Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The only TV instruction manual you'll ever need!, 7 Feb 2000
By A Customer
This book is essential reading for anyone in need of a paradigm shift. Somebody once said 'we recognise the poet as the man who makes us poets' and thats exactly what Postman does here. He doesn't make us aware of anything other than what we already knew, but through the use of historical anecdote and a genuine wit of his own he brings the subject into the serious context it deserves whilst sustaining the readers attention throughout its hundred and eighty or so pages. To put it in short, if there were more books like this, we wouldn't want for TV.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Television's Effect on Culture, 24 Jan 2003
With plenty of humour, Postman describes the evolution of the media from manuscripts in caves to modern television sets, emphasising the variety of effects each medium has on the society.
The mostly discussed medium is the television and how the rapid expansion of its influence has changed in less then half century the way we see important topics in our society such as religion, politics and education.
The book is coherent, easy to read and there are many visible parallels to the world we live. Particularly relevant for US readers, since many examples involves American TV programmes, bussiness man, politicians and superstars.
The arguments presented by Postman against TV are very persuasive and the book will DEFENITELY make you consider watching less TV and reading more books.
It is a well written book and deserves the attention of everyone who studies social sciences.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Disinformation Means Misleading Information-Misplaced, Irrelevant, Fragmented or Superficial, 21 Jun 2008
"In watching American television, one is reminded of George Bernard Shaw's remark on his first seeing the glittering neon signs of Broadway and 42nd Street at night. It must be beautiful, he said, if you cannot read." John Ackermann
Neil Postman in his book,'Amusing Ourselves To Death', looks at the impact of television culture on the way we live our lives, understand our present and future and how we gather our information. We need to understand the effects of living in a television society. As he says "We are in danger of creating a trivial culture that will spawn a race of people who adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think." Once we are a television society, we have lost control. We can attempt to control television's influence when we understand the dangers. Neil Postman suggests that Americans ask 'what we are laughing about and why we have stopped thinking.' We have all heard the phrase, The Dumbing of America.
Roger Waters, of 'Pink Floyd' read Postman's book, and he was so taken with the message that one of the best CD's of this era was written. The song 'Amused To Death" tells us the story.
The little ones sit by their TV screens
No thoughts to think
No tears to cry
All sucked dry
Down to the very last breath
Bartender what is wrong with me
Why I am so out of breath
The captain said excuse me ma'am
This species has amused itself to death
Amused itself to death
Amused itself to death"
Ackerman tells us that "Television has altered the meaning of "being informed' by giving us disinformation. Disinformation means misleading information;misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented or superficial information. Information that creates the illusion of knowing something but which in fact leads us away from knowing. The television industry did not deliberately set out to misinform us, but when news is packaged as entertainment, that is the result."
Over the past fifty years since the advent of television, we have allowed conversation and communication to become trivial, and to lead into entertainment. TV is a medium of entertainment. TV is a series of programmed images and pictures. Unlike a book we do not have to concentrate to obtain the meaning of a picture. This is the mechanism by which TV can make any subject meaningless and trivial. It is possible to "amuse one's self to death", considering that the first thing to go will be our vision of reality and to comment intelligently. And this is why Roger Waters CD "Amused to Death" had the power to unleash our subconscious. We are living the album. We are all slowly amusing ourselves to death. We are entertaining ourselves into a stupor. The best things on television is junk, and no one is threatened by it. We do not measure a culture by its output of junk, but by what we claim as significant.
I would think that several minutes of murder and violence would be enough for many sleepless nights. We watch the news because we know that the 'news' is not to be taken seriously, that it is all in fun, so to speak. Everything about a news show tells us this; the good looking newscasters, their pleasant banter, the music that opens and closes the show, the film footage, the humorous commercials. These suggest that what we have just seen is no cause for crying. A news show, is a format for entertainment, not for education or reflection. No one goes to a movie to find out about government policy or the latest scientific advances. No one buys a record to find out the baseball scores or the weather or the latest murder. But everyone goes to television for all these things, which is why television plays so powerfully throughout our land. Television is our culture's principal mode of knowing about itself. Neil Postman says, "For the message of television as metaphor is not only that all the world is a stage, but that the stage is located in Las Vegas, Nevada."
We know that no matter how grave news may appear, we soon shall see commercials that will devalue the importance of the news. This is a key element of news and that allows us to believe that television news is not designed as a serious form of public communication. Our teenagers in particular are taught to believe that television is entertainment, so that the nightly newscast should not be taken as a serious responsibility.
This past political season is a prime example of the myriad of issues that have not been examined, but the entertainment value of the candidates has been examined ad nauseam. One reason why the political contest starts as soon as the President is sworn into office. What have we become, why are we laughing, the Dumbing of America is here.
Highly, Highly Recommended. prisrob 06-14-08
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