Postman Part 2

1. Discuss THREE specific ways in which Postman explains how the medium of television transforms the epistemological nature of each of the following:

A. Public discourse about religion

B. Public discourse about politics

C. Public discourse about education

2. What specific solutions does Postman offer to improve public communication in our "Peek A Boo" world, and our challenges to communicate in a thoughtful and rational manner in "An Age of Show Business"? In other words, how might we prevent a world in which we are "amusing ourselves to death"?

3. HARD Question: Does Postman's thesis about television still apply to our public discourse in today's Age of the Internet? Please explain your reasoning in 4-5 sentences.


1. A: I think that post man talks about religion very well in chapter 8. He talks about Reverend Terry having big productions that make it look like a TV show and the one story that amazes me is with the 700 club they ad a member reenacts them self seeing the light for change and it was them seeing the 700 club TV show on TV. It shows that it is moving away from giving the message of god to showmanship, as if they are competing with the top TV show at the time.

B: In the beginning of the book Postman talks about how Lincoln and Douglas would talk for hours and days and people would come all over to watch them speak about very important topics. Then later in the book he is talking abut the debate between Ron and Fritz. Their debate was all about looking good for the screen, it had been shortened so that it could fit in a normal show block, and they were using jokes during their speeches. Postman states “Thus, the leader of the free world is chosen by the people in the age of the television.”(pg.97). To me this means that they are dummying down politics and turning in to more of a popularity contest.

C: I think a good example how education is changing in our TV world is the story of Charles Pine. Mr. Pine was awarded professor of the year by the council for the support and advancement of education. He had won this because he copied a skit he saw on the Yankee doodle dandy show. This is surprising that a tv show can help a teacher win an award in teaching. It seems as though education is turning more in to a show to keep your attention like TV then teaching you the facts.

2. Postman talks about a few different things you can do. The first one and I think the most important one is to have media education like this class and other ones on campus. It will allow us to know all the ways TV is trying to persuade you in to its hole. Also another thing which ties in to the first part is to be aware at all time what is being shown to you and know why its being shown to you that way.


3. I think that it might even be more relevant to the Internet than the TV. The Internet is even more things that have no importance to you and your learning but is taking precedence, such as you tube, Twitter, Facebook and many others. These sites are just like peek-a-boo world the present useless information and then most of them have pop ups which is things that have no relevance to you but is trying to sell it to you. It is also talking away from typographic times because people can post things with out even checking them and there is also all this lingo that is made to shorten sentences.