Summary: "the Medium Is the Metaphor" by Neil Postman

Summary: The Medium is the Metaphor by Neil Postman

"The Medium is the Metaphor," is the title of the first chapter of, "Amusing Ourselves to Death," a book written by Neil Postman in the 1980's. The chapter opens with Postman pointing out that at different times in history different cities have stood as a symbol, or metaphor, of the American spirit because of the value or idea that the city represented at that time.

For Postman, Boston, the city where our forefathers called for independence, represents the American spirit in the 18th century. Later, Postman argues that in the 19th century, American spirit shifted to the city of Chicago, which for him represents "the industrial energy and dynamism of America."

Postman believes that our society has now reached a point where "we must look to the city of Las Vegas, Nevada, as a metaphor of our national character and aspiration." He believes that Las Vegas, a city that is entirely about entertainment, is the appropriate metaphor for America in the 1980's because it "proclaims the spirit of a culture in which all public discourse increasingly takes the form of entertainment."

Postman validates the appropriateness of his above assertion by sharing his concerning observation that, "our politics, religion, news, athletic, education and commerce have been transformed into congenial adjuncts of show business, largely without protest or even much popular notice. The result is that we are a people on the verge of amusing ourselves to death."

The author next expands our understanding of this argument by providing examples of how advertising, politics and news have been significantly altered into forms of entertainment which are much more suited for our main media source of information, the television.

Postman points out that, "American businessmen discovered, long before the rest of us, that the quality and usefulness of their goods are subordinate to the artifice of their display." Advertisements for products today rarely spend much time setting forth actual arguments related to their product and why it's worth the viewer's money. Instead their goal is to manufacture desires by convincing viewers that their lives are not complete; they are missing or lacking something. It is their product that will make all the difference. It will fill and satisfy the holes in life.

It is not difficult to imagine that even the most undesirable product would easily sell if displayed in an image on television with people conveying that this product has brought them everything they desire: sex appeal, wealth, loving partner and family, and great happiness which produce huge smiles. Advertisements foster a belief that all problems are solvable, solvable fast, and when solved, life will be perfect.

Politicians now conduct their campaigns in front of television cameras. The image they project on the screen has become more important than the values they stand for. Postman reminds us that former President Richard Nixon claimed that he lost an election because his makeup men failed to make him look good on camera.

Politicians can no longer be merely capable, intelligent, worldly individuals with clear positions on the issues and plans to make this country better, but they must be celebrities, concerned less with their actual plans and positions and almost exclusively with their own image.

The politician does not offer an image of himself on television, but he offers himself as an image of the audience. The audience usually votes for the candidate who most reminds them of themselves, even if it is against their own self-interest. People used to vote for a party with little concern over who the nominee was, but with the rise of the politician-as-celebrity people often ignore the party and vote only for the person, even if that person's party does not represent his own interests.

Thus, candidates for today's public office do not appeal to the reason of the electorate, but on presenting a favorable image and saying as little actual information as possible. They have learned from President Nixon's well-known first presidential election loss due to his undistinguished television image.

Postman wonders "if we have reached the point where cosmetics have replaced ideology as the field of expertise over which a politician must have competent control."

He argues that: "politics has ceased to be about whatever ideas or solutions a particular candidate may possess, but instead whether or not they come across in a favorable way on television."

The same is true for journalists: those without camera appeal are excluded from addressing the public about what is called the "news of the day". Prior to the invention of telegraphy, news was mostly local because the speed of information was only as fast as the fastest train. But once information could be transmitted at the speed of light from one part of the country to another, the news came from everywhere, it was mostly irrelevant to people's daily lives, The more information that one receives, the more irrelevant it all becomes.

No response or reaction is required of the viewer, and even the bad news ends up becoming a disturbing form of entertainment. The fact that it's all put side by side as though it were equally important, and often condensed to less than one minute, ends up reducing it to the level of trivia which prevents the audience from taking it seriously.

Eventually, viewers become saturated and desensitized by this endless stream of crimes, fatal accidents, missing children, tragedies and catastrophes. They receive so much practice viewing images of horror without reacting, responding or even mustering up a feeling of compassion, that they are quite likely to drive right past an accident or similar situation without any reaction except to perhaps utter a criticism about the other drivers slowing down traffic while craning their necks to get a look at the scene.

It is difficult to imagine Americans, in the days of horse and buggy, before the birth of television, driving their wagon past another in distress. The only "tragic fire" story that an Amish family is likely to hear about is the one that involves their close neighbor. It evokes significant response and reaction, including a gathering to raise a new structure for the family.

Postman tells his readers that he intends to help them understand the "origin of the dissolution of public discourse into triviality." He begins by fixing his attention on the forms of human conversation, and suggesting that "how we are obliged