Postman

Postman, in the last paragraph of chapter 11, makes the distinction between the Age of Exposition and the Age of Show Business. He explains that now, in the Age of Show Business, as a result of entertainment, we laugh at things we do not understand, and we laugh at things that have no context and teach us nothing. In the Age of Exposition, people were entertained in their learning, while today we are not, and it negatively effects our intelligence and literacy. The example in the last paragraph referring to our laughter relates perfectly to Postman's premise that he has argued throughout the book: our entertainment is free of logic, and our obsession with entertainment is antagonistically impacting the attention span and acuity of our society today.

Communication Breakdown

On Friday, I remember having a hard time answering questions in my math class when Ms. Reick would look at me to answer. Not only was I frustrated with myself because I could not communicate even the most obvious answer, but she became frustrated with me also. She became so flustered with the class that she could not take the silence anymore, and told us all that we could talk in her class. This incident reminds me of Postman's point in the second chapter of the book where he discusses oral discussion showing truth in African culture. Without oral communication, they would not know truth or communication. This is relatable in society today. Postman seems to fear that we are straying away from all forms of communication except for communication through technology, which would be detrimental to our society, and even answering simple questions in school would become incredibly difficult. Maybe he has a point, maybe the medium really is the message.

Postman's Point

In both his novel Amusing Ourselves to Death, and in his interview, Postman discusses how society becomes more reliant on electronics and technology as time goes on. In his book, he compares our society to the bustling city of Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, which is consumed in technology. He argues that people are becoming "pets" to their electronics. Technological advancements such as facebook and texting entertain us, but at what cost? He goes on to talk about, in his speech and in his novel, how these new ways of conversing are hardly advancements, and actually have set human kind back, and that not all advancements are actually beneficial to society.
In his novel, Postman also writes about how society's morals have tanked as a result of technology. For example, we have become more obsessed with physical appearance as a result of technology. He argues that news anchors are more concerned with how they look and their make up than with the news that they report. Also, he discusses cloning. He states that we started with monkeys, sheeps, and frogs, but that humans are the next step. The thought that our society believes that cloning is the proper response if anything at all goes wrong with a person's body is morally pathetic.