Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman Summary
One-Paragraph Summary
This book examines how the introduction of media such as writing, telegraphy, photography, and television has had a profound impact on public discourse in culture. It discusses how these technologies have changed the nature of information, giving rise to pseudo-contexts and pseudo-events.
It also explores how show business has transformed into our primary form of business, and how television commercials and image politics have altered our habits of thought and political discourse. The author suggests that an awareness of the structure and effects of information is necessary to gain control over these technologies, or they could lead to a spiritual devastation of the population.
Short Summary
This chapter explores how the forms of communication in a given culture shape its content. It uses the metaphor of Las Vegas to illustrate how American culture has been transformed into entertainment, and discusses how the introduction of writing, television and other media into a culture is not merely an extension of man’s power, but a transformation of his way of thinking and the content of his culture. It examines how media are implicated in our epistemologies, and suggests that metaphor is the generative force that unifies and invests meaning into public discourse. Finally, it looks at colonial America’s high literacy rate and the success of Thomas Paine's book Common Sense as examples of how the availability of print media shaped modern ideas about education, knowledge and truth.
The 19th century was a time of great transformation in public discourse as the printed word and typography were replaced by the telegraph and show business. This shift changed the nature of information by creating a commodity out of it and elevating irrelevance to news status, resulting in a decontextualized information environment. Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas's debates provide insight into how language had been modeled on the written word, and how the spread of typography encouraged public discourse to be characterized by rationality. The book covers topics such as religious thought, legal systems, advertising, and more to provide an understanding of how this shift impacted public discourse.
This chapter examines how the introduction of telegraphy and photography in the 19th century revolutionized the way people view information, news, and reality. It explores how this new epistemology gave rise to a variety of pseudo-contexts and pseudo-events, such as crossword puzzles, cocktail parties, radio quiz shows, and game shows. Additionally, it discusses how television has become the command center of this new epistemology, orchestrating our use of other media and becoming an invisible “myth” that shapes public understanding of subjects. The chapter also analyzes how show business has become the primary form of business in our culture as evidenced by the focus on style over substance during presidential debates. Finally, it reflects on how television has created a world view that prioritizes discontinuity over continuity.
This book examines how television commercials and image politics have had a profound influence on American habits of thought and political discourse. Television commercials have shifted business away from making products to making consumers feel valuable, and have been used to shape political campaigns. Image politics is characterized by brevity of expression, the belief that all problems are solvable through technology and techniques, and a focus on character and personal life rather than the party they represent. This has led to a decline in traditional political parties, as voters are more preoccupied with the candidate's image than their party.
In his book, the author examines how technology and entertainment have changed our social, sexual, and cognitive habits. He argues that an awareness of the structure and effects of information is necessary to gain control over television and other forms of media. He suggests limiting certain types of content on television, as well as introducing education to help young people learn to interpret symbols. He warns that if we do not limit these technologies, it could lead to a spiritual devastation of the population.
Amusing Ourselves to Death Chapter Summary
1. - The Medium Is the Metaphor
The metaphor of Las Vegas is used to illustrate how American culture has been transformed into a form of entertainment, with politics, religion, news, athletics, education and commerce all becoming adjuncts of show business.
The chapter discusses how forms of public discourse can influence the content of a culture, using examples such as smoke signals and television. It argues that the way we communicate affects the ideas we can express, and that this has a strong impact on the culture we live in.
The book chapter discusses the idea that the content of public discourse is shaped by the media of communication available to a culture, and that the decline of the Age of Typography and the ascendancy of the Age of Television has dramatically and irreversibly shifted the content and meaning of public discourse.
The forms of communication, from painting to hieroglyphs to the alphabet to television, provide unique modes of discourse that influence how people think about time and space, and about things and processes.
The clock, for example, has disassociated time from human events and weakened God's supremacy.
The alphabet has created a new conception of knowledge, as well as a new sense of intelligence, of audience and of posterity.
The introduction of writing and other media into a culture is not merely an extension of man’s power to bind time, but a transformation of his way of thinking and of the content of his culture. Writing and other media can be seen as metaphors, and understanding their metaphorical function requires taking into account the symbolic forms of their information, the source of their information, the quantity and speed of their information, and the context in which their information is experienced.
Our tools for thought (such as eyeglasses, microscopes, and gene-splitting research) suggest what our bodies and minds are like, and our conversations about nature and ourselves are conducted in the languages we find it convenient to use. Our media are our metaphors, and our metaphors create the content of our culture.
2. - Media as Epistemology
Media as Epistemology: This book chapter discusses how definitions of truth are derived from the character of the media of communication through which information is conveyed. It examines how media are implicated in our epistemologies, and suggests that metaphor is the generative force that unifies and invests with meaning a variety of attitudes or experiences.
The chapter discusses how the bias of a medium can sit heavily over a culture, affecting our concepts of truth. It uses three cases to illustrate this: a tribe in western Africa that relies on proverbs and sayings to resolve disputes, a courtroom where written law is the primary source of truth, and a university where the written word is the primary source of truth.
The influence of media on our epistemologies is demonstrated through three examples: the scrutiny of a speech-referenced citation in an oral exam, Socrates' plea to the jury of his trial, and the Sophists of 5th century B.C. Greece. These examples show that the written word is invested with greater prestige and authenticity than the spoken word, and that rhetoric was seen as a form of spoken writing and a preeminent art form to discover and articulate truth.
The concept of truth is intimately linked to the biases of forms of expression, and changes with the media of communication. Every philosophy and epistemology is the product of a stage of media development, and intelligence is primarily defined by one's capacity to grasp the truth of things.
This chapter provides a detailed definition of intelligence in a print culture, and argues that changes in media have led to changes in our notions of truth and ideas of intelligence in the 20th century.
The book chapter discusses the shift in the symbolic environment from print-based epistemology to television-based epistemology, and how this shift has created new forms of truth-telling, but has not yet included everyone and everything. It also mentions that changes in the symbolic environment are like changes in the natural environment, and that while television has the potential to undermine rational discourse, it also has the potential to create beneficial possibilities.
The chapter discusses how the printed word has shaped modern ideas about the uses of the intellect, education, knowledge, truth and information, and how the shift from typography to television has led to a decline in the seriousness, clarity and value of public discourse.
3. - Typographic America
The Dunkers, a religious sect, had a unique perspective on the written word, believing that writing down their beliefs could trap them and limit their ability to grow and learn. Colonial America was highly committed to the printed word, with a high literacy rate and a belief that printing was a "God's highest and extremest act of Grace". The Bible was the central reading material in all households, and the Bay Psalm Book was an example of how the business of the Gospel could be driven forward in books other than the Bible.
Colonial Americans were highly literate due to the religion of the Calvinist Puritans, the migration of more literate segments of the population, and the requirement of schools in New England towns. They imported a sophisticated literary tradition from England and reading was not regarded as an elitist activity, leading to a thriving, classless reading culture.
The chapter discusses the high level of literacy in America during the colonial period, which was reflected in the success of Thomas Paine's book Common Sense. It also mentions the first printing press in America, which was established in 1638, and the first newspaper, Publick Occurrences, which was printed in 1690. It highlights the fact that Paine's lack of formal education was never questioned, and suggests that the scarcity of quality paper may have hindered the development of an American literature.
The struggle for freedom of information in the New World began with Benjamin Harris' abortive effort to publish the first American newspaper, which inspired other attempts at newspaper publication.
By 1800, there were more than 180 newspapers published regularly in four colonies.
By the end of the 18th century, the US had more than two-thirds the number of newspapers available in England, despite having only half the population.
Printing and the spread of knowledge via newspapers, pamphlets, and broadsides had spread to all regions of the US by the 19th century.
Between 1825 and 1850, the number of subscription libraries trebled, and mechanics' and apprentices' libraries emerged as a force for literacy.
Between 1836 and 1890, 107 million copies of the McGuffey Reader were distributed to the schools, and Americans devoured novels.
America was dominated by the printed word and an oratory based on the printed word from its beginning until well into the 19th century, due to the high level of literacy, the Lyceum Movement, and the adoration of authors such as Charles Dickens.
This chapter examines how the printed word, from the 17th century to the late 19th century, was the primary medium for public discourse, influencing the structure of conversations and the content of sermons and other forms of discourse. It also looks at how the press served as a metaphor and an epistemology to create a serious and rational public conversation, which has since been dramatically separated from.
4. - The Typographic Mind
Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas engaged in seven famous debates, with the first taking place in Ottowa, Illinois.
Audiences for these debates were accustomed to extended oratorical performances, such as three-hour speeches and seven-hour debates.
Audiences were respectful and attentive, but not quiet or unemotional, often shouting encouragement or expressing scorn.
Audiences had an extraordinary attention span and capacity to comprehend lengthy and complex sentences aurally.
This book chapter discusses the rhetorical power of the Lincoln-Douglas debates of 1858, the intellectual capacity of the audience, the influence of the Enlightenment, and the impact of typography on the character of discourse.
The Lincoln-Douglas debates of the 19th century demonstrate the power of language and the written word, as the speakers used a style of language modeled on the written word. The content of the debates was highly semantic and propositional, and the audience was expected to be reflective and serious in their understanding of the content. Reading is a serious and rational activity, as it requires the reader to be armed with their own intellect and resources.
The spread of typography in the 18th and 19th centuries encouraged public discourse to be characterized by a coherent, orderly arrangement of facts and ideas, and gave priority to the objective, rational use of the mind. This was exemplified by the Age of Reason and the growth of science, capitalism, and universal literacy. Deists were given a full chance to express their beliefs, and the first four presidents of the United States were likely Deists.
The chapter covers the history of religious thought in America, from the Founding Fathers, to the Deist movement, to the revivalist movements of the 18th and 19th centuries, to the founding of colleges to settle doctrinal disputes. It highlights the importance of reason and rationality in religious discourse, as well as the emotional appeal of religious figures like Jonathan Edwards and Charles Finney.
This book chapter covers the differences between the religious thought and institutions of 18th and 19th century America and modern forms of public discourse. It also discusses the differences between the legal system in a print-based culture and a television-based culture, and how lawyers in the 18th and 19th centuries were expected to be well-educated, devoted to reason, and capable of impressive expositional argument.
This book chapter discusses the history of typographic discourse in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and how it was expected to be clear, simple, comprehensive, and analytical. It also explains how typography was used in newspaper advertising, beginning in 1704, and how it slowly declined in the late 1860s and early 1870s. Finally, it touches on how advertising was seen as a serious and rational enterprise, intended to appeal to understanding, not to passions, up until the end of the nineteenth century.
The printed word had a monopoly on both attention and intellect in the 18th and 19th centuries, with public figures known largely by their written words. Advertisers in the 1890s adopted techniques such as slogans and jingles, and used pictures and depth psychology to appeal to potential customers. Reading was done seriously and with purpose in this era, and was seen as a connection to and model of the world. The writers of the US Constitution assumed that participation in public life required the capacity to negotiate the printed word.
The chapter discusses the impact of the printing press on American culture, noting how it shaped public discourse, influenced voting restrictions, and enabled the spread of knowledge and literature. It argues that the period of time during which the American mind was dominated by the printing press is known as the Age of Exposition, and that it was replaced by the Age of Show Business at the end of the 19th century.
5. - The Peek-a-Boo World
The convergence of the telegraph and the press in the mid-19th century created the Age of Show Business, which transformed information into a commodity and elevated irrelevance to the status of news. This changed the definition of public discourse and created a new metaphor of public discourse.
The telegraph changed the way news was reported, shifting from local and timeless stories to distant and timely news. This led to a decontextualized information environment, where people were informed about events that had little to do with their lives, resulting in an abundance of irrelevant information and a decrease in the ratio of information to action.
The introduction of telegraphy to public discourse created a world of broken time and broken attention, where information was moved rather than collected, explained or analyzed. This led to a sense of political impotence, as well as an incoherent public conversation characterized by sensational, fragmented, and impersonal language.
Louis Daguerre and William Henry Fox Talbot invented processes that allowed for the mass printing and publication of photographs, changing the way people perceived reality.
Photography speaks only in particularities and cannot deal with the unseen, remote, internal, or abstract.
Photography presents the world as object, while language presents the world as idea.
Photography lacks a syntax, making it unable to argue with the world, and has an epistemological bias.
The chapter discusses the differences between language and photography, and how the introduction of photography in the 19th century revolutionized the way people view information, news, and reality. It also explains how the combination of photographs and headlines created an illusory context for news.
The chapter discusses how the introduction of telegraphy and photography in the late 19th and early 20th centuries led to a new form of public discourse in America, characterized by a lack of interconnectedness, context, and history, and the prevalence of fascination over complexity and coherence. It also examines how this new epistemology gave rise to various forms of pseudo-contexts and pseudo-events, such as crossword puzzles, cocktail parties, radio quiz shows, and game shows, which serve to entertain rather than provide meaningful information.
Television has become the command center of the new epistemology, orchestrating our use of other media, shaping public understanding of subjects, and becoming a “myth” that is so deeply embedded in our consciousness that it is invisible. This means that its epistemology goes largely unnoticed, and the peek-a-boo world it has constructed around us no longer seems strange, as our culture’s adjustment to it is all but complete.
Television is transforming American culture into one vast arena for show business, with its own epistemology that is hostile to typography's way of knowing and promotes incoherence and triviality.
6. - The Age of Show Business
The chapter discusses how television is a technology that has been used in a variety of ways, such as a light source, an electronic bulletin board, and a bookcase. It argues that television does not extend or amplify literate culture, but rather attacks it, and that it is a continuation of a tradition begun by the telegraph and photograph in the mid-nineteenth century, not by the printing press in the fifteenth.
Television has been used to exploit its full potentialities as a technology of images, resulting in American television programs being in demand all over the world.
Entertainment is the supra-ideology of all discourse on television, with all subject matter presented as entertaining.
The chapter discusses how news shows are primarily a form of entertainment rather than a source of education, reflection, or catharsis. It uses the example of the ABC network's discussion following the movie The Day After to illustrate how television is designed to be seen rather than read or heard, and how the format of the discussion was more focused on entertainment than on providing meaningful discourse.
This chapter discusses how television shows, such as the ABC network's "Nightline", tend to suppress the content of ideas in order to provide entertaining performances that are more visually appealing. It explains how this can lead to fragmented and discontinuous language, and how this type of discourse does not allow for arguments, counterarguments, explanations, or elaborations. It also mentions how William Buckley's show "Firing Line" is an example of a program that strives to maintain a sense of intellectual decorum and typographic tradition.
Television is a powerful force in American culture, dictating the style of discourse and how the world is to be staged. It is used to entertain and inform, and its effects are seen in courtrooms, classrooms, churches, and more. Examples of this include Father Greg Sakowicz's religious teachings mixed with rock 'n' roll music, Archbishop O'Connor's comedic installation ceremony, and the Philadelphia public schools' experiment of having curriculum sung to students.
The chapter discusses various forms of entertainment and education that have been used to engage audiences, such as "Sesame Street", televised trials, and the "Genesis Project", which aims to convert the Bible into a series of movies. It also mentions the Pennsylvania Amish, who try to remain isolated from mainstream American culture, and the awarding of an honorary degree to Mother Teresa at Yale University.
The chapter discusses how the culture of our society has shifted to prioritize showmanship over traditional discourse, with the election of President Reagan exemplifying this shift. It also suggests that show business has become the primary form of business in our culture, as evidenced by the invitation of talk show hosts to deliver commencement addresses and the focus on style over substance during presidential debates.
7. - “Now ... This”
The phrase "Now...This" is used in radio and television newscasts to indicate that what one has just heard or seen has no relevance to what one is about to hear or see, and serves as a metaphor for the discontinuities in public discourse in America.
Television has nurtured this world view by structuring programs so that almost each 8-minute segment may stand as a complete event in itself, and by presenting news without context, consequences, or value.
An example of this is Christine Craft, who was hired and then fired from KMBC-TV in Kansas City due to her appearance not being suitable for nightly display, meaning that her appearance "hampered viewer acceptance".
Television news shows provide a new definition of truth, where the credibility of the teller is the ultimate test of the truth of a proposition. This is reinforced by features such as the use of music to create a mood, the brevity of stories, and the use of film footage.
Television news is structured in a way that encourages viewers to maintain a high level of unreality, as newscasters do not pause to grimace or shiver when they speak their prefaces or epilogs to the film clips. This is done to maintain a sense of entertainment, and viewers are expected to not take the news too seriously. This structure of news programs has a damaging effect on viewers, especially young viewers, as it encourages them to adopt an epistemology based on the assumption that all reports of cruelty and death are greatly exaggerated and not to be taken seriously. Robert MacNeil describes this structure as one that keeps everything brief, avoids complexity, and substitutes visual stimulation for thought.
Television news is often packaged as entertainment, leading to a lack of understanding of the world and a reliance on disinformation, which can lead to incorrect opinions and a lack of knowledge.
This book chapter examines how news coverage of President Reagan's policies and current events has declined, and suggests that this is due to a lack of interest by the public. It argues that this is because the public is used to the "Now ... this" world of television, which is a world of fragments, where events stand alone and are stripped of any connection to the past, future, or other events. As a result, contradiction has disappeared and the public is no longer interested in the truth or accuracy of the President's statements.
The public has adjusted to incoherence and been amused into indifference, which is why Aldous Huxley would not be surprised by the story. Television has achieved the power to define the form in which news must come, and has also defined how we shall respond to it. USA Today is a successful example of television-oriented print media, and has had an extraordinary “ricochet” effect on television itself. Radio is the least likely medium to join in the descent into a Huxleyan world of technological narcotics, yet its language is increasingly primitive, fragmented, and largely aimed at invoking visceral response.
Radio news broadcasts have become increasingly decontextualized and discontinuous, leading to a trivialization of news and a lack of understanding of the world.
8. - Shuffle Off to Bethlehem
This book chapter discusses three different evangelical preachers and their respective styles of preaching: Reverend Terry, Pat Robertson, and Jimmy Swaggart. It examines how they use their television shows to spread their messages of faith and prosperity, while also exploring the ways in which they appeal to their audiences.
Television preachers are presented as an entertainment, stripping away all aspects of religion that make it an historic, profound and sacred human activity, such as ritual, dogma, tradition, theology, and spiritual transcendence.
This is due to the bias of the medium, rather than the deficiencies of the preachers, and cannot be replicated with greater efficiency by a micro-computer, as there is always a question of what is lost in the translation.
Television and its surround make authentic religious experience impossible due to its lack of consecrated space, its profane uses, its secular bias, and its focus on entertainment and pleasure.
Television preachers use modern methods of marketing and promotion to attract an audience, often using celebrities and free gifts. The messages preached on television are often trivial and do not match the demanding and serious nature of Christianity. The spectacle of religion on television is often used for entertainment, not enchantment, and God is a vague and subordinate character.
The danger of televised religion is that it may replace traditional religious conceptions with entertaining versions, leading to a trivialization of religion and a focus on personalities rather than abstractions.
9. - Reach Out and Elect Someone
The main points covered in this book chapter are that the television commercial has had a profound influence on American habits of thought, and has become an important paradigm for the structure of public discourse. It has also had a devastating effect on political discourse, as it has mounted a serious assault on capitalist ideology by bringing together all of the arts of show business. Ronald Reagan's metaphor of politics being like show business has further contributed to this, as the idea is not to pursue excellence, clarity or honesty, but to appear as if you are.
The television commercial has shifted business away from making products of value and towards making consumers feel valuable, using pseudo-therapy and psycho-dramas to do so. It has also been used to shape political campaigns, leading to concerns from politicians and commentators alike.
The chapter discusses the implications of “image politics”, which is the use of visual imagery in political campaigns, and how it has become the norm in modern society. It also examines the philosophy of television commercials, which is characterized by brevity of expression and the belief that all problems are solvable through technology, techniques, and chemistry. It argues that these beliefs have implications for our orientation to political discourse, such as the belief that complex language is not to be trusted and that argument is in bad taste.
Politicians have become assimilated into the general television culture as celebrities, allowing them to appear anywhere, at any time, without being thought odd or out of place. This has led to a correlation between the rise of the politician-as-celebrity and the decline of political parties, as voters are more preoccupied with the character and personal life of the candidate than the party they represent. Television does not reveal who the best man is, as it is impossible to determine who is better than whom based on image.
Television commercials and image politics are powerful influences on political discourse, as they provide a comprehensive and compelling image of the audience and create a new definition of intimacy. Image politics is a form of therapy, and is largely based on charm, good looks, celebrity, and personal disclosure, rather than political substance. History plays no significant role in image politics, as books promote a sense of a coherent and usable past, while the present is seen as shadowy.
Television's structure is biased towards providing images and fragments, which deprives viewers of access to an historical perspective. This leads to a sense of irrelevance towards history, and a lack of continuity and context in political discourse. This is further compounded by the rise of image politics and the Age of Show Business, which further diminishes the importance of history.
George Orwell's "1984" highlights the dangers of government control over printed matter, which was the primary concern of the Founding Fathers in the US Constitution. However, the modern age of television has shifted the focus of censorship from government to corporate control, which poses a greater threat to the freedom of information.
The fight against censorship has largely been won in the 20th century, but what we are now confronted with is the problem posed by the economic and symbolic structure of television, which presents information in a simplistic, nonsubstantive, nonhistorical and noncontextual form. This has allowed tyrants to pacify discontent by providing amusements, but censorship is no longer necessary when all political discourse takes the form of a jest.
10. - Teaching as an Amusing Activity
The book chapter discusses how "Sesame Street" was embraced by children, parents, and educators when it began in 1969, as it assuaged parents' guilt over allowing their children to watch television and relieved them of the responsibility of teaching their pre-school children how to read. It also explains how the show is educational in the sense that it promotes the television style of learning, which is hostile to book-learning and school-learning.
Television competes with the school curriculum and has the power to control the time, attention, and cognitive habits of youth, making it a curriculum in its own right. It teaches that teaching and entertainment are inseparable, and its influence is greater than that of traditional educational discourses.
Television offers an alternative to traditional education by providing a nongraded curriculum that excludes no viewer, inducing no perplexity, and avoiding exposition in favor of story-telling and entertainment.
The New Education is an attempt to redefine education as an entertaining activity, exemplified by the "Voyage of the Mimi" project, which combines television, books, and computer games to teach students about science and mathematics. The project was funded by the Department of Education and is seen as a model for other educational initiatives.
The Department of Education has funded a project called “Watch Your Mouth” which is a series of television dramatizations to help young people learn to use the English language, however there is no evidence that it has been effective. Studies have shown that television does not increase learning, is inferior to and less likely than print to cultivate higher-order, inferential thinking. The content of “The Voyage of the Mimi” was chosen because it is eminently televisible, however it is not necessarily the most appropriate subject for students to learn.
The Voyage of the Mimi project spent $3.65 million to use media in a way that media merchants want them to be used - mindlessly and invisibly - without questioning the cognitive biases and social effects of the technology. Students will learn that learning is a form of entertainment and will expect to receive their politics, religion, news, and commerce in the same way.
11. - The Huxleyan Warning
The Huxleyan Warning warns of the dangers of a culture that is dominated by technology and entertainment, which can lead to a spiritual devastation of the population. It is in contrast to the Orwellian Warning, which is focused on the dangers of oppressive regimes. In America, the Huxleyan Warning is being realized through the pervasive use of television and other forms of technology. There is no consensus or opposition to this, only compliance.
This book chapter discusses how technology has changed our social and sexual lives, our ideas about forests and cities, and our personal identity and social standing. It argues that technological changes in communication are more ideology-laden than changes in transportation, and that introducing new technologies to a culture can drastically change its cognitive habits, social relations, and notions of community, history, and religion. The author suggests that Americans should not delude themselves with the idea of eliminating technology, but should instead limit the amount of hours television can operate and limit certain types of content on television.
The main point of this book chapter is that in order to gain control over television and other media, we must have a deep and unfailing awareness of the structure and effects of information. This awareness can be achieved through asking questions about the psychic, political, and social effects of information, and by understanding the moral bias of each form of information.
The author argues that the only way to combat the negative effects of television on culture is to rely on education, which can help young people learn how to interpret the symbols of their culture and distance themselves from their forms of information.
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