Summary Of Amusing Ourselves To Death

While reading the book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, written by Neil Postman, it instantly brought to my attention the serious effect of the idea that television no longer serves as neither an educational nor political purpose, and it doesn’t give thorough information. Throughout his book, Postman dives into the effects that our country's shift from print based culture to a televised and video based culture has had on education, politics, and national news. What was once an age of reading and print based learning, has now been transformed into teaching from a television screen, using Sesame Street as a prime example. Parents loved this source because it “assuaged their guilt over the fact that they could not or would not restrict their children’s

Our media have developed a circuit of electronic media having no order or meaning and to not be taken seriously. Newscasters dedicate a mere 45 seconds to dive into a tragedy or celebration that occurred and then must shift your attention to another piece of news. The world of television has also created a sense of bullying and discrimination against people who aren’t considered “likable” including overweight people, bald men, women over 50, etc. It has also caused gender discrimination as seen with Christine Craft who was fired from her co-anchor position on KMBC-TV because he appearances “hampered viewer acceptance” and believed she lacked credibility (101). Postman also brings up the topic of the variability in the perception of truth based on the acceptability of the newscaster, and the impression of “sincerity, authenticity, vulnerability or attractiveness conveyed by the actor/reporter” (102). He gives a very good argument supporting the idea that all news has lost its importance, and tragic events are limited to a mere 45 seconds with no further recognition called to