Blame TV?
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 dev
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Ourselves Death, Bronte Austen, Naturally TV, Indeed Postman, Middle Ages, , 19th century, content tv, public discourse, foreign countries, Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves, 19th century societys, century print society, print society, prevailing attitudes, proportion serious, quality public discourse, entertainment purposes, 19th century print, ourselves death, amusing ourselves death, society postman,
Approximate Word count = 1689
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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