heads don't wrestle with history and substantial ideas (you can't do that if you're constantly interrupted by commercials); the talking heads just hack at hackneyed phrases and parroted arguments. After all, wrestling with real ideas requires real thinking, and the point of the TV is to help you stop thinking and be amused.
To this quote and many others from the book, I say, True enough:
"How often does it occur that information provided you on morning radio or television, or in the morning newspaper, causes you to alter your plans for the day, or to take some action you would not otherwise have taken, or provides insight into some problem you are required to solve? . . .
"What steps do you plan to take to reduce the conflict in the Middle East? Or the rates of inflation, crime and unemployment? What are your plans for preserving the environment or reducing the risk of nuclear war? What do you plan to do about NATO, OPEC, the CIA, affirmative action, and the monstrous treatment of the Baha'is in Iran? I shall take the liberty of answering for you: You plan to do nothing about them."
The solution? Read more. In a book there are no commercial breaks. You can wrestle deep with an idea for three hours at a time and come away with real knowledge.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
September 13, 2011
– Shelved
