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toastyghostie's review against another edition
4.0
Appropriately thought provoking in this day and age, and obviously fascinating to read what he thought would happen in the coming years. I didn't agree with all of his points, and some have become mildly obsolete, but I appreciated the politics-as-entertainment chapter, as well the chapter on education. I also learned a great deal about media in the 70s and 80s, which is helpful to understanding where my parents' generation was coming from / why they raised my brother and me as they did.
analisa14's review against another edition
challenging
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
One of the most challenging books I’ve read as someone who wants to raise well-rounded children in the digital age.
tptashnik's review against another edition
Reads like a curmudgeon wringing his fists at the new world. Unfortunately, this grandpa was quite prescient.
In response to whether the thesis of the book (that television, through form and seduction, has turned information-disseminating disciplines and industries into a step and dance form of entertainment) applies to the Internet age, I defensively think first to podcasts and long-form journals but am quickly reminded of the sheer amount of shiny objects that exist in opposition—rabbit holes of recommended YouTube videos, a dozen well-stocked streaming services, the list goes on...
To borrow Mr. Postman’s analogy of the tension between visions of the great 20th century dystopian writers, there is an insidious irony in Americans looking at China or the USSR and shaking our heads at the big brother, Orwellian nightmare while unconsciously (or perhaps impassively) subjugating ourselves with Huxley’s “soma.”
It is important to qualify Mr. Postman’s assault on this medium. He views television as innocuous and best equipped to produce junk-entertainment, but incompatible with “serious modes of discourse” (e.g., news, politics, science, education, commerce, religion, etc.)
The section on facts and truth were especially unnerving in our age of "fake news" and another presidential election looming.
Thirty-four years later, a thought-provoking read if you can get past the sometimes priggish prose.
In response to whether the thesis of the book (that television, through form and seduction, has turned information-disseminating disciplines and industries into a step and dance form of entertainment) applies to the Internet age, I defensively think first to podcasts and long-form journals but am quickly reminded of the sheer amount of shiny objects that exist in opposition—rabbit holes of recommended YouTube videos, a dozen well-stocked streaming services, the list goes on...
To borrow Mr. Postman’s analogy of the tension between visions of the great 20th century dystopian writers, there is an insidious irony in Americans looking at China or the USSR and shaking our heads at the big brother, Orwellian nightmare while unconsciously (or perhaps impassively) subjugating ourselves with Huxley’s “soma.”
It is important to qualify Mr. Postman’s assault on this medium. He views television as innocuous and best equipped to produce junk-entertainment, but incompatible with “serious modes of discourse” (e.g., news, politics, science, education, commerce, religion, etc.)
The section on facts and truth were especially unnerving in our age of "fake news" and another presidential election looming.
Thirty-four years later, a thought-provoking read if you can get past the sometimes priggish prose.
jimcaserta's review against another edition
2.0
Were things better before electronic forms of communication? While Postman wrote this after the ubiquity of television, revisiting this question after social media has permeated every minute of life is also wise. I should be the target audience for Postman's work as I share much of his sentiment of worry. I have long thought that ‘the hotter the take, the less accurate and meaningful’. Hot takes on social media are worse than cable news which is worse than newspapers, which is worse than magazines, which are worse than books. However, that is a gross generalization that is devoid of context.
That Postman chose the Lincoln-Douglas debates as the pinnacle of written and spoken word struck me immediately. The debates were primarily about an institution that had been enshrined into our constitution (a document whose writers Postman similarly lauds). That institution is slavery. I bristle when a society that not just tolerated but elevated slaveowners is held as a long lost ideal we will never be able to live up to. A period where presidents led genocide of our Native Americans and felt they should be thankful for what was being done to them (https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/jacksons-message-to-congress-on-indian-removal).
Imagine the quote tweets on that if Jackson had tweeted it! The other moment that alerted me was when Postman praised the participants in a debate as very serious people: Henry Kissinger, William Westmoreland and others. People I know as architects of a violent mass bombing campaign of Vietnam and surrounding countries. I have to admit that many find them to be deep thinkers, but they engage in and represent a world of realpolitik that frankly lacks humanity. Books and “serious thinking” will not prevent us from committing atrocities.
Pictures are incredibly valuable. The iconic photo of Kim Phuc illustrated what was really happening in Vietnam. Videos of police brutality showed white Americans what African Americans had been living for decades. First hand accounts of war, violence, crime do more to inform than a sanitized tome (How many Sabines are quoted in Gibbon?). However, those faster, easier, cheaper, media also bring powerful good stories. Stories of vaccines delivered, helping refugees, sharing food are also delivered in a better way through social media.
Postman also praises the ancient greek schools of Socrates, Plato & Aristotle. However that group was also not perfect. 1/4 Athenians were slaves. That group chose pure logic over experimentation and held many incredibly unscientific ideas. Rhetoric does not solve all problems and is prone to giving credence to eloquent but incorrect speakers.
There are many faults with social media and cable news, and it is doing real harm to society. However, idealizing earlier times is as fraught an endeavor as demonizing the current times. People have always been prone to demagogues and tribalism. I’ll end with a quote about kids: “they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. They no longer rise when elders enter the room, they contradict their parents and tyrannize their teachers. Children are now tyrants.”
That quote? From Socrates.
That Postman chose the Lincoln-Douglas debates as the pinnacle of written and spoken word struck me immediately. The debates were primarily about an institution that had been enshrined into our constitution (a document whose writers Postman similarly lauds). That institution is slavery. I bristle when a society that not just tolerated but elevated slaveowners is held as a long lost ideal we will never be able to live up to. A period where presidents led genocide of our Native Americans and felt they should be thankful for what was being done to them (https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/jacksons-message-to-congress-on-indian-removal).
Imagine the quote tweets on that if Jackson had tweeted it! The other moment that alerted me was when Postman praised the participants in a debate as very serious people: Henry Kissinger, William Westmoreland and others. People I know as architects of a violent mass bombing campaign of Vietnam and surrounding countries. I have to admit that many find them to be deep thinkers, but they engage in and represent a world of realpolitik that frankly lacks humanity. Books and “serious thinking” will not prevent us from committing atrocities.
Pictures are incredibly valuable. The iconic photo of Kim Phuc illustrated what was really happening in Vietnam. Videos of police brutality showed white Americans what African Americans had been living for decades. First hand accounts of war, violence, crime do more to inform than a sanitized tome (How many Sabines are quoted in Gibbon?). However, those faster, easier, cheaper, media also bring powerful good stories. Stories of vaccines delivered, helping refugees, sharing food are also delivered in a better way through social media.
Postman also praises the ancient greek schools of Socrates, Plato & Aristotle. However that group was also not perfect. 1/4 Athenians were slaves. That group chose pure logic over experimentation and held many incredibly unscientific ideas. Rhetoric does not solve all problems and is prone to giving credence to eloquent but incorrect speakers.
There are many faults with social media and cable news, and it is doing real harm to society. However, idealizing earlier times is as fraught an endeavor as demonizing the current times. People have always been prone to demagogues and tribalism. I’ll end with a quote about kids: “they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. They no longer rise when elders enter the room, they contradict their parents and tyrannize their teachers. Children are now tyrants.”
That quote? From Socrates.