Millions of people around the world sit down in front of their television set and are told that “For the next hour, sit quietly and we will control all that you see and hear”. But this seemingly absorbing lead into a popular science fiction TV show is actually telling the truth. What the unsuspecting audience is being fed is chilling. “What is dangerous about television is not its junk, it is that television is transforming all serious public business into junk” (449 P4) In addition, the realities of life are being rewritten by clever writers to entertain and amuse in their quest for the highest Nielson ratings and your mind. The written word is being replaced by the imagery of television that entertains and engrosses us to the point that our culture is in jeopardy of amusing itself to death.
In a speech given at the Frankfurt Germany Book Fair, titled "Amusing Ourselves to Death", writer Neil Postman, a graduate of the State University of New York and Columbia University asserts death of the intellectual man, because of their obsession of the television. Postman dramatically establishes his premise through a comparison of two notable literary authors George Orwell and Aldous Huxley and their dark prophesies of the evolution of man’s attitudes. Postman illustrates Huxley’s forewarnings through the phenomenon of television. Examples by …show more content…
He begins by setting the stage by invoking the great literary works of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. Both of these great authors wrote novels prophesizing the plight of future civilizations. He skillfully details the opinions of these literary greats and provides a recap of their “dark and chilling” predictions for the future of literature. “Orwell predicted a ban on books while Huxley fear that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read
In a speech given at the Frankfurt Germany Book Fair, titled "Amusing Ourselves to Death", writer Neil Postman, a graduate of the State University of New York and Columbia University asserts death of the intellectual man, because of their obsession of the television. Postman dramatically establishes his premise through a comparison of two notable literary authors George Orwell and Aldous Huxley and their dark prophesies of the evolution of man’s attitudes. Postman illustrates Huxley’s forewarnings through the phenomenon of television. Examples by …show more content…
He begins by setting the stage by invoking the great literary works of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. Both of these great authors wrote novels prophesizing the plight of future civilizations. He skillfully details the opinions of these literary greats and provides a recap of their “dark and chilling” predictions for the future of literature. “Orwell predicted a ban on books while Huxley fear that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read