Scan barcode
A review by gregory_glover
Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman
5.0
Prescient. That has to be the most obvious and over-used description of this book. I rated it 5 stars, not because it is perfect or because I agree with every point, but because few books capture the spirit of the age and the challenges facing society to the degree that Postman did with Amusing Ourselves to Death. His diagnosis of the malaise in politics, religion, and education are spot on. Few prognosticators or futurists can claim to have come as close as he did in predicting what the future 25 years down the road would be like (and he did it without pretending to predict).
I find his remedies unsatisfactory and insufficient (as he also did), but I do think the notion that educators can pay closer attention to various media and their effects is a good start. Perhaps, given the tenure of Donald Trump (and its aftermath) and the social ineptitude and ignorance surrounding the COVID pandemic, educators will take a closer look at the role of media. Maybe, but probably not.
I suspect that I am more sanguine that Postman seems to be, and less alarmed even today, because I think it is possible for an individual (and some groups of people) to make the choice to incorporate large doses of reading into their lives on a regular basis. This may not be (probably isn't) possible or sufficient for society as a whole, and in some ways things are worse now than what Postman described (with Social Media, with its interactivity and immediacy, now taking the role once held by TV, but with the manipulation of content by algorithm), but for an individual or group of people who agree to do so, reading can provide an oasis for thought into which the young can be introduced and encouraged to partake.
I find his remedies unsatisfactory and insufficient (as he also did), but I do think the notion that educators can pay closer attention to various media and their effects is a good start. Perhaps, given the tenure of Donald Trump (and its aftermath) and the social ineptitude and ignorance surrounding the COVID pandemic, educators will take a closer look at the role of media. Maybe, but probably not.
I suspect that I am more sanguine that Postman seems to be, and less alarmed even today, because I think it is possible for an individual (and some groups of people) to make the choice to incorporate large doses of reading into their lives on a regular basis. This may not be (probably isn't) possible or sufficient for society as a whole, and in some ways things are worse now than what Postman described (with Social Media, with its interactivity and immediacy, now taking the role once held by TV, but with the manipulation of content by algorithm), but for an individual or group of people who agree to do so, reading can provide an oasis for thought into which the young can be introduced and encouraged to partake.