Age of Show Business: Amusing Ourselves to Death, Chapter 6

Intro Ch. 1 Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 4 {pt 1} Ch. 4 {pt 2} Ch. 5 Ch. 6 Ch. 7 
Ch. 8 Ch. 9 {pt 1} Ch. 9 {pt 2} Ch. 10 Ch. 11

Two articles of interest: Reviving the Art of Observation, or How to End the Age of Inattention and You Won't Remember This Article, or Anything Else You Read Online, Unless You Print It Out

I'll make a note really quick here that I have read Brave New World by Huxley and boy howdy! it was a twisted look at where societies are going. I was quite frankly disturbed when I started reading the book, from the first or second chapter, to the end. I was so affected at first that I thought I would not finish the book. After some thinking, and wise words from others on the Ambleside Online forum, I persevered through the end. I think it is perfectly fine to read Amusing Ourselves to Death without having read Brave New World. And if you should decide against reading Brave New World, I would not blame you. I would direct you to a quick review of this book at the Ink Slinger, not because I think it is an especially well-done review {but I do think it is a good one} but because of its brevity. He sums it up without a bunch of details. You'll get the gist of it, I think.

Part II, Chapter 6 The Age of Show Business

Television. Just about every house has one or more. In our house we have two televisions {we also have three computers, two tablets and two ereaders which are used much more than the television}. How many uses can you think of for the television? Personally, I came up with two: watching it for what it is and using the top for a shelf. In this chapter Postman starts with the many uses of the television. It can be used as a 'lamp' (if it is muted and you turn your back to it), a 'radio' (just listen to it without watching it), a 'bookshelf' (this is in reference to the rather large 1960s and 1970s television sets), and an 'electronic billboard' (turn to the channel that is simply script).

Aha! The last one shows the television can be used to further the literate tradition. It can be seen as an extension of typography! Right? Uh, no. Postman says to think this of the television is fairly delusional. It is rather an extension of the telegraph and the photograph. In fact, in chapter 5, Postman said that the telegraph and photograph were an assault to typography so to see television as an extension of typography is in short, crazy. That is my word not Postman's. 

Postman goes on to explain why television can't be thought of as an extension. In short, technology is a machine. A medium is the social and intellectual environment created by a machine. Technology cannot truly be neutral; it is inherently predisposed to be used in a certain way and not in other ways. An example is the printing press. It can be said that the printing press was created for the purpose of the written language. It wasn't invented and then a use discovered. It doesn't generally work that way.

Just what is television? For the sake of the book Postman was writing, television is a medium created by the machine (technology). In America the "liberal democracy and relatively free market economy" spurred the programs on television at an alarming rate. Interestingly, the shows from America were in high demand the world over during this time. Postman lists some popular shows {know any of them?}: "Gunsmoke", "Bonanza", "Star Trek", "Dallas", and "Dynasty". Roughly 100,000 to 200,000 hours of US programs were exported to countries around the world. As the demand for US programs increased, the moral and political prestige of the US decreased worldwide. The world liked the US tv shows, not necessarily the US. 

How does it look today?

Of television George Bernard Shaw said it must be beautiful if you cannot read. It is fast, flashy, and bright. "Television offers viewers a variety of subject matter, requires minimal skills to comprehend it, and is largely aimed at emotional gratification. (pg 86)" That television is entertaining isn't being disputed nor is it the issue being presented by Postman. What is the issue? The issue is that all subject matter sent through television is presented as entertainment. 

Television is visual. It is for viewing and not necessarily "for education, reflection or catharsis. (pg 88)" Having not watched a news program myself for quite some time, I'd have to agree with Postman's observations of past broadcasts that it's all for show. The news people are inviting; they are visually appealing, and their words belie the gravity of the news they present. Postman does caution against being critical of those who work in television because they are simply working within the medium.

The next pages (88-90) cover a "discussion" broadcast November 20, 1983, on ABC. I can only assume it was to be over the use of nuclear power. Having been only 5.5 years old myself, I have no recollection of this event. I gather it was a joke to call this a "discussion" at all. Each man was given an allotted time to talk. There was no real discussion. "There were no arguments or counterarguments, no scrutiny of assumptions, no explanations, no elaborations, no definitions. (pg 90)" There was none of the usual "discussion" elements in this because to allow such aspects would show uncertainty, or the act of thinking. "Thinking does not play well on television..." Postman goes on to reference some shows that did attempt to facilitate intellectual discussions, showing participants in the act of thinking. "Firing Line", "Meet the Press", and "The Open Mind" are the mentioned. However, these shows were not {are not?} the norm.

Personally I don't regret not having television in the sense that many have it. We have no channels and no reception for the two boxes that hold the screen where we normally watch movies and documentaries that we rent. I am sure there are shows in more abundance today than in Postman's day that attempt to get discussions going. Yet even those rely on the entertainment value to bring and keep viewers. They show the popular individuals and the best (or better) looking ones. 

"Television is our culture's principal mode of knowing about itself. (pg 92)" I was going to argue that the internet has replaced this but really it just feeds television. Television can be watched via the internet. Internet is not a new medium in the sense that television was new from typography. Now if we were to talk about social media and texting, we could point to an altering, yet again, of public discourse. But Postman didn't have those in his day.

Here is an excellent excerpt:

"As typography once dictated the style of conducting politics, religion, business, education, law and other important social matters, television now takes command. In courtrooms, classrooms, operating rooms, board rooms, churches and even airplanes, Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas; they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials. (pg 92-93)"

Postman uses the rest of the chapter to drive home his point. He gives examples of how those in the church, the schools, the corporate world, the hospitals, and more are relying more on entertainment through television to conduct their business and life. "Our priests and presidents, our surgeons and lawyers, our educators and newscasters need to worry less about satisfying the demands of their discipline than the demands of good showmanship. (pg 98)" What do educators say nowadays? It's not how you teach but what they learn. {My stance? How you teach does indeed directly affect what they learn.}

One example Postman gave, of the Amish in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, stood out to me since I see Amish frequently where we live. The Pennsylvania Amish are not 'allowed' to watch movies or be photographed, according to Postman. During the filming of Witness, in 1984, many Amish clipped photographs of Harrison Ford and dashed off to watch the filming. One Amish woman naively stated that "it doesn't mean anything to us. (pg 96)" Her response shows how so many did not, and still do not understand the consequence of television and electronics. If you read Brave New World it does indeed look like that is the way the world is going. It, being television but more recently electronics with entertainment still the main focus, will dictate our world.   

Next time, Chapter 7 "Now...This"