Analysis of Amusing Ourselves To Death by Neil Postman - Book Report/Review Example

Book Review Amusing Ourselves To Death is a book written by Neil Postman, in which he has studied the impact of television on American Society. Through his analysis, he has argued that the way television shows different concepts it has considerably changed the way Americans think and react towards different events and incidents. He has presented the arguments with evidences, anecdotal support and statistical analysis for proving that the information disseminated through television is different from that of print media. He has given it the name of ‘Typographic mind.’ The arguments revolve around the claim of Postman that the variation in public behavior incited by the television has a detrimental effect on the American society. Postman has analyzed the devastating effects of entertainment age on the public discourse quality. The book shows insight into the way culture and perceptions are shaped by the technology that results in trivialization of varying aspects of the society. Postman asserts in his book that the medium used to communicate ideas, orients the thoughts and expressions and highly impact the determination of ideas that prevail in the society. For illustrating the advancement in technology and its impact on people Postman has given the example of clock that built a moment-to-moment metaphor that make people think of time as a series of independent, measurable sequences having no relation to the human events. Postman said that in America and Europe the age of reasoning was the age of exposition. America is established by a typographic nation or in other words it is founded on print media that oriented the social life and political image of the country. He further said that in print dominant society public discourse is composed of rationale thoughts and coherent and systemic ideas. Written words allow analytical management of information, increase the ability of people to judge the news and over-generalization and falsehood. He further says that the era of exposition is ended in America, and now the society has been transformed into Age of Show Business. Postman claims that television is not merely a mode of entertainment rather it presents all information as an entertainment. Television governs how to present the world with respect to religion, education, politics, social issues and business. Postman argues that trivialities of television become apparent when it acts as a medium to address ideas that are allegedly significant. When the television becomes a central agent of public discourse, it seriously impacts the logic, seriousness and gravity of that particular discourse whether it is religious, political, economical or social. It also influences the cultural aspects and society that people become incapable to rationally analyze the ideas and separate entertainment from significant issues. The notion helps the political forces to govern the society and play with the minds of people by projecting whatever they wish through television and govern the perceptions of people. In short the author has discussed the advantages of print media and presented its positive influence on society and culture whereas he has condemned the television media apart being an entertainment medium on it impact of society while addressing public discourses. The theoretical framework of the book is based on media theory. Postman has based his arguments on the theoretical framework so that his arguments should be strong and persuasive. Postman has majorly discussed the role of media and highlighted its impact on society in general without addressing the role of women, children and men, in particular. However, he has discussed the role in general using the concept of inclusivity. It was found that while discussing the implications of television on society and culture Postman listed the objectivity. The discourse is biased and the choice of anecdotes and illustrations also show that Postman does not like the information disseminated through television. It was found that the arguments were weak. Postman showed the negative impact of television on society but did not successfully craft the argument to present the benefits as well. In order to convince the reader the author should have presented an overview and, then offered his views. In this book, Postman only focused on the negative consequences of television and did not present the positive impact that it has on the society (Postman). The biggest weakness of ‘Amusing Ourselves to Death’ is that the author has not given sufficient evidence support to prove that television has devastated the American society. Very little real world examples have been a part of Postman’s discourse to support his arguments. The evidences provided by Postman have been in discussion for long, but they are not interpreted. The language and tone used by Postman are alarming indicating that current Show Business Age has caused information overload and political apathy in the society (Postman 110). However, while reading the book, the role of television in social movements emerged in mind that has not been addressed in the book. There are many social dilemmas, political issues, and ethical issues, environmental concerns that are raised by the television media. When discussing the role of television and its impact on society all these contributions should also be addressed so that the reader would compare the pitfalls of television media and its granted advantages. As, the author claim in the book that television interrupts the reasoning and thinking ability of a person the same glitch was observed in the book that represent only one side point of view without presenting any notion of comparison and logical arguments (Postman). Postman could not craft influential arguments on the role of television media. He did not discuss different social events like world wars, slavery, etc. while focusing on the role of media. He ignored the link between social events and media and, therefore, his arguments appeared to be weak, irrelevant and naïve. Except these weaknesses, Amusing Ourselves To Death contains useful information on the advancement of technology. The historical context of print media has been discussed with its impact on society. In the beginning, the book makes the reader hook to it and increases the curiosity that how the writer will be leading the arguments against the television media. The book is found to be an interesting piece of literature. The concept that the author has chosen to base the discussion is very controversial. The negative impact of television media has been discussed widely, and more can be incorporated into the research with evidences to prove how television media is exaggerating or counterfeiting the social issues. The television media is being a puppet used by the political parties for obtaining their benefits for this reason, they project what they want people to think. At some instances, Postman was very influencing but in order to convince the reader more evidences and real life examples would be required. Postman’s groundbreaking book, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business is about the devastating impact of television on the political and public discourse. Since now when television media is associated with various electronic media like the Internet, cell phones, etc. the importance of the book become more apparent. The book gives a prophetic look at the consequences when the entertainment provided by the media affects the serious political and religious issues. It is found that some people criticize the strength of arguments presented by the author rendering them weak and naïve while others praise the concept and ideology used by him in highlighting the issues related to the television media. Postman has said that presenting religion on television or discussion forums changes its theology, dogma, and ritual. Religion loses its focus and point when it is turned into entertainment through television media. The book can be useful for studying Islam because Islam and Muslims have been facing serious issues due to propaganda against Islam on American television media. Islam has also faced damaging effect due to media publicity for this reason, educators and students may also agree with the ideology presented by Postman in his book. The impact of this book on the academic studies of Islam is outstanding. The book gives a new perspective to the students and the teachers of the Islamic studies. The faculty of the academic studies has started viewing the broadcasting of Islamic teaching through different perspectives. The question whether the program concerning about Islam on the TV is a form of entertainment or a kind of knowledge is a much discussed question. In addition, Islamic movies, fashion, songs and website have become the subject of the Islamic studies. Works Cited Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. New York: Penguin Books, 2005. Read More