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Postman and Johnson

Early on in Amusing Ourselves to Death, the author Neil Postman writes: 

"It’s great to be an entertainer. Indeed, in America God favors all those who possess both a talent and a format to amuse, whether they be preachers, athletes, entrepreneurs, politicians, teachers or journalists. In America, the least amusing people are its professional entertainers." 

"There is no shortage of critics who have observed and recorded the dissolution of public discourse in America and its conversion into the arts of show business. But most of them, I believe, have barely begun to tell the story of the origin and meaning of this descent into a vast triviality."

What was true when Postman wrote this book in 1985 is true today as well. Everyone is either a visual learner or has to deal with people who are. With that being said, there is no room for robust dialogue or probing ideas for deeper understanding. If you were able to grasp the one concept conveyed in one visual then you are good to do. When an Infographic becomes the most erudite medium of communication, it is no surprise that we all wallow in the "vast triviality" that the author speaks of.

It was interesting to read his take on clocks, the printing press and also eyeglasses. Since some of the same ideas surface in Steven Johnson's Six Innovations that Made the Modern World, one might surmise Postman inspired Johnson to take these ideas through his own narrative arc.

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