That was a great thread, I actually remembered the gist when you mentioned it (assuming this is what you had in mind Tom), and went back and read through it (3/26/2005 to 4/3/2005).
I don’t know about papa Postman, but Kevin makes an observation about the current president which is as accurate today as it was 12 years ago. Tom (Wolper) initially brought up Postman. I include below his post, and the contribution by our old Chief. ********************* *Kevin Marousek, *RPCV <[email protected]>. 3/31/05 (SNIP) You see flashes of culture on TV, and not just in snooty documentaries. I submit Jon Stewart's "Daily Show" is an example of a culturally minded series in that it can provoke viewers and get them thinking while making them laugh. People seem to ascribe high-brow characteristics to cultural or artistic ideals, but to me that seems way off base. I find the tastes and behaviors of the modern upper class to be completely lacking in culture. Jeff Foxworthy's stereotypical redneck ("an absence of sophistication") has more cultural awareness than someone like Donald Trump. In the dictionary, culture is defined as, "the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties especially by education." Nothing Donald Trump ever said or done has proven him to be either intellectual or moral... quite the opposite, in fact. *Tom Wolper* <[email protected]> 3/26/05 I'm another one who doesn't have cable/satellite. The thing that interests me in this list is the effect of television on our culture and people here, deliberately or not, touch on this in almost every thread. People here also think about how TV shows are made, scheduled, and marketed. TV is a notoriously passive medium. If you want me to back this up, read Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death." When I talk socially to people who watch lots and lots of TV I don't hear an active voice from them. They tend to accept what is in front of them and they don't want to think about it or discuss it any deeper. *Aaron Barnhart* <[email protected]>. 3/28/05 By the way, I'm teaching a community extension type course on TV, and I've included Postman as part of the curriculum. Well, after doing this class twice, I've decided I want to make Postman the centerpiece of the course. Postman has no quarrel with people who use television as an entertainment device; people who think he does must be confusing him with the useless Jerry Mather. What Postman says is that the nature of electronic media, and especially television (but this quality can be traced back to the invention of the telegraph), is that it promotes irrelevant information that in turn promotes political impotence and leads to incomprehension ... which are disturbing developments in a democracy that was premised on the self-informed voter. *Tom Wolper* <[email protected]>. 3/28/05 (SNIP) let’s make the correction here. Jerry Mander wrote "Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television." Jerry Mathers was the Beaver. On Fri, Feb 3, 2017 at 2:38 PM, Tom Wolper <[email protected]> wrote: > In the early days of this group we discussed Neil Postman's book Amusing > Ourselves to Death. This morning I ran across this op-ed by Neil's son > Andrew in the Guardian and thought I would share it: > > > > > *My dad predicted Trump in 1985 – it's not Orwell, he warned, it's Brave > New > Worldhttps://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/feb/02/amusing-ourselves-to-death-neil-postman-trump-orwell-huxley > <https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/feb/02/amusing-ourselves-to-death-neil-postman-trump-orwell-huxley>* > > -- > -- > TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "TV or Not TV" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected] > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/tvornottv?hl=en --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
