Amusing Ourselves to Death

Reader Response:

This is the first argument type of reading that I have read that has not been in the form of an essay. “Amusing ourselves to Death” really put a lot of notions that I already understood into perspective. I myself was already in compliance that television and computers have shown a definite change in our society in several ways. By focusing on the past (the time of typography) the author was very effective in presenting his argument. By doing this Postman “covered all of the bases” so to speak as far as supporting his argument.
This book had much strength. In forming his approach to each of his arguments, Postman makes historical comparisons to media in the past versus today. This was appropriate as it established a defined contrast between what the world was like when typography was the dominating media and presently, which is television. All historical references were cited, as much of the information was not common knowledge, which is important when making a case. I think that by presenting a well-researched idea, Postman is portraying himself more credibly. This made it easier for me to be persuaded by his ideas.
His reference to Marshall McLuhan also strengthened his argument. McLuhan is a highly acclaimed theorist who, like him or not, similarly knows how to present a well-rounded argument. It was therefore wise of Postman to use him as a support. It was interesting how Postman altered the famous McLuhan theory, ‘the medium is the message,’ with his own insight, which was referred to as ‘the medium is the metaphor.’ By phrasing his idea this way, he separated himself from McLuhan, a hard media determinist, presenting himself as a soft media determinist.