How Entertainment Is Killing Public Discourse: Neil Postman’s Warning in the Age of Screens

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Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse

Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas, they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials. – Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death posits that modern society’s embrace of entertainment over serious discourse poses a significant threat, differing from George Orwell’s vision of external oppression. Postman argues that Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World offers a more accurate prophecy, where people are controlled by pleasure and distraction, rather than pain or censorship.

He contends that television, by packaging all information as entertainment, leads to a trivial culture where superficiality and images replace genuine ideas and critical thought. This shift, according to Postman, results in disinformation that creates an illusion of knowledge while undermining the public’s capacity for informed decision-making and coherent understanding, ultimately risking culture-death.

Screen Sucker Copyright Miko Maciaszek

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