Neil Postman Analysis

Before pinpointing what Postman means in his phrase, we can first clarify what he does not mean. Postman’s phrase, “the medium is the metaphor,” consists of a loaded word that, in the context of his book, necessitates clarification - metaphor. Postman uses the word ‘metaphor’ as opposed to ‘message’ because he believes that media does not truly communicate a message. “A message denotes a specific, concrete statement about the world. But the forms of our media. . . are rather like metaphors, working by unobtrusive but powerful implication to enforce their special definitions of reality” (Postman, 1985). Postman does not mean ‘the medium is the message.’

The article "Mind Over Mass Media" by Steven Pinker uses logos, ethos, pathos, and other rhetorical elements to effectively communicate that mass media is a positive development and is not a reason for panic. The first noticeable rhetorical element in Pinker’s essay is the presence of a rhetorical triangle. A rhetorical triangle is made up of a rhetor, the audience, and the rhetor’s purpose. In this essay Steven Pinker is the rhetor because is the one trying to make a point to the audience. The audience is the reader of the article who is listening to the rhetor. Finally, the text or point the rhetor is trying to make is that e effects of mass media are not a cause for panic. In fact mass media is an effective way for humans to keep up with the modern age. The clearly defined rhetorical triangle in Steven Pinker’s essay is a surface level example of rhetorical elements in the text.

Neil postman was a jack of all trades, he was an American Author, an educator at New York University, media theorist, and cultural critic. (PressThink 1) In 1985 Neil Postman published a book called Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourage in the Age of show Business. The book provides a look at what happens when politics, journalism, education and even religion become subject to the demands of entertainment. In his book Amusing Ourselves to Death Postman says that the content of a culture is contained in its communication, and that the content of communication is affected by the medium of communication. In other words, Postman is saying that a culture is defined by its connection of people, and the connection of people is afflicted by technology. Sherry Turkle is another author that has written a book called Alone Together published in January 2011. Sherry Turkle is an award winning professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she focuses her research on human technology interaction. Alone Together is the results of Turkle’s nearly fifteen year exploration of our lives with technology, she describes new unsettling relationships between friends, family, parents and children, and new instabilities in how we understand privacy and community. There is a third author named Julia Angwin that has developed a book that connects with Postman’s argument. Julia Angwin is an award winning investigative journalist at a news organization called ProPublica. (About)

Knowledge has come about through many different forms throughout history and has constantly changed along with the times. To equate media to epistemology is to say how media relates to how we understand knowledge. In this chapter, Neil Postman discusses how modern media has created an epistemological shift and whether it has affected us for better or for worse. Postman argues that this shift has altered the structure of discourse no differently than how every new medium before it has always done.

Huxley’s Brave New World could be considered almost prophetic by many people today. It is alarmingly obvious how modern society is eerily similar to Huxley’s novel with the constant demand for instant gratification encouraging laziness, greed, and entitlement. Neil Postman, a contemporary social critic, seems to have noticed this similarity, as he has made bold, valid statements regarding the text and its relevance to our world today. This response is strongly in support of those statements and will prove both their accuracy in clarifying Huxley’s intentions and how Postman’s assertions compare to society today.

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.

Augusten feels loved and wanted. These are feelings that he has never experience or even imagined experiencing. His mother and father did abandoned him and gave him away. He is living with people who live in a sort of free-for-all, they do not have rules and everyone is allowed to do as they please, everybody is treated like an adult even if it is unwise to do so. No one helps to guide young ones to growth and success, as that responsibility is given to themselves. This form of parenting abandons the child, giving them the feeling that they don't matter and are not worth giving attention to. Pre- Neil Bookman, Augusten felt useless, not caring if he lived or died; no one cared. Now that someone is showing him what he is truly worth, he is experiencing

Literary Analysis of The Influencing Machines “The Influencing Machines” by Brooke Gladstone and Josh Neufeld gives insight to the development of technology and its effect on the way people live their lives; Technology, as we know it today, is found ubiquitously in the forms of televisions, radios, computers, and smart phones. Centuries ago, books were once considered the newest technology of the time and their popularity caught on like wildfire. However, Gladstone has taken notice of some of the concerns that critics have expressed towards modern technologies such as the Internet. One of their fears consist of the Internet’s potential of bringing together like-minded individuals, which lead to the “the creation of virtually impermeable echo

Postman (1987) claims that television is an evil that destroys the purpose and complexities of public discourse. He argues that important issues are oversimplified and drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Chaffee and Metzger (2001) confirm this assumption by remarking the evolution of print and radio into television and television into new media. Establishing the similarities between Postman’s chief complaints about the television medium and the new media then rearing its ugly head. Chaffee and Metzger indicate the shift in the denotations of mass, media, and communication. With technological advancements, it is impossible to ignore the new media and its impact on modern culture.

In Neil Postman’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985), Postman argues that the information shared with the American populace is shaped by the forms of media that are used. By giving a history of the changing types of American media and the effect that each has on the information given, Postman supports his claim. Postman’s purpose is to prove that media changes the information given to the public in order to call awareness to the validity of our news. Postman writes to an audience who is educated by media and was raised through knowledge shared by media.

The shortcomings of medium theory according to critics is “technological determinism”. Technological determinism describes how “technology influences human evolution: who who we are is determined by the tools we invent and use” (Heidinger,2011). Technological determinists interpret technology in general and communication technologies technologies in particular as the basis of society in the past, present and in the future. They say that technologies such as writing, print, computer or television have changed society. Society have been see as being determined and influenced by technology, “new technologies transform society at every level, including institutions, social interaction and individuals” (Swearengen, 2007).

Marshall McLuhan’s and Lawrence Alloway’s writing looks at how technology, such as radio, tv, etc., affects the world and how mass media affects culture through its opinions, art, and political influence. Their thoughts, though somewhat difficult, are similar to the current reality and therefore easier to relate to. In their collective writings they discusses five key points: technologies as extensions of ourselves, the electrical age bringing a global embrace; sense ratio and the impact from technology; the artist’s role to model coping with change, and humanities understanding of the artist's role.

Marshall McLuhan was a media and communication theorist and “is considered the first leading prophet of the electronic age but he was also the most controversial and most talked-about contemporary intellectuals.”, he coined the phrase “Medium is the Message” also know as Medium Theory. He was explaining the way in which we absorb information from media, and how it isn’t the information that affects us but the way we absorb it. McLuhan said “Indeed, it is only too typical that the content of any medium blinds us to the character of the medium” Medium Theory is his most famous piece of work, Medium Theory was introduced in his 1964 book, ‘Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man’’. Which soon became known as the bible of media studies. It is defined as “the name assigned to a variety of approaches used to examine how the means of expression of human communication impact the meaning(s) of human

The interaction between new media and genre theory is an ongoing process that continuously evolves as new media steadily become more entrenched as methods of indispensable human communication. As noted by Bawarshi and Reiff, “[a] few studies to date have focused on public genres and their role in constructing and maintaining knowledge and disseminating information” (151). For example, they note that “Charles Bazerman has examined how tax forms demonstrate the interaction of information and genre, motivating citizens to produce appropriate information as they fill out forms” (Bawarshi and Reiff 152). Charles Bazerman has also analyzed the interaction between genre and rhetoric in the public arena in the digital age in his 2002 paper titled “Genre and Identity: Citizenship in the Age of the Internet and the Age of Global Capitalism”, where he delves into political and social implications resulting from genre in the age of the Internet by examining rhetorical arguments made through such venues such as the Democratic and Republican party websites (29).