Amusing Ourselves to Death, Open Thread: Chapters 9-11
So, what, are you all sick of Amusing Ourselves to Death? :) No comments last time?! I’m plowing ahead anyway. You slackers go back and talk about the last post, too. :) Oh, sure, I’m the one who is about a month behind schedule here, but let’s just forget about that, ok?
Chapter 9: Reach Out and Elect Someone
Postman’s main point: Political discussion has taken the format of commercial, and has thus lost its meaning.
My thoughts: I was fascinated by Postman’s point that commercials, especially as produced now, actually undermine capitalism. Instead of equating consumerism and television commercials with capitalism, these things actually destroy it because they work against the intelligent, conscientious, rational citizen that capitalism needs to function properly. I was also alarmed by his opinion that voting by party (especially with a mere two parties to choose from) is wise; I think it just as harmful as voting based on television image. But, I say that as someone whose views are not represented by either party and who thinks there’s not much difference between R & D when it comes to practice. Other than that, though, I am mostly interested to hear Geoff’s thoughts on this chapter, since he is far more interested and involved in politics than I am.
Quote to discuss:
“The commercial asks us to believe that all problems are solvable, that they are solvable fast, and that they are solvable fast through the interventions of technology, techniques, and chemistry.”
Chapter 10: Teaching as an Amusing Activity
Postman’s main point: Television cultivates habits and assumptions that undermine classroom instruction.
My thoughts: Here’s where I could run off on a million tangents, since education is one of my areas of interest. I’ll attempt to refrain. Postman predominantly uses the word “school” through most of this chapter; that is what he is talking about. And while I agree with all his points about television, I think there are even more fundamental problems with the predominant classroom model. Television is antithetical to both classroom lecture instruction and true education, but classroom lecture instruction as a predominant form of schooling is also itself antithetical to real education, especially before high school. Postman seems to believe that if we would reject a television culture and end television habits and return to a print culture, our school crisis would be solved. I agree it would probably be better, but the problems we have today are merely the flowering of the tree whose seed was planted when the government systems began. It is the wrong tree, not a diseased tree; it doesn’t need a few fixes here or there; what we have now is what we have sown. Don’t like it? You had better start preparing the ground for a completely different seed. So there. I’ll submit that thesis and run. :)
Quote to discuss:
“Indeed, Cicero remarked that the purpose of education is to free the student from the tyranny of the present, which cannot be pleasurable to those, like the young, who are struggling hard to do the opposite — that is, accommodate themselves to the present.”
Chapter 11: The Huxleyan Warning
Postman’s main point: The solution to our culture’s trivialization is the Americana answer: Our Schools.
My thoughts: Gag me. I think his second solution is as far fetched as his first. Why not admit the solution is severely limiting if not eliminating television during children’s developmental years? Many families have done that to one degree or another — some even because of this book — and I think it’s a theory already proven itself to work. Do not enter the arena of television until you are accustomed to thinking and reasoning, and television is not likely to be a threat to you.
Quote to discuss:
“It is true enough that much of their [media] consciousness centers on the question, How can we use television (or the computer, or word processor) to control education? They have not yet got to the question, How can we use education to control television (or the computer, or word processor)?”
