Amusing Ourselves to Death

Neil Postman

Amusing Ourselves to Death

19min

19min

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In the 1980s, when the first edition of this book was published, television was completely changing the face of America. Today, almost forty years later, everything moves faster because of the internet, and communication has become even more performance-driven, centered on the cult of personality and the self as a marketable commodity. In Amusing Ourselves to Death. Public Discourse in the Age of Entertainment, NeilPostman demonstrates how television - the main means of communication at the time - has transformed public discourse into mere entertainment. In the age of the internet, social media, streaming and the metaverse, this topic is still extremely relevant.

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Analysis and key concepts

01.

Language is the means people use to express what they are thinking

02.

In a culture dominated by written language, communication follows a coherent and orderly arrangement of facts and ideas

03.

The invention of the telegraph marked an enormous change in the way people communicated

04.

Despite etymology, photography and writing have nothing in common

05.

The rise of television redefined American culture offscreen

06.

Religion and politics have become forms of entertainment

07.

Television only enables partial education

08.

Culture tends not to rebel against technology but something needs to be done to change course

09.

Quotes

10.

Take-home message

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Many useful tips to:

  • Understand the means of communication that shapes our society.
  • Appreciate the difference between written and spoken language.
  • Recognise how television managed to swap information for entertainment.

Neil Postman (1931-2003) is considered one of the most important American writers and teachers of media and education theory. He was a professor at New York University for forty years, where he held the Paulette Goddard Chair in Media Ecology (a department he founded) and the chair for the Department of Culture and Communications. He wrote over twenty books on media, educational theory, and linguistics. His most famous (and controversial) book is Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public discourse in the age of showbusiness, in which he argues the case against television and the way it transforms everything into ordinary entertainment.

Publishing house:

Penguin Books

Year:

20005

Pages:

208

ISBN:

978-0143036531