Television, and Image, and Postman! Oh my!

I like watching Larry King Live on CNN (get over it), and a while back he had one of my favorite comedians on the show, Lewis Black. Lewis Black made a joke about presidential elections, in which he stated that he’d like these presidential candidates to sit in a room and take a math test (a poking to the notion that many potential nominees try to appeal to passion and charisma, rather than the human intellect). We all know that in the “Age of Show Business”, we generally prioritize public image and physical appeal. We’d rather something entertain us and appeal to our passions than have something educate us appeal to our intellect. Now, I generalize of course, but this is quite common.

Today we don’t expect to hear a presidential candidate talk for hours on end, & we want plain language (both aurally and visually, according to Postman in the beginning of Chapter 4 in Amusing Ourselves to Death). That’s a tragic truth of the age of television. Also, according to Postman, the Gettysburg Address would probably have been largely incomprehensible to a 1985 audience [Postman, around the beginning of Chapter 4]. The reason could be that our language is a reflection of our culture. In the typographic culture, reading was the only form of exposition, and there were no visual presentations, no public image, and no appeal to passion. In fact, Postman suggested that print put forward a definition of intelligence that gave priority to the objective, rational use of the mind… [Postman, Middle of Chapter 4].

In a culture that adores entertainment, and where television has become an alternative to reading, can it be that our use of language has changed? That is, generally speaking, do you think that the majority of us look into something that is more visually appealing? Or something that appeals to us on a non intellectual level? Making this more of a “popular” thing? Of course, I may be wrong. And you can correct me on anything. But, if this really is the age of television, can that attribute to the fact that public image is so very important to us, as Postman suggests? If you deny that public image is important, question yourself. Why do you like your favorite actors? Would you hang out with a person who seemed unattractive to you? Is John McCain WAY too old? Do you stop listening to a certain band when you realize the lead singer didn’t look like you wished him to?


My conclusions may be far from the truth. I just thought this was an interesting matter. Now where’s that remote…