Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses Neil Postman's observations, in his book "Amusing Ourselves to Death" about the way television makes us perceive issues, commodities, people and countries. It explores Postman's concept that medium has actually become more important than the message itself,and that the way American television presents information actually breeds ignorance because it turns important issues into nothing but entertainment.

From the Paper:

"Media has a very powerful impact on people, which is the reason its advantages and disadvantages are discussed so very often. With every new technology entering our world, we start wondering just how this would later impact our society, culture, consumer market etc. This is because every medium brings along a message and while we believe that message is more important, some social critics maintain it is the medium, which was more powerful than the message itself. Neil Postman admittedly based his book, "Amusing ourselves to Death" on the aphorism. "Medium is the message" which was coined by media expert Marshall McLuhan in 1959."

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