In the book by Neil Postman, “Amusing Ourselves To Death, “ Postman states that how the Age of Typography has been replaced into the Age of Television. More specifically, Postman believes that all these kinds of communications: writing, typography, oral and television have resonance. In the first four chapters, Neil Postman shows how typography changes from television, which is now the dominant in media, and he demonstrates the differences of typography and oral that influence people’s mind and communication.
In the 18th and 19th century, Typography is used to be the dominant in media. Typography is the process of printing like pamphlets and newspapers. Postman states what Typography is: “ The printed page revealed the world, line by line,
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In Postman’s book, Postman demonstrates the values of oral communication and typography. One of them is where the doctoral candidate makes a thesis statement that has a quotation which is intended as a documentation. But, the oral examiners argue that is is supposed to be replaced by a citation from a book. Then, Postman cites the differences between the written word and the spoken word: “The written word endures, the spoken word disappears; and that is why writing is closer to the truth than speaking.” (21) Postman shows that by having written word, it proves that people have more evidence to show than oral. People may edit and revise their words by having a written statement to attest the fact. The second value is where the Socrates apologizes in his opening address because he does not have a speech. The Greeks consider rhetoric as a definition of truth. Postman talks how rhetoric is important: “But to the people who invented it, the Sophists of fifth century B.C Greece and their heirs, rhetoric was not merely an opportunity for dramatic performance but a near indispensable means of organizing evidence and proofs, and therefore of communicating truth.” (22) In the fifth century, Greece is where the most popular writers live. For them, writing is not only for drama performance, but also for the evidence that will support the truth.. Then, this is why the Socrates was found
The first thing one must consider is whether there is any merit in writing or rhetoric. According to Socrates, speech writing is not bad. The only way it can ever be bad is if it is not done well. Therefore, one must consider what is necessary for writing well. Socrates proposes that in order to write well, one must know what is true about his subject. However, Phaedrus points out that perhaps all that is necessary to be seen as a good writer is to know what the people believe to be right about that subject and then write about it as they view it. However, Socrates shows that this is erroneous because then one can persuade others that wrong is right, and as a result rhetoric would have poor results. Instead, Socrates proposes that correct rhetoric is a tool through which knowledge is used to expertly persuade others. However, rhetoric can also be seen as, not a form of art, rather a talent. If it is thus seen, then in order to become an expert in it one must be born with the talent. Even if rhetoric were only a talent, there are steps to improve and build on it. For example, one may have talent, but without an acquaintance with the truth of the subject, one cannot give a professional speech. Once one is acquainted with his subject, th...
By being educated at a young age in literacy, I included it in my pottery and also working for newspaper companies strengthened my form of expression. Working in the South Carolina Republican and then later on The Edgefield Hive as a typesetter, it was a good experience helping my literacy skills but I didn’t feel fully indulged. I did it because I had to but also to learn. By understand typography, I was able to understand the science of the anatomy of type. They taught me the use of size, spacing, and placement of typography in order to show hierarchy, direction and attraction. I became to understanding that type is a collective of shapes and strokes. Master Abner 's newspaper did not get a lot of publicity and hit a crisis, which led him to cease publication of the newspapers. Master Abner then moved to Columbia, South Carolina, in 1832. He decided to leave me back in Edgefield and...
In the intro of my essay, I listed vague examples about how television impacts society. Throughout my content I did not elaborate on Postman’s believed the age of typography was, and the difference between the past and the age of show business today. In addition, I lacked comparing Postman’s argument to Francis
In his novel, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman describes to the reader, in detail, the immediate and future dangers of television. The argument starts out in a logical manner, explaining first the differences between today's media-driven society, and yesterday's "typographic America". Postman goes on to discuss in the second half of his book the effects of today's media, politics on television, religion on television, and finally televised educational programs. He explains that the media consists of "fragments of news" (Postman, 1985, p.97), and politics are merely a fashion show. Although Postman's arguments regarding the brevity of the American attention span and the importance of today's mass media are logical, I do not agree with his opinion of television's inability to educate.
Television and the visual culture are “creating new conceptions of knowledge and how it is acquired” (p. 145). Neil Postman in his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death explains the effects of television and visual culture on the youth education curriculum. Postman believed it necessary to warn society of the consequences of living in a culture dominated by television. As for my opinion on this matter, I do not agree with Neil Postman’s statements in regards to television and our youth’s education. I believe it is not the crisis Neil Postman makes it out to be.
He asserts that with the invention of television, writing can basically be eliminated (125). There’s no use for it anymore, after all. What can be more engaging than a form of media that stimulates the senses so? Despite the beliefs of those who lived in the 60s and 70s, the twenty-first century is unfortunately not home to the world of the Jetsons. Writing is still a very powerful form of media, for the very book that this essay is centered around is still influential, forty-nine years later!
Wood-type printing allowed new typefaces to be created and used for printing cheaper than ever before. Technological advances permitted machine-set typography to be printed on machine-manufactured paper with high-speed steam-powered printing presses. The use of color lithography passed the aesthetic experience of colorful images from the privileged few to the whole of society.
While preparing for one of his college lectures, Dennis Baron, a professor and linguistics at the University of Illinois, began playing with the idea of how writing has changed the world we lived in and materials and tools we use in everyday life. This lecture slowly transitioned into “Should Everybody Write?” An article that has made many wonder if technology has made writing too easy for anyone to use or strengthens a writer's ability to learn and communicate their ideas. Baron uses rhetorical strategies in his article to portray to his audience his positive tone, the contrast and comparison of context and his logical purpose.
Matthew Carter, born in 1937 in England, has typography in his blood. His father, Harry, was also a respected typography designer, specializing in punch cut procedure. Matthew Carter had considered attending Oxford with the intention of obtaining a degree in English Literature, but ultimately, his interest in typography prevailed, and he began an internship at the prestigious Enschede Printing House in Haarlem (AIGA, 2014). Carter immersed himself in the type industry and eventually became a free-lance designer based in London.
As the course of Rhetorical Communications has progressed I have expanded my understanding of rhetorical communication at a greater level. Between the weeks of project one and project two, I have expanded my idea on the theory of communication. In the article the author, Emig wrote, I have learned that communication relies on more than just the rhetor, the constraints, the rhetorical situations, and the content within verbal or written communication. Based on Emig, written communication must have a purpose and the audience expects accuracy within communication. With that in mind, a rhetor must also demonstrate the purpose of their piece through evidence to back up their claim, and they must also exhibit accuracy to the audience. Though with
One of the key arguments presented by Postman is the double-edged effect of any technological innovation, and therein lies the greatest strength of his assertion. He argues that any new technology is “both a burden and a blessing” (Postman, 1993, p. 5), given that technology introduces fundamental change in society as it modifies the structure of the things people think about, the nature and language of how they think as well as the character of the community they live in where ideas develop (p.20). While the benefits of television have included the development of literacy skills at an early stage, there are also growing concerns about television content and children’s viewing habits, and how these factors ultimately affect the deve...
In Plato’s Gorgias, Socrates discusses the nature and uses of rhetoric with Gorgias, while raising moral and philosophical perspective of rhetoric. Socrates believes that rhetoric is a kind of false knowledge whose purpose is to produce conviction, and not to educate people about the true extent of knowledge (Plato 15). On the other hand, Gorgias argues that the study of rhetoric is essential in any other professional fields, in order to provide an effective communication (Plato 19). After their discussion of rhetoric, Socrates seems to understand the true extent of rhetoric better as compared to Gorgias, as he is able to use rhetoric appeals as a device to dominate the conversation. During their discussion, Socrates seems to have use rhetorical appeals, such as ethos appeal and pathos appeal to connect and convince the crowd of audiences, and logos appeal to support his claims. His speeches seems to have shown sarcastic aspects and constantly asking questions in order to keep Gorgias busy, at the same time preparing an ambush. Since rhetoric is the art of effective communication through the form of speaking and writing, with the appropriate knowledge and virtue, it can be used for good purposes. On the other hand, rhetoric also can be used as an act of conviction because rhetorical appeals can be defined as an act of persuasion as well. Learning the true extent of rhetoric can help an individual strengthen their verbal communication skills. Socrates uses rhetorical appeals of ethos, pathos and logos appeal to win his argument against Gorgias, as he is able to get the audiences’ attention through rhetoric and cornered Gorgias into revealing the true extent of rhetoric.
Plato's rhetoric uses dialogue and dialectic as a means of making meaning known. Anthony Petruzzi says that Plato’s “Truth is neither a correspondence with an "objective" reality, nor does it exist solely as a coherent relation to a set of social beliefs; rather, truth is concomitantly a revealing and a concealing, or a withdrawing arrival” (Petruzzi 6). However, for Plato truth becomes a matter of correspondence or correctness in “the agreement of the mental concept (or representation) with the thing” (Petruzzi 7). In other words, the tr...
One of the most fundamental developments in this century in both the popular and intellectual understanding of culture has been the wide growth of awareness that only a little percentage of man's total creativity has depended on literacy. Writing is at most a comparatively recent awkward innovation, and while it is useful for keeping records of all sorts, it is a futile means of cultural communication, even with the help of printing. In spite of their mechanical awkwardness and inadequacy, writing and printing are indisputably two great tools of civilization. But they are not basic assets of human nature. The more primary and most distinguishing cultural property of men everywhere remains their instinctive power of speech. Spoken words are
Some may ask why do we design? What actually makes our design work? When a designer can produce effortlessly the goal of design has been achieved. This is a universal principle and is not limited to neither digital media, handcraft nor with any other design method. Within today’s era, typography has come a long way in regards to its development and the technologies used for it. Aside from this things are still developing, however, some things will always remain the same. “Words in art are words. Letters in art are letters. Writing in art is writing” – Ad Reinhardt (1966) (Morley 2007: p6)