This article written by Neil Postman, addresses the American intelligence and how it has been hindered throughout time (thesis implied). Postman first introduces the subject by talking about Germany in the 1920s, and how it was hailed for its highly-esteemed scientists and intellectuals. Then, a decade later, all that knowledge became "barbaric irrationality" (Holocaust and so on). During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, America seemed to be "founded by intellectuals". However, something gradually changed. The age of media began, and intelligence seemed to diminish after that. Postman talks about how people don't turn television on only for "light entertainment" but for news and every sort of entertainment. People do not seem to read the newspapers or read a good book for entertainment anymore. The information we receive from television (and the internet) eventually shapes our image of culture and even principles. Postman then refers to two movies The Gods Must be Crazy and The Producers to show how technology has affected society. The Gods Must be Crazy talks about a tribe from the Kalahari Desert that gets a Coca-Cola bottle when it was dropped from a plane. The people from the tribe believe this bottle is a gift from God, but this bottle ends up changing them from civil to a tribe that becomes jealous and greedy as they fight over it (which almost destroys the tribe). Postman says that the Coca-Cola bottle symbolizes technology, and explains that the more we are exposed to it and the more advanced it gets, the more our intelligence is hampered. The Producers is about a con man who is trying to rip off from people by making a ridiculous Hitler play. The play ends up becoming successful, and the con man gets arrested. What this movie symbolizes are how American producers turn everything into entertainment (history, politics, religion, etc.) and display through television (and the internet). Despite all of this, Postman does not think entertainment is bad per say, unless it consumes society in the way it does today.
I believe this article is effective. The tone of the essay is very serious, and the audience is more targeted to those who are too involved and consumed by technology (it's like a wake up call). The purpose of this selection is to persuade/inform; to make people aware of the impending problem that does not and will not go away (in fact, it's growing worse). Neil Postman addresses very interesting points about technology and entertainment and the negative impact they have in society. He provides great examples to explain his theory, like Germany's intellectual transition from the most literate nation to barbarians and the two movies mentioned before. This article is also very relevant to the present, therefore, many readers (if not all) can relate to this topic. This topic makes the reader think about what is wrong with us today, and how we transformed the way we did. It tackles a serious issue, and makes one wonder what the future will look like (not very good in my opinion).
No comments:
Post a Comment