Transcript Media as Epistemology

Neil Postman,(1931-2004), Former Chair
Culture and Communications Department
New York University
Amusing Ourselves to Death
Chapter 2
Media as Epistemology
What are Postman’s fundamental arguments ?
• Media function as epistemology
What are Postman’s fundamental arguments ?
• Every medium of communication has "resonance.”
What Is Resonance?
“It is stated that a phrase, statement, character,
person, idea of concept can have a certain
resonance when it moves beyond its original
meaning or purpose and moves into new and
unexpected contexts.”
the power of an idea, book or phrase, or even
a country, to develop itself until it becomes
emblematic for a variety of experiences
What Does It Mean To Say…”
“…through resonance a particular statement
in a particular context acquires a universal
significance.”
One slang sense is “controlled,
cautious or discreet”, which was
fashionable in the early 1950s
• “stay cool”
• “keeping a cool head.”
Teen Culture – 1961
Linked with Identity
and Social Power
"We shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all
people are upon us.“
Governor Winthrop,
a founder of the Massachusetts colony,
• "Proclaim Liberty throughout all the
land unto all the inhabitants thereof."
The torch is a symbol of enlightenment.
The Statue of Liberty'storch lights the way to freedom
showing us the path to Liberty.
Even the Statue's official name represents
her most important symbol "Liberty Enlightening the World"
“I've spoken of the shining city all my political life, but I don‘
know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said it.
But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger
than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming
with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city
with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity.
And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the
doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get
here.”
Ronald Reagan
Farewell Address to the Nation
1989.
“Let us keep them before
us now – like a torch, like
a beacon – even as we
mourn and grieve.
For if we are steadfast we
know that, by the grace
of God, no darkness, no
evil can ever extinguish
that beacon of hope.”
Freedom
Liberty
Experiment in
Religious
Freedom
American
Experience
Hope
"Disneyland is youth land. Here age relives
fond memories of the past and here youth
may savor the challenge and promise of the
future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals
and the dreams and the hard facts
that have created America with the hope that it will
be a source of joy and inspiration to all
the world.”
July 17, 1955
Theme
Parks
Family
Steamboat Willie
Small Animation
Studio
American
Experience
Hope
News
Religion
Education
Politics
News
Religion
Education
Politics
What are Postman’s fundamental arguments ?
•Every medium of communication has "resonance.”
• A culture's beliefs (e.g. their "truth") is influenced
by the available means of expression or
communication.
What Does It Mean To Say…”
“…definitions of truth are derived , at least in
part, from the character of the media of
communication through which information is
conveyed.”
“the concepts of truth is intimately linked to
the biases of forms of expression.”
I think this epistemological axiom is interesting –
“Seeing is believing.” Postman is right, we do
always say this phrase or believe in it, yet never do
we say “saying is believing,” “reading is believing,”
etc. I think this was a really good way for Postman to
describe the shift in our culture from typography to
television.”
Amber Krosel
fourOne7
Class of 06
Age of Speech
How were definitions of the truth influenced
by the dominant medium of communication?
Listening is Believing
Age of Print
How were definitions of the truth influenced
by the dominant medium of communication?
Reading is Believing
Age of Television
How were definitions of the truth influenced
by the dominant medium of communication?
Watching or Seeing is Believing
From Postman’s vantage point is
listening, reading, and seeing the
same epistemologically?
Why might an oral culture be less
inclined to devalue the aged like our
culture does?
The Digital Age
How might our definitions of truth be influenced by
the dominant medium of communication?
Is seeing believing with the advent of
digital imaging?
In the age of electronic text is reading
always believing?
Voices From The Front
“It was a harmless game to us…but think
about it…that messages can be changed and
than resent and redistributed..”
David Hammond
fourOne7
Class of 1994
In the O.J. Simpson trial in 1994 did the
medium for communicating evidence
influence the jury’s perception of the truth?
In the O.J. Simpson trial did the medium for
communicating evidence influence person’s
perception of the truth?
• Oral Discourse (the spoken word)
• The Visual Image (Televisual Evidence)
• DNA (Technical/Scientific Evidence)
In the O.J. Simpson trial did the medium for
communicating evidence influence person’s
perception of the truth?
• The Visual Image
(Visual &Televisual Evidence)
Inside OJ's bedroom a pair of dark colored blood
spotted socks lay on the rug. Luggage straps lay
across OJ's bed.
In the O.J. Simpson trial did the medium for
communicating evidence influence person’s
perception of the truth?
• The Visual Image (Televisual Evidence)
• DNA (Technical/Scientific Evidence)
Blood evidence was found in
Simpson's white Bronco
Blood found on Bronco
Driver Door Interior #23
Match – Simpson
• Blood found on Bronco
instrument panel #24*
• Match -- Simpson
• Blood found on Bronco
instrument panel #25*
• Match -- Simpson
• Blood found on the
steering wheel #29
Match --
• Simpson, and Brown
(a mixture)
•
Blood evidence was found in Simpson's white Bronco
• Blood found on the center
console #30
• Blood found on the center
console #31
• Blood found on driver's side
wall #34
• Match -- Simpson
• Simpson and Goldman (a
mixture
• Match -- Simpson
In the O.J. Simpson trial did the medium for
communicating evidence influence person’s
perception of the truth?
• The Oral Argument
Oral Discourse (the spoken word)
What are Postman’s fundamental arguments ?
•Every medium of communication has "resonance.”
•Mediums of communication influence what "resonates"
within a culture.
• A culture's beliefs (e.g. their "truth") is influenced by the
available means of expression or communication.
A new medium of communication changes the form
or structure of public discourse. When the form or
structure of public discourse is altered the content
is altered.
VISUAL
IMMEDIACY
EMOTIONAL
DRAMATIC
(of in the form of narrative)
SIMPLE
NOVEL
Channeling Neil Postman
Voices from the Front
• “I do not like this comparison, has my mind
been corrupted because I choose to watch
the news rather than read the newspaper. I
don’t think so, but I’m sure Neil Postman
does.”
“I disagree with Postman when he talks about how
(referring to television) when a river gets polluted,
you cannot reverse its effects. He makes it sound
like television is the worst thing that could happen
to society, but what about anything else that makes
society bad. Some of what television does for us is
a good thing and we can use television for its good
things. It is here to stay so why not try to make it
better. (28)
David Smith
fourOne7
Class of 06
Voices from the Front
“I don’t understand what Postman means by
the concept of resonance.”
Resonance
“It’s similar to putting a drop of food coloring
in a glass of clean water. The water does not
immediately turn blue, rather the color slowly
flows through the water.”
Voices from the Front
• In the river analogy, what does Postman
mean when he says the TV pollutes public
communication?
“the river does not disappear, nor does all of
its uses, but its value has been seriously
diminished and its degraded condition will
have harmful effects through-out the
landscape.”
Neil Postman
If the book is entitled
Amusing Ourselves
To Death.
What Is Dying?
Channeling Neil Postman
• “I would argue that “news of the day” has become
polluted by the biases of television. Our political
discourses, e.g. presidential debates, have
become polluted by television. Think about the
nature of a debate in school in which the
fundamental medium is oral communication.
But let me ask you this…
How is a debate on television similar to but
very different from debate as it was originally
conceived and practiced?
Voices From The Front
“Chapter two was rather hard to understand because
at times Postman slammed how television was just
plain junk.”
The best things on television are junk," Postman
says in Chapter why does he feel that the best
things on television are junk?
j
Junk = Not Serious
Channeling Neil Postman
• “By junk television I mean television which does not
have a serious purpose. You should not confuse my
personal beliefs about the quality of television with
the nature of my argument. How one chooses to
entertain and amuse oneself is not central to my
argument. If we want to call programs such as
Survivor “reality programming” I think that is rather
foolish, but or no particular consequence. But if we
want to call programs such as 48 hours “news” or
reality programming, that should concern us.”
Voices From The Front
“Does Uncle Neil not realize that something
said on the news is written, rewritten and
revised by people more intelligent than he?”
Channeling Neil Postman
• I would certainly hope that our media would seek
to find our “best and our brightest” to be our
“newstellers” and “truthtellers.”
Furthermore let me ask you this….
Suppose, we have all these intellegent people
constructing the news, how might the medium
they work in constrain the expression of their
intelligence?”
But let me ask you this….
But I wonder if a person’s ability to think, to reason,
to argue, to write are the most important criteria
we use in selecting our “truth-tellers.” What do
you think?
Channeling Neil Postman
• “I would hope you could continue to watch as
much news as possible, you will be a more
informed citizen, you will be in a better position to
to become more socially conscious and informed
communication professional.”
But let me ask you this…..
• But, when time permits try to deepen your
understanding of what interests you by
affording yourself the opportunity that good
newspapers, good books, and good
magazines furnishes us.” What can be gained
from the print medium, that generally can not
be gained from television?
“Technology education does not imply a
negative attitude toward technology. It does
imply a critical attitude. To be against
technology makes no more sense that to be
against food. We can’t live without
either…Technology education aims at
students learning about what technology
helps us to do and what it hinders us from
doing.”
Neil Postman
The End of Education
Channeling Neil Postman
• “You should not confuse my personal,
political and religious beliefs or my uses of
television with the nature of my argument. I
love to watch movies and sports. We are
only seduced by television when we believe
that we can be an informed citizens, if we
rely only on television to learn about our
world”
But let me ask you this….
Do you believe you can be an informed citizen
if you rely only on television for you
information about the world?
Voices From The Front
• “but why have some shows like
Entertainment Tonight and ad 48 Hours
become so reliable.”
Voices From The Front
• Is this a critical perspective on the influence
of television on social behavior as a whole?
• Isn’t Postman’s criticism really directed at
the way television functions in our society
and not at the medium of television per se?
• Is this a critical perspective on the television
industry and television professionals?
What do you think?
Is Postman’s first concern the content of
messages or the form of the medium?
Voices From The Front
“At the end of the chapter, Postman makes
himself seem more human by admitting to the
pleasures television has to offer. I am starting
to give more credibility to his ideas now that I
know he gives in to the seduction of
television.”
“Lets sit down and think a little bit more
carefully about what you just said. You
appear to be judging the credibility of my
arguments based on feeling an affinity with
me personally, rather than evaluating the
nature of my argument.”
“Professor Kasch, has told me that there is is this
new tool which students use to decide which
classes and professors to take, but that the
majority of the brief asssessment do not even
mention learning.”
• She is extremely nice and very helpful. She is a
pretty easy grader
• He is the nicest professor here.
• Plus he really annoyingly sounds like a race
announcer.
• As BORING as communication tends to be
sometimes…she makes it fun.
• The class was pretty easy and she wasn't a really
hard grader.
• I loved her, i thought she was fun.
• Minimum effort=Easy A! Sweet!!
And I think I disagree...
Postman seems to contradict himself when
he says that “…at no point do I care to claim
that changes in media bring about change in
the structures of people’s minds or change
in their cognitive capabilities.” Isn’t the
whole book about the changes out society
has gone through due to the effects of
television?
MEDIUM
MESSAGE
MIND
CULTURE
No Causal or Direct Relationships
What Is Intelligence?
Intelligence is the ability to understand an
ever widening series of interrelationships
•
•
•
•
Public Discourse
The Televisual Medium
The Biases of the Televisual Medium
The Substance of Messages
Emanating From Public Discourse
• The Ways People Perceive and Think
About Their World
Voices From The Front
“He says that oral people are not less
developed intellectually than writing people,
and that television people are not less
intellectual than writing people, and that his
argument is limited to saying that the shift
changes only the structure of public
discourse….so I do not understand whether
he believes that the shift is positive or not.”
“Or is Postman referring to the
idea that print now has to take on
some of the characteristics of
television in order to survive as a
medium”
What Does It Mean To Say?
Mediums Influence Epistemology
The Process By How We Come To Know
Voices From The Front
Why are mediums like different mirrors?
“stupidity is accomplished with the larynx,
tongue, lips, and teeth; which is to say, stupidity is
chiefly embodied in talk. It is true enough that our
ways of talking are controlled by the way we
manage our minds, and no one is quite sure what
the mind is. But we are sure that the main
expression of mind is sentences. When we are
thinking, we are mostly arranging sentences in our
head. When we are thinking stupidly, we are
arranging stupid sentences. The word in a word,
brings forth the act….the curriculum must be
thought of as releasing students from the pain of
badly practicing stupid talk and being victimized
by it.”
Neil Postman
Amusing Ourselves To Death