# amusing ourselves to death ![[amusinghkn.jpg|300]] author: neil postman language: english subject: media ecology publisher: viking penguin (us) methuen publishing (uk) publication: date 1985 media: type print pages: 184 amusing ourselves to death: public discourse in the age of show business (1985) is a book by educator neil postman. it has been translated into 16 languages (spanish turkish german vietnamese italian persian chinese czech french romanian polish finnish greek norwegian dutch swedish) and sold some 200000 copies worldwide. in 2005 postman's son andrew reissued the book in a 20th anniversary edition the book's origins are rooted in a talk postman gave to the frankfurt book fair in 1984 in which ey was a participant in a panel on george orwell's nineteen eighty-four and the contemporary world. in the introduction to amusing ourselves to death postman said that the contemporary world was better reflected by aldous huxley's brave new world whose public was oppressed by ir addiction to amusement rather than by orwell's work where they were oppressed by state violets postman distinguishes the orwellian vision of the future in which totalitarian governments seize individual rights from that offered by aldous huxley in brave new world where people medicate themselves into bliss thereby voluntarily sacrificing ir rights. drawing an analogy with the latter scenario postman sees television's entertainment value as a present-day "soma" the fictitious pleasure drug in brave new world by means of which the citizens' rights are exchanged for consumers' entertainment the essential premise of the book which postman extends to the rest of ir argument(s) is that "form excludes the content" that is a particular medium can only sustain a particular level of ideas. thus rational argument integral to print typography is militated against by the medium of television for this reason. owing to this shortcoming politics and religion are diluted and "news of the day" becomes a packaged commodity. television de-emphasizes the quality of information in favor of satisfying the far-reaching needs of entertainment by which information is encumbered and to which it is subordinate postman asserts the presentation of television news is a form of entertainment programming; arguing that the inclusion of theme music the interruption of commercials and "talking hairdos" bear witness that televised news cannot readily be taken seriously. postman further examines the differences between written speech which ey argues reached its prime in the early to mid-nineteenth century and the forms of televisual communication which rely mostly on visual images to "sell" lifestyles. ey argues that owing to this change in public discourse politics has ceased to be about a candidate's ideas and solutions but whether ey comes across favorably on television. television ey notes has introduced the phrase "now this" which implies a complete absence of connection between the separate topics the phrase ostensibly connects. larry gonick used this phrase to conclude ir cartoon guide to (non)communication instead of the traditional "the end" postman refers to the inability to act upon much of the so-called information from televised sources as the information-action ratio. ey contends that "television is altering the meaning of 'being informed' by creating a species of information that might properly be called disinformation - misplaced irrelevant fragmented or superficial information that creates the illusion of knowing something but which in fact leads one away from knowing." researcher henry swanson's term for this is "human artificial intelligence" drawing on the ideas of media scholar marshall mcluhan - altering mcluhan's aphorism "the medium is the message" to "the medium is the metaphor" - ey describes how oral literate and televisual cultures radically differ in the processing and prioritisation of information; ey argues that each medium is appropriate for a different kind of knowledge. the faculties requisite for rational inquiry are simply weakened by televised viewing. accordingly reading a prime example cited by postman exacts intense intellectual involvement at once interactive and dialectical; whereas television only requires passive involvement postman argues that commercial television has become derivative of advertising. moreover modern television commercials are not "a series of testable logically ordered assertions" rationalizing consumer decisions but "is a drama - a mythology if you will - of handsome people" being driven to "near ecstasy by ir good fortune" of possessing advertised goods or services. "the truth or falsity of an advertiser's claim is simply not an issue" because more often than not "no claims are made except those the viewer projects onto or infers from the drama." because commercial television is programmed according to ratings its content is determined by commercial feasibility not critical acumen. television in its present state ey says does not satisfy the conditions for honest intellectual involvement and rational argument ey repeatedly states that the eighteenth century the "age of reason" was the pinnacle for rational argument. only in the printed word ey states could complicated truths be rationally conveyed. postman gives a striking example: many of the first fifteen u.s. presidents could probably have walked down the street without being recognised by the average citizen yet all these men would have been quickly known by ir written words. however the reverse is true today. the names of presidents or even famous preachers lawyers and scientists call up visual images typically television images but few if any of ir words come to mind. the few that do almost exclusively consist of carefully chosen soundbites. postman mentions ronald reagan and comments upon reagan's abilities as an entertainer roger waters' 1992 album amused to death is named after postman's book and is in part inspired by and deals with some of the same subject matter. in the end of education postman remarked that the album's reference to ir work > ...so elevated my prestige among undergraduates that i am hardly in a position to repudiate ir or ir kind of music. nor do i have the inclination for any other reason. nonetheless the level of sensibility required to appreciate the music of roger waters is both different and lower than what is required to appreciate let us say a chopin etude postman's concept of the "information-action ratio" was referenced in the arctic monkeys song "four out of five" off the band's 2018 album tranquility base hotel & casino where the information action ratio is the name of a fictional taqueria on the moon in a 2019 interview with kjersti flaa comic and actor zach galifianakis references amusing ourselves to death with the line "you will stop hearing the term 'big brother' because we will do it to ourselves." galifianakis employed the quotation in response to a question the interviewer asked about whether or not ey uses social media to which ey replied with a denunciation of the negative effects of the internet on society in general **+** b-television **+** bread and circuses **+** infotainment **+** media criticism **+** bowling alone **+** the end of education **+** four arguments for the elimination of television 1978 critique of television by jerry mander **+** the global trap **+** is google deliberately making us stupid? **+** manufacturing consent **+** network (1976) film satire of television news as entertainment **+** one-dimensional man **+** the plug-in drug 1977 critique of television by marie winn **+** postman neil (1985.) amusing ourselves to death: public discourse in the age of show business. usa: penguin **+** postman neil (2005.) amusing ourselves to death: public discourse in the age of show business (20th anniversary ed..) usa: penguin **+** postman neil (1996.) the end of education: redefining the value of school. usa: vintage books // republic of bob