25. Future Shlock

Neil Postman starts his essay with how fragile human intelligence is and examples of how quickly it has been suppressed in the past. He uses the example of Germany during World War II and how they burned many examples of literature and art during this time period and how many great minds were forced to flee. He continues by explaining that Germany was the most striking example of the fragility of human intelligence and writes that his main focus however, is the United States of America. He is worried about the decline in American intelligence even though he does not believe it will be as extreme as Germany's and because it is a country built upon scholars. To help his explanation, Postman includes two films. The first one is The Gods Must Be Crazy and he uses this movie to introduce these two questions, how does a culture change when new technologies are introduced to it? And is it always desirable for a culture to accommodate itself to
the demands of new technologies? The second film is the Producers and uses this film by saying how it prophecies how America will eventually history, education and politics into forms of entertainment, and as a result the people will become trivial. He continues with the different examples of 1984 and Brave New World Revisted and how in the first book people are controlled by inflicting pain and in the second, pleasure. He writes how everything serious is turning into a silly joke, the main reason being the television. Everything is broadcasted through the television, entertainment, news, weather forecasts and that is the reason for the downfall of intelligence. All things of importance are showcased on commercials, sitcoms and soap operas, as a result television has destroyed the line between entertainment and politics. However, politics is only one area that has been completely destroyed by television, the next one is religion. As a result of all the things broadcasted on the television, it has lost its sacrality, tradition and respect. Another aspect that has lost the line between entertainment and seriousness is education. However, television is not a great source of information. It only teaches certain things and leaves everything else blank. It has conditioned the minds of people to look at the world through broken pieces and fragments. He writes that the television has made the people become more visually orientated but also includes that he does not oppose this but rather the role it has in society. He finishes his essay by referring back to his example of The Gods Must Be Crazy, by stating that it has never occurred to the people that the gods might be crazy but how it does not matter because there is no place for people to throw away the bottle.
Neil Postman writes a very shocking essay about the diminishing of human intelligence. He starts with a very effective and good example of when human intelligence diminished. It was so effective because it was Germany, a country iconic for burning knowledge and culture. He also utilizes other very effective examples of movies, books and people while also incorporating them very well throughout his essay. He uses a very strong vocabulary and his essay is well structured. His essay flows together in a very easy manner. He conveys his message very well and is able to support his stand with well-placed arguments. He seems to have an intense, almost angry tone at times. It can also be argued that his tone was to the point of disgusted at how low the people have fallen. While his examples of books and movies are very well-placed, he does take the Bible out of context near the end of his essay. To people who are unfamiliar with the Bible, it would look very legitimate but to people who are familiar, it only looks silly and lowers the overall quality of his essay. Other than that, Postman wrote a very engaging essay that urges the people to deal with the problem at hand. It was very smoothly written and easy for the reader to follow his ideas.