Amusing Ourselves To Death Neil Postman Analysis

I think you summarized the aspects Postman touched perfectly about how television infiltrates our daily lives through religion, politics and education. I like most especially your point on how politicians are in the public eye. Postman’s claim about the view of politicians could not be described better. The television has a huge impact on our political process. Postman asserts that the characters of TV commercials are the partial cause of this since they are the vital analogies for political discourse in the U.S. He says commercials weaken capitalism (our economic system). He says by synthesizing desires rather than giving products to meet genuine needs, commercials destroy what is important for capitalism to work. For capitalism to work,

Through David Letterman, Rudy and Ron’s fear as well as Edilyn’s confusion, Wallace examines television’s role in American culture especially in making pop culture. In fact, this

As time has passed the evolution of technology is almost indescribable. Technology has become apart of our everyday lives. When you think of technology you mostly think about how it has helped advance our lives, but may never consider its negatives. The media is a huge aspect of how we shape our society. In the book Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman he shows his concern for how this all can effect as as a people. He does this by using three popular persuasive literary devices to help convey his message to the reader. The three devices being: Pathos, Logos and Ethos. All of these are used many times throughout the book,with their own effects. Logos, is the appeal to logic. When using this device you are using logical reasoning to help appeal to the reader.This also includes pulling facts, statics and citing other credible sources to use. The next one is Ethos, which is showing that the author is a credible source, and is well aware of what he is talking about. Lastly is Pathos, this is when you appeal to one's emotion to get their attention. In this book Postman does a very good job of using all of these devices.

In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman uses an abundant amount of logos to argue his claim. The more that is read, the more difficult it is to dismiss his information. This is because of the consistent use of evidence presented in the form of logos. The entire book is incorporated with facts, statistics, dates, and general logical arguments. In chapter six, Postman stresses how television does not allow for the processing of thoughts. He states, “I should like to illustrate this point by offering the case of the eighty-minute discussion provided by the ABC network on November 20, 1983, following its controversial movie The Day After” (88). The discussion was broadcasted on television with intentions to have valued informational content, but failed miserably according to Postman. He argued this in a logical manner. The discussion lacked deep conversation and the speakers spoke in generalities, as the show did not allow an adequate amount of time. This is a great use of logos because it

“Televised events like the Super Bowl, the Olympics and the World Cup give us a rare opportunity to share a moment in time with the world,” proclaims Tim Leberecht of www.designmind.com (Leberecht). With our busy lives, we almost never take out time to spend with our loved ones, and these televised events are when the majority of people meet up and have fun. “Millie? Does the White Clown love you? Does your ‘family’ love you, love you with all their heart and soul, Millie?” Montag asks Mildred (Bradbury 77). Guy Montag is questioning his wife out of desperation, and is extremely curious to know if she believes that her fake TV family really loves her. From this we can see that he is truly disappointed with life and his wife’s immoral addiction to television. We must keep in mind that our society today is not as dumbed down and obsessed with fake parlor shows that spread real, tangible people apart as Mildred is. TV today is a source of knowledge and learning, and creates the perfect circumstances and settings for the getting together of the people that really matter the most. One of the most important aspects of television is its ability to strengthen democracy and teach the law. “Seventy-two percent (of the US population) learn about elections and candidates from TV news,” states www.designmind.com (Leberecht). TV brings us information that is essential to maintaining our freedom and our guaranteed

Postman made it clear that his book is not an attack on the television itself. Instead he asserted that, supplied by the television's form, it is the change in the definition of how we learn, and thus perceive, the world around us that is under his criticism. When it comes to entertainment, Postman admitted that the television does an excellent job. "Television [...] serves us most usefully when presenting junk-entertainment; it serves us most ill when it co-opts serious modes of discourse-news, politics, science, education, commerce, religion-and turns them into entertainment packages" (159). The television does not require viewers to carry thoughts from minute to minute, and their eyes are never unstimulated, as the average duration of a camera view is a mere 3.5 seconds (86). Such brevity of thought and picture are a drastic difference from the way we used to get our information. That is, through the monopoly of the print media. Then contiguous information, uninterrupted by advertisements and thoughts not spliced into sentence-long segments, was expressed from cover to cover. Now, the kind of information (or misinformation) we are accustomed to receiving via the television set is redefining the way we receive and perceive information. It is not

In chapter two, Wattenberg discusses television broadcasting and its impact with news networks such as NBC, CBS, and ABC. He quotes a 1972 study by Patterson and McClure in which they believed that although broadcasting allowed for Americans to see the campaign, it did not help teach voters anything of importance (32). TV news has become increasingly directed towards the elderly, with young people elsewhere or watching something else when politics are broadcasted (33). He illustrates this point with an example of the types of commercials aired for medications that while are suited for any age group, they are remedies for maladies or health concerns that older generations experience more than younger ones. Today, there are multitudes of television channels available for specific topics such as sports and music rather than the general topics the original major networks broadcasted, making it easier for young people to avoid the political events that once captivated the attention of Americans in previous generations. One study found that 21% of respondents under 30 years of age learned about the Presidential campaign or candidates from a comedy show instead of from newscasts (40). Although some find information indirectly through entertainment TV, a 2004 survey proved that 7% of respondents who followed the campaign closely enjoyed it and were familiar with facts heavily relied on cable news channels as a source of information, proving that if

Postman says that, as a result, "all public understanding of these subjects is shaped by the biases of television" (78) and that in the absence of rational discourse, cultural decay is sure to follow.

All throughout history we have used metaphors to describe people, places, events and emotions; so it is perfectly fitting to describe the mediums with which we project our ideas as a metaphor as well. This is Neil Postman 's basis for his book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Television and other media outlets have conditioned us to accept entertainment in every aspect of life; but most of all it masks the state of public affairs and politics. Through his book, Postman begs that we recognize the ways in which media shapes our lives and how we can use them to serve us instead of hurt us. Broken into two parts, Amusing Ourselves to Death focuses on a historical analysis of media, then discusses the television media-metaphor in more detail. Postman examines how media has infected every aspect of public discourse by prizing entertainment as the standard of truth.

Just by looking at a recent event that has been in the news this can be seen. Looking at the recent event from Fox News and the Washington Post of the Orlando shooting the form in which the information is portrayed has an interesting impact on the person viewing it. The video on Fox News was made in a way to keep your attention having details such as including a woman with blond hair to help portray the news, strong emotions partly portrayed through the serious attitudes of the conveyors, and a short length. All of these aspects were put in for a reason, to keep our interest. If it doesn’t then we will simply stop watching it because of our short attention spans. Like Postman would say it was for entertainment. There was nothing about the given situation that could be connected to our lives. The article on the Washington Post however was different. Even though there was still not really anything that could be taken to connect with one's personal life it was not portrayed in quit as enrapturing a form. There were many facts and quotes given by different professionals making it a lot less interesting to take in and harder to keep reading. Even though both news organizations still centered on the aspect of entertainment the different forms in which the information was given gave a different turn on the similar information

I don’t think the specific knowledge a student needs to succeed in school can be defined. It all depends on what you want to learn, what you find interesting, or simply whatever knowledge you may need to get a degree. In Neil Postman’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death, he devotes a whole chapter to epistemology. Epistemology is the study of knowledge. Do you ever dread going to those long lecture classes or those classes where you strictly read or write?

Among nerds and Trekkies, Neil Postman’s portrayal of the Typographic Mind perhaps sounds very much like the mind of Mr. Spock. Like the Vulcan Mind, the Typographic Mind, utilizes a logical and rational method, it is both detached and objective. Imaginably, the Vulcans were a culture submerged in the printed word. The author paints a picture of the American written word-based culture of the eighteenth and nineteenth century in “The Typographic Mind”. He calls this the Age of Exposition in his fourth chapter of his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death. He portrays the influence on public discourse when based on the written word. It defines the content, the effects on the audience and shapes the spheres of public life in politics, religion, and

He decries how we are presented not only with fragmented news but news without context, consequences, value, leaving behind crucial seriousness. The most abhorrent story yet will only receive a short bit of attention only to be abstracted from the next story. There is no time for reflection and the captivating expression of the news- adorable news anchors, amiable music, brilliant transitions- only reinforce the idea that the information we receive isn’t considered in the context of our lives. Postman articulates that the now this are words such as but not limited to, back to you, I’m going to leave it here, and that does it for now. In addition after reviewing the news segment from News 7 I witnessed the rapid transitions that Postman speaks of. Each segment lasted a total of perhaps nine seconds which told me it wasn’t crucial. Then the topic of the Mosque shooting in Quebec City, Canada made an appearance across the screen. This segment endured a time frame of approximately five minutes, longer than any other news article on News 7. If a topic last more than a few minutes I can assume that it may be significant to the

“The whole problem with news on television comes down to this all the words uttered in an hour of news coverage could be printed on one page of a newspaper”. The average news cast is only twenty-two minutes long,and that's not nearly enough time to cover the days events.In Neil Postman’s essay “The News” Postman talks about the structure,content,and goals and results of a television news cast. The news can be compared to the theatres in terms of its structure. According to Postman, “Music takes us immediately into the realm of the symbolic, a world that is not to be taken literally.”

There are presently 35 television stations owned and operated by religious organizations, but every television station features religious programming in one way or another (Postman, 116). Religious television program producers are driven by the desire to make money, and they find the best way to accomplish this is by scamming viewers and members. During this process, religion loses its authenticity. Religion is not being practiced on television, it is being mocked. Religion is no longer for worship, but for entertainment.