“Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Disclosure in the Age of Show Business.”
Introduction
This book by Neil Postman differentiates the vision by George Orwell in the Orwellian, whereby governments ruled by totalitarianism grab the rights of individuals. The author saw entertainment value brought about by television as a drug whereby in exchange for entertainment, individuals’ rights were snatched. The core and sole existence of this book is the proposition by the author that form shuts out content. This meant that a specific medium could only endure a certain level of recommendations and ideas. He, therefore, claimed that logical argument was distorted by the television medium (Postman, 2006). As a result, religion and politics also suffer the consequences of this as they become diluted. Television, therefore, understates information quality on the grounds of fulfilling entertainment needs. Postman in this book also recognized the works of the famous theorist in Media Marshall McLuhan, who is well known for the quote that “the medium is indeed the message.” The author agreed with Marshall as he saw that the quote made a lot of sense and was in line with his ideologies. He, therefore, echoed Marshall’s sentiments by saying that the embodiment of a medium plays a considerable role in determining its content (Postman, 2006). This meant that information mediums, including speech, sound, or even image, have an impact on the information that is being passed across. The author then talked about how discussion operated when the United States was just a culture of print. He claimed that since the form of communication had an impact on the content provided and that the culture of print was a logical communication form, the culture was thus reasonable and coherent. Postman further clarified that during the old times, debates conducted were very thoughtful and print being a monopolistic venture, the society, in general, was very literate. After that, came the various inventions and innovations in the form of telegraphs and photographs, which resulted in print losing its exclusive control. At this point, individuals had multiple ways of acquiring information, which, according to the author, was distorted, irrelevant, and lacked a particular context (Postman, 2006). With these new developments, came the television. When the Tv became all over the place, the author claims that cultural values that were always upheld started to decline. A discourse in the culture became evident with each new day that came. Since television is a mode of media that emphasizes entertainment, Postman claims that all info has now been turned into a show. This being the case, politics, religion, and culture, among others, are subjected to the directive that entertainment is the priority. The author then finalizes by accepting the fact that it is not easy to get rid of television and that this also should not be the case. Therefore, he suggests an alternative that the citizens of the United States should be conscious of the point that tv has the potential to do away with rationality. Therefore, once the citizens realize that today’s media owns such power over them, they would be able to endure the desire to “entertain themselves to the point of their death. The book, therefore, talks about how television has adversely impacted the magnitude of disclosure publicly in today’s America, with the media playing a huge role in this (Postman, 2006). The elements in the book that are treated with priority include the aspect of rationality and culture, which have been eroded by the arrival of television, among other means of entertainment. The book, however, does not discuss the need and importance of entertainment in today’s society as only the disadvantages of entertainment are highlighted. On this basis, the report will address the positive impact that this book by Postman, had on the academic Islam study specifically and also to religion in common.
Going more in-depth on the critical reflections of Postman’s book, according to (Cigelske, 2017), Postman wrote this book based on his own life experiences, which acted as a strength or support for combining the book. He was able to witness everything as it turned to show business. This included religion and politics, among others. Postman did not seem to precisely loath entertainment; no, this is not the case. He barely stressed how “show biz” was talking over all available parts of communication. It is evident in the book that television segments propped discussion of a monologue nature rather than dialogic. This, therefore, hinders society’s most important aspects, like reconciliation (Cigelske, 2017). In today’s society, issues from Postman’s book are more all over the place than ever before. In popular channels likes Fox News, individuals showed up in the news segments and also “talk” shows only to convey monologue. In the middle of social media and television, society today has become individuals of engaging monologue, and this is precisely what Postman’s book was talking about. The book, therefore, acted as a mirror to society’s malignancy in the form of communication (Cigelske, 2017). In his book, Postman was predictive of the culture on television. According to him, this was the culture of fast-moving images that were very distracting. Concerning the world, as we know today, tv culture has become quite ubiquitous. During the author’s time, the United States president was considered a star of Hollywood. Laughable, I know, but this was the case. In today’s world, the president depends on tv ratings to get reelected. This brings rise to the question of whether we, as a society, are entertaining ourselves up to the point of death, as the book suggests (Cigelske, 2017). While reading the book, it is clear that the reader will tend to agree with everything that is being said since they relate to today’s society.
However, the biggest weakness of the book is that almost the entire book, meaning more than 90% of it is focused on the problems and issues related to communication and television, among other related things (Cigelske, 2017). The solutions to these issues are, therefore, less than a quarter of the book. This does not give the reader more insight into the solutions that address the problem, which he states. According to the author, the only way out of this problem was through education. However, he did not give out specifics on the same. On the book’s last page, he is seen writing that the educationists have not yet answered the question as to how education could be utilized in the control of tv (Postman, 2006). The author knew that putting all hopes in education was a desperate move but reasoned out that it was the only move available. According to (Cigelske, 2017), the solution to this problem could be quite easy through shifting of education’s focus from utilization to creation. This means that when individuals are in the process of creating something, information is not aimlessly consumed and stored. The aspect of critical thinking is the primary focus here since it results in new neural pathways to individuals’ brains during the creation process. This, therefore, means that to prevent entertaining their selves up to the point of death, people should halt the process of consumption and engage in creation with the future in mind (Cigelske, 2017). According to (Warner, 2006) apart from education, the creation of various programs in television to demonstrate to the society how the tv is to be viewed and how id distorts and creates the concept of politics, religion, and economics among other aspects anew is also a way forward (Warner, 2006). An important fact to note at this point is that the language used by the author Neil Postman in his book promoted inclusivity in the essence that he rallied all people together, both men, women and even children to reclaim their ways of information and help diminish the role of television in show business since together as a team, the chances of success were much higher.
In conclusion, the impact that this book by Postman, had on the academic Islam study specifically and also to religion in common was positive, including the fact that it addressed the role of television in religion and called out for changes to be implemented. According to the book, religion was portrayed merely as entertainment. Postman singled out the preachers who used television as a platform for their service, claiming that this medium was a foe to religious experience (Postman, 2006). He further contended that alteration of the expression form played a huge role in altering its meaning and value. A good example given here is that preaching to an individual face to face was quite different from hearing a sermon on tv. Postman, therefore, concluded that religion, which was televised, transformed its meaning and purpose (Postman, 2006). The author supported this statement by saying that all the influential religious leaders of the past, including Jesus Christ and Moses, did not offer individuals what they desired, but rather what they needed. Television, on the other hand, was unsuitable to giving individuals what they needed since it was termed as “very friendly to the user” in that it could be turned off at any point and that it was only enticing through its use of efficient visual imagery. He, therefore, called on religion to avoid the tv platform.