The Medium Is The Metaphor Summary

Twenty-two year old singer/songwriter Dodie Clark has become internet-famous with her cheerful jingles and poetic introspection. With over a million subscribers, her youtube channel- affectionately named “doddleoddle”- draws in countless individuals to bear witness to her hours of musical content. Dodie is known, in fact, for her ability to write lyrics which are poetry first and music second. Clark, in her 2016 song “When,” employs metaphor to invoke imagery, euphemism, and indirect self-addressment in an effort to articulate her plea that she finally begin to take initiative and live her life

“The experience of abuse and trauma is overwhelming emotional pain that threatens the soul and avoids all rationalization.” (Dr. Bill) ‘Speak’, a novel by Laurie Halse Anderson helps you consider how others actions could permanently damage someone’s future and mindset. Melinda Sordino’s past peers incidentally haunt her, making her feel damaged and ghostly. Melinda’s thoughts altered making her think that her speech negatively affects everyone, which is the result of Melinda’s schoolmates bullying her, making her struggle in being positive. Students at Melinda’s school make her feel isolated and even unable to deliver speech by having unhealthy thoughts about herself, resulting in Melinda feeling dirty and cold. Furthermore, throughout the school year, Melinda’s past distress obstructs her maturation process.

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.’

Budge Wilson’s, The Metaphor, is a bildungsroman that blueprints Charlotte’s transition from a young, moldable girl into an independent woman through juxtaposition, allegory, and symbolism. Charlotte is an awkward seventh grader, who transforms into a well-round tenth grader before the eyes of the reader due to the influence of her teacher, Miss. Hancock. Her mother, calculated and emotionless, is the foil to Miss. Hancock’s wild, unorganized spirit. Charlotte finds herself drawn to Miss. Hancock, who her mother despises, which causes Charlotte internal strife. She pushes down her feelings, but through a traumatic experience, she discovers Miss. Hancock’s lessons are the ones her heart wants to live by, not her mother’s. Miss. Hancock and

Jenkins talks about how the consumption of media products is a collective process, in other words, the collective intelligence is seen as an alternative source of media power. He describes how within popular culture, the collective meaning making is shaping and changing the ways religion, education, laws, politics, advertising and how the military operate (4). Jenkins discusses a process called “convergence of modes”, he explains that media and communication are becoming interconnected like the telephone and television.

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.

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.

    The form of communication created by the television is not only a part of how our modern society communicates, but is has changed public discourse to the point that it has completely redefined it, argued Neil Postman in his convincing book Amusing Ourselves to Death. He viewed this as very harmful, and additionally so because our society is ignorant of it as they quickly becomes engulfed in its epistemology. When faced with the question about whether the television shapes or reflects culture, Postman pointed out that it is no longer applicable because "television has gradually become our culture" (79). What kind of culture is this? Postman warned that it is one in which we

When comprising an argument, the use of rhetorical strategies is essential to planning out how one presents both the chosen argument and the evidence for their position. To understand these strategies and how they are used allows for a deeper understanding of the argument and invokes critical thinking. For instance, in Journalist Joanmarie Kalter’s piece “Exposing Media Myths: TV doesn’t affect you as much as you think”. The author attempts to convince the reader that the notion, that TV is the number one source of information used today and therefore holds immense sway over the general public, is false. And because of how the rhetorical strategies are used in the article. She manages to get the reader to second guess the notion that TV holds

In an effort to expose the epistemology of television, which Postman believes has not been effectively addressed, he examines the effects of TV on several important American cultural institutions: news, religion, politics and education.  All four institutions, Postman argues, have realized that they have to go on television in order to be noticed which, in turn, requires them to learn the language of TV if they are to reach the people.  Therefore, they have joined the national conversation not on their own terms, but on TV's terms.  Postman contends that this transformation of our major institutions has trivialized what is most important about them and turned our culture into "one vast arena for show business" (80).  In the case of broadcast news, we see visually stimulating, disconnected stories about murder and mayhem along with a healthy dose of infotainment delivered by friendly and likeable anchors that remind us to "tune in tomorrow".  In the case of politics, we have discourse through distorted paid TV commercials and "debates" in which the appearance of having said something important is

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.

Part one is concerned mostly with background and historical analysis. In Chapter one, "The Medium is the Metaphor," Postman introduces the concept of the media-metaphor. He suggests that an oral culture will speak of the world differently than one that has printed language. It is all an introduction for his basic examination, which aims to show how the television age is undergoing a rapid transformation in the wake of the relatively new media of television. In Chapter two, "Media as Epistemology," Postman examines how any civilization's media will determine the way in which it defines truth.

In the article, “How the Media became Elitist”, author of Andrew Mcgill demonstrates that because the media has now become elitist, the concept of what we thought and believed has changed through our eyes and

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.

“What is television? What kinds of conversations does it permit? What are intellectual tendencies it encourages? What sort of culture does it produce?” (84) are a few of the questions Postman tries to address throughout the remainder of the book. He wants us to think of television as a medium rather than technology. Postman points out that we do not use television as a communication device, but as an entertainment device. The message of the material has been lost and the entrainment value has become what’s important. Because television is about visuals, it must be rapidly stimulating compared to a book where rational thought is being strategically laid