Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves To Death Analysis

Amusing ourselves to death, was written by Neil postman in the year 1985. A period synonymous with psychedelic visuals, Ronald Regan and the television. Initially invented in 1927, the television stood the test of time and was widely available in most American households. While others were celebrating a new era in entertainment, Postman was worried about the sociological and political effects the television would have on the American public, he addressed this concerns in his book. Postman’s main concern was the evolution political discourse would undergo with the introduction of the television. He stated these theories in parts of his book pulling references from other social pundits such as Marshall McLuhan , Aldous Huxley and George Orwell. Postman was in a good position to comment
The title “Amusing ourselves to death” speaks for itself. The television is a widely available communication apparatus. In recent years we have seen the television rise and involve its self in political discourse, with talk shows and the nightly news being a main part of society, this is what Postman was afraid of. He had several opinions regarding the television; he embraced it as an effective use of communication but disliked its involvement in social and
“And so, I raise no objection to television's junk. The best things on television are its junk, and no one and nothing is seriously threatened by it. Besides, we do not measure a culture by its output of undisguised trivialities but by what it claims as significant. Therein is our problem, for television is at its most trivial and, therefore, most dangerous when its aspirations are high, when it presents itself as a carrier of important cultural conversations. The irony here is that this is what intellectuals and critics are constantly