Blame TV? An analysis of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death

A detailed Summary of Blame TV? An analysis of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death

American society has become exceedingly trivial, no doubt about that. It may also be true that certain forms of communication contributed to this current state of affairs. However, surely it is overly simplistic to claim, as Neil Postman does in his book, "Amusing Ourselves to Death," that these forms of communication, namely television and its predecessors, the telegraph and photograph, single-handedly brought about this decline in the quality of public discourse?

This essay, then, is an attempt to lift some of the blame off of TV's shoulders. It will demonstrate that the trivialization of society occurred not because of TV but, rather, concurrently with its development - through sheer coincidence. Furthermore, it will argue that, perhaps, society has always been somewhat trivial and entertainment-obsessed, that Postman is merely glamorizing or misinterpreting certain aspects of 19th century print society.

Postman himself, in the early pages of his book, admits that his story is probably not anywhere near the whole truth. Unfortunately, he fails to keep this admission in mind when later developing his argument. If he had, he would have been forced to take into consideration, or at least acknowledged, factors beyond the deve

One last thing Postman fails to consider is the wealth and extent of information available today. It may have been fairly easy, in the 19th century, to be well informed on the small range of issues people were exposed to. To do the same nowadays, when we are inundated with information on a large variety of topics coming from all around the world, is much more difficult. People must pick and choose what interests them, the end result being that much of the knowledge they posses is shallow. While this becomes dangerous if they act upon this incomplete knowledge, such as in the case of local politics, generally the effect it has is inconsequential. The excess information tends to go in one ear and out the other, having no real impact on people's lives. If something is seen to be of real importance, it is possible to do further research than what is offered on TV. If people fail to do so it is because they no longer see many issues, which were of utmost importance in the 1800's, as being significant today. Perhaps this lack of interest is not healthy, but TV is certainly not to blame for it.

It is possible that, without TV, this shift in priorities would not have been as pronounced, that the availability of constant entertainment led people to desire it more than they would have otherwise. This leads to the second issue dealt with in this essay: that it is human nature to seek to be entertained. That, in fact, humans have always sought this to the extent that they were able. Postman himself goes into great detail on 19th century print society, claiming it was a time when people were more interested in ideas, as opposed to entertainment, a time when public discourse had substance, was thoughtful and important. Moreover, that this was the direct result of the widespread popularity of print. Can it really be said that 19th century society's preoccupation with reading led them to be more rational and considering? One must remember that this was a society without electricity, composed mostly of rural dwellings far from sources of entertainment. What could people have done for entertainment but read? Furthermore, was what they read incomparable in content to what we, today, watch on TV? If one takes into consideration the fact that, based on prevailing attitudes, people's concept of what constitutes entertainment may change, this is most likely. After all, the bible - the best-selling book of 19th century America, according to Postman - is essentially a collection of simply told fantastic st

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Approximate Word count = 1687
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Miscellaneous