Postman Opportunity

1. I agree with Postman when he says “For on television, discourse is largely conducted through visual imagery, which is to say that television gives us a conversation in images, not words” on page 7. He says that when people try to communicate on television using images, it is not as successful as using words. Deciphering the message through images is much harder to understand than communication through words. When we used the white boards and tried to communicate with our classmates and teachers, they rarely knew what we were saying unless it was a simple question or answer. Like the white board, television cannot successfully and clearly show the viewers the message like words and speech can.
2. “The point I am leading to by this and the previous examples is that the concept of truth is intimately linked to the biases of the forms of expression” (Postman 22). I agree with him here because you cannot successfully communicate the exact point if you have an opinion that contradicts the truth. If a speaker has certain views and opinions on certain topics, they will bend other reasoning and counter arguments to fit their opinion and make their reasoning seem true. Changing around a couple words can change the entire meaning. For example, in the New International Version John 1:1 reads, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” However, when Jehovah’s Witnesses talk about John 1:1, they say ” In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God.” Adding not even a word, just a letter can change the whole meaning of the point you are trying to make.
3. Beginning in the sixteenth century, a great epistemological shift had taken place in which knowledge of every kind was transferred to, and made manifest through, the printed page” (Postman 33). I agree with Postman on this because books are very good mediums of knowledge. Any kind of print is usually easy to understand and can be deciphered if thought through properly. Writers can completely show the message they are trying to convey through written or printed word. For example, any book being read has a purpose or message that the reader can learn from or the book can teach them something they did not know.
4. “For one thing, its attention span would obviously have been extraordinary by current standards. Is there any audience of Americans today who can endure seven hours of talk? Or five? Or three?” (Postman 45). I completely agree with Postman’s point. Many people in the world today are so busy and always in a rush they barely have time to think. Since they are always running around and multitasking, they barely have any time to just relax. Any group of people from this century could definitely not sit through a three-hour speech, or even more extreme, a seven-hour speech. Most of them would not pay attention, fall asleep or be fooling around with something around them. For example, I as a student can sometimes barely sit through a forty-five minute class period. That is barely a fourth of a three-hour speech. People these days are always on the move and never want to sit and just think.
5. “Its language [the telegraph] was also entirely discontinuous. One message had no connection to that which preceded it or followed it. Each headline stood alone as its own context. The receiver of the news had to provide a meaning if he could… and because of all this, the world as depicted by the telegraph began to appear unmanageable, even undecipherable” (Postman 70). I agree with Postman when he says the telegraph was undecipherable. By just having the headlines, people did not know the back round story to what happened, why it happened, or what was actually being talked about. People were left to figure out the message all by themselves. This method of communication was very confusing and Americans could not get the truth out of the message like they were supposed to.
6. I agree with Postman when on page 90 he says, “Thinking does not play well on television, a fact that television directors discovered long ago.” Many people who watch television are lazy and just want to relax. They do not feel like thinking when they turn on the television. If a show that requires thinking and analyzing what is happening comes on some people change the channel just so they do not have to think. Television has changed our culture into many lazy people. TV directors have changed the way shows are displayed on television so people rarely have to think and they can just be entertained. The problem with this is no one learns to think on his or her own and rely on another person to figure out their problems for the viewers. For example, on the TV show, “CSI” viewers are never required to think for themselves because there is always someone to figure out the problem or mystery entertaining the viewer. All the viewer has to do is sit and watch.
7. “For there, we are presented not only with fragmented news but news without context, without consequences, without value and therefore without essential seriousness; that is to say, news as pure entertainment” (Postman 100). The news of today is very mixed up and is becoming less and less worthy to be on TV. Broadcasters show very unimportant news just to be a form of entertainment. They follow very important stories with Hollywood news that is not important at all and people just like hearing. For example, Fox 2 News could be talking about a serious crime or problem happening in Detroit, and following that newscast will be news about some Hollywood star getting out of rehab or going to jail. Sure, it is interesting, but it is not the most important thing in the world. People should be more informed about problems across the world rather than little mistakes made in Hollywood. The main goal of the news is to entertain, not to inform.
8. “I believe I am not mistaken in saying that Christianity is a demanding and serious religion when it is delivered as easy and amusing, it is another kind of religion altogether” (Postman 121). Christianity is a very demanding and serious religion. It is hard work to follow God’s law and be a good Christian. Christianity requires you to follow many rules, and work hard to form a beneficial relationship with God. Once people stop displaying the religion as difficult and show it as entertaining, they lose the entire message. The truth of the message disappears and worshipers do not understand the message. They receive a message that is made to be entertaining and not educational.
9. “The point is that television does not reveal who the best man is. In fact, television makes impossible the determination of who is better than whom, if we mean by ‘better’ such things as more capable in negotiation, more imaginative in executive skill, more knowledgeable about international affairs, more understanding of the interrelations of economic systems, and so on” (Postman 133-134). I agree with Postman’s point of not knowing the true candidate behind the television screen. Americans cannot determine who is the better candidate by a thirty second commercial. The candidates can explain what their goals are and how they want to change the United States, but voters cannot get the full view of the candidate through TV commercials. Viewers cannot successfully determine the one who will do best in office because the commercials are limitedly informative.
10. “They have argued that there must be a sequence to learning, that perseverance and a certain measure of perspiration are indispensable, that individual pleasures must frequently be submerged in the interests of group cohesion and that learning to be critical and to think conceptually and rigorously do not come easily to the young but are hard-fought victories” (Postman 146). I agree with Postman when he is talking about childhood education. Many kids need to be taught through working with others, working hard and never giving up. These are skills they will use forever and are very important. If they develop these skills when they are young, the harder tasks in life will be easier when they are older.