Amusing Ourselves to DeathAmusing Ourselves to Death

Alondra Lopez, Kelsey Keegan, Jonathan Een Newton,

Rosa Haxton

Alondra Lopez, Kelsey Keegan, Jonathan Een Newton,

Rosa Haxton

“A picture is worth a thousand words.”“A picture is worth a thousand words.”

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/20090211_thousand_words-01_cropped.jpg

Discussion QuestionDiscussion Question

•How much do you value how funny a professor is?

•Do you believe that you remember things better when they are humorous?

“Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, is right.”

“Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us. This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, is right.”

http://www.recombinantrecords.net/

docs/2009-05-Amusing-Ourselves-to-Death.html

http://www.recombinantrecords.net/

docs/2009-05-Amusing-Ourselves-to-Death.html

Amusing Ourselves to Death Comic

Amusing Ourselves to DeathAmusing Ourselves to Death

Postman states that his book is “an inquiry into and a lamentation about the most significant American cultural fact of the second half of the 20th century: the decline of the Age of Typography and the ascendancy of the Age of Television.” Can these two very different types of media

accommodate the same ideas? http://video.foxnews.com/v/

1007046245001/exclusive-jon-stewart-on-fox-news-sunday/

Postman states that his book is “an inquiry into and a lamentation about the most significant American cultural fact of the second half of the 20th century: the decline of the Age of Typography and the ascendancy of the Age of Television.” Can these two very different types of media

accommodate the same ideas? http://video.foxnews.com/v/

1007046245001/exclusive-jon-stewart-on-fox-news-sunday/

Ch. 1 - The Medium is the MetaphorCh. 1 - The Medium is the Metaphor

Postman agrees with McLuhan, but says his model needs revision:

Message VS. Metaphor definitions

“We start from the assumption that in every tool we create, an idea is embedded that goes beyond the function of the thing itself” (14).

Postman agrees with McLuhan, but says his model needs revision:

Message VS. Metaphor definitions

“We start from the assumption that in every tool we create, an idea is embedded that goes beyond the function of the thing itself” (14).

Evolution of MediaEvolution of Media

Oral, print, television, computer. Oral, print, television, computer.

Charlie Brooker: How to report the News

Charlie Brooker: How to report the News

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtGSXMuWMR4

“American businessmen discovered, long before the rest of us, that the quality and usefulness of their goods are subordinate to the artifice of their display…” (4).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtGSXMuWMR4

“American businessmen discovered, long before the rest of us, that the quality and usefulness of their goods are subordinate to the artifice of their display…” (4).

Ch. 2 - Media as Epistemology Ch. 2 - Media as Epistemology

Postman’s definition of Epistemology – “complex & usually opaque subject concerned with the origins & nature of knowledge” (17).

Definitions of truth are derived, at least in part, from the character of the media of communication through which information is conveyed

Postman’s definition of Epistemology – “complex & usually opaque subject concerned with the origins & nature of knowledge” (17).

Definitions of truth are derived, at least in part, from the character of the media of communication through which information is conveyed

Ch. 2 - Media as EpistemologyCh. 2 - Media as Epistemology

“Through resonance,” according to Northrop Frye, “a particular statement in a particular context acquires a universal significance” (17).

“Every medium of communication […] has resonance, for resonance is metaphor writ large” (18).

“Through resonance,” according to Northrop Frye, “a particular statement in a particular context acquires a universal significance” (17).

“Every medium of communication […] has resonance, for resonance is metaphor writ large” (18).

Discussion Question Discussion Question

Amusing Ourselves to Death was written in the mid 1980's.

What do you think Postman would say of our current media phenomena and the implications of their ubiquitous nature today?

Is television still a problem? How has the internet changed things?

Amusing Ourselves to Death was written in the mid 1980's.

What do you think Postman would say of our current media phenomena and the implications of their ubiquitous nature today?

Is television still a problem? How has the internet changed things?