chapter3、4

bookrain

In Chapter 3 "Typographic America" and Chapter 4 "The Typographic Mind" of Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman delves deep into the crucial role of the printing press in shaping American culture and ways of thinking, as well as how this influence gradually declined with the passage of time, which is thought-provoking.

During the era dominated by the printing press, American society highly valued reading, which permeated every aspect of people's lives. Since the colonial period, immigrants had closely connected reading with religion, politics, and social life. At that time, books, newspapers, and pamphlets were widely disseminated, and people were enthusiastic about participating in knowledge discussion activities. For example, during the Lincoln-Douglas debates, the audience could patiently listen to complex and lengthy discourses, demonstrating extraordinary concentration and comprehension. This was attributed to the rational thinking and the pursuit of knowledge cultivated by the print culture. The print culture made public discourse serious, rational, and orderly. People exchanged ideas, explored issues, and pursued the truth through words.

However, with the advent of the television era, everything changed dramatically. Television, centered around images and entertainment, shattered the rational discourse system established by the printing press. Religious programs became like entertainment shows, political campaigns degenerated into image packaging and advertising, and education also became entertainment-oriented. For instance, "Sesame Street" made children love television rather than school. Television's "Now... this" mode fragmented and disordered information, making it difficult for the public to form coherent thoughts.

Today, we live in an era of information explosion, with an endless stream of new media emerging. Looking back on the era of the printing press, we should reflect on the problems brought about by the current entertainment trend. We cannot be completely dominated by entertainment. We need to maintain a critical thinking attitude towards information, improve our media literacy, and avoid falling into the trap of "amusing ourselves to death". Only in this way can we stay sober in the flood of information, not lose ourselves, and safeguard the depth and value of culture.