An Analysis Of Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves To Death

Television is the predominant media-metaphor of this generation. Television shapes the way people think, act, and communicate; however, this powerful apparatus does not always disclose the whole truth. In fact, television often hides the whole truth from the public, but, ironically, most people love the media and blindly believe what the media says. As Alford Huxley says, people will “adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.” Unfortunately, Huxley’s hypothesis is slowly becoming a reality. In Neil Postman’s “Amusing Ourselves To Death,” Postman argues that the many facets of television people love will actually ruin them. Of these many facets of television, three are predominant. Television is ruining people’s lifestyles
In 1860, the public were eager to listen to Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas debate for several hours; however, since television is centered around entertainment, most of today’s public focus on the presidential nominees criticizing each other, attending talk shows, and posting pictures on social media. For example, after an hour-long democratic debate, the media and social media erupted about Bernie Sander’s “burn” against Hillary Clinton. Most people do not even know what the debate was about. Also, “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon” and “Saturday Night Live” often make fun of the presidential nominees. Americans love these talk shows, catchy news headlines, and blowups in social media, but, simultaneously, television is mitigating the seriousness of the presidential election. Television forces Americans to think lightly of the presidential election, which ultimately affects the way citizens vote. In today’s society, citizens are more likely to vote for a presidential candidate based on their looks or humorousness than in the 1800’s. Altogether, television has blinded Americans about the seriousness of the presidential