Chapter 1 - "Tom take a simple example of what this means, consider the primitive technology of smoke signals." "Its form excludes the content."
I agree with Postman here. Just like puffs smoke can not express complex ideas because they are so general. The form of the puffs of smoke exclude what is held within it. I think that he could have used better examples here. He should have used examples that relate to more people. For example, he could have said that a school would not be a school unless it is actually filled with students or a jelly filled donut is not a jelly filled donut without the filling. He was trying to state that technology would not be how it is without people making it all that it is. I think that if people did not make technology to be so impressive, though it may be, that we would enjoy the other parts of life such as education.
Chapter 2 - "We are now a culture whose information, ideas and epistemology are given form by television, not by the printed word."
I also agree with this quote. You can especially see this play out within the school system. An easy way for a teacher to get the students to learn important information is to use technology. They can show the stuents videos, use mobile learning devices, computers, etc. to make learning quick and enjoyable. Though this is a positive thing for students, there could be some draw backs in the future.
Chapter 3- "'the printed book released people from the domination of the immediate and the local;... print made a greater impression than actual events... To exist was to exist in print: the rest of the world tended gradually to become more shadowy. Learning became book-learning."
I agree with this quote in a sense that people back in the day did not have the technology we have. They had to use books as their form of education and comunication because thats all they had. Now since we have come so far, we have the opportunities to use technology. Its not that technolgy is destroying us, because I do not think that it is, it's just that it may have effects on us because we over use it.
Chapter 4- "Is there any audience of americans today who could endure seven hours of talk? or five? or three? Especially without pictures of any kind?"
I do not agree with this quote. I find it insulting that Postman believes that our generation could not sit through nor comprehend what the speech has to say. I, along with many others go to school to educate myself so that I can stick up for myself when someone insultes our generation. Postman is relating our generation to kindergarteners. He is doing this by making us sound like we need pictures to understand the discussion. Though we live in a society that technology is basically used daily, we still educate ourselves and learn the materials we need to. The question is, will it have long- term effects?
Chapter 5-"How often does it occur that information provided you on morning radio or television, or in the morning newspaper, causes you to alter your plans for the day, or to take some action you would not otherwise have taken, or provides insight into some problem you are required to solve?"
Once again, I do not agree with Postman. The news may be entertainment, but it also provides you with useful information. The weather alters your plans for the day also if you heard there was a killer at the park you were planning on going to, you might not want to go there. I know personally, my grandpa watches the news daily to see what's going on in the world and tells us that we should do the same. He has had experiences where the news has helped him with with his health problems. The news has a doctor report on it which states when there are new discoveries, warnings, or just facts about health. Therefore, Postman is incorrect in my eyes that, the news offers useless information.
Chapter 6 - "The problem is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining, which is another issue altogether."
I disagree with this quote. Not to say that it could be an issue that television is entertaining, but I think the way that the news casters say, "join us tomorrow" its not a mysterious question. News can be taken seriously. It can be entertaining and informing. Just because something is entertaining, does not mean that it can not be taken seriously. Teachers often say jokes that apply to the main message that they want the class to grasp. The joke was entertaining, but it still could be informing and meant to be serious later.
Chapter 7 - "But it is through television that it has been nurtured and brought to a perverse maturity."
I agree with this quote. The younger generation is viewing television shows and watching their parents and older brothers and sisters every move. They absorb everything at a young age. By watching unsensored shows, they are trying to act like the people they see. Those on reality television, often swear, get drunk, have sex, etc. because they get paid a lot of money to do so. This is one of Postman's fears. That we are creating a bad future.
Chapter 8 - "Without ensnating myself in a theological argument for which I am unprepared, I think it both fair and obvious to say that on television, God is a vague and subordinate character."
I disagree with this quote. First, if Postman was unprepared for this argument, I do not believe that he should of used this example as one of his argument points. Second, just because something is on TV does not mean that it can not be taken seriously. Though most of it can be, there are also stations such as the history channel that are meant to entertain and inform you. Therefore, the effects of entertainment still have not reached us if they will.
Chapter 9 - "'Politics,' he said,'is just like show business."
I agree with this quote. These two things only matter if you make it into them. When you are campaigning or anything else involving politics, the only thing that is on your mind is winning. The same goes for show business, in order to make it to a broadway play or a leading role in a movie, the only thing on your mind is being number one. They also contain each other within themselves. They have to use each other to succeed. In politics you have to show off your candidate and in show business, you have to use politics to make it to the top. Postman was trying to show how clarity, honesty, and excellence are also needed in both of these. His point was to prove how television is opposite from this. We need to put this into television in order to make it succeed in not being taken unseriously, according to Postman.
Chapter 10 - "It encourages them to love television"
Here Postman was trying to say that Sesame Street was doing this. I agree that Sesame Street lets kids love television and in a way be attached to entertainment, but not in a bad way. They are being entertained while learning and enjoying it. If more kids liked learing then they would not be so obsessed with being entertained. They would want to read and write to make themselves more intelligent. Every Sesame Street show has a lesson behind it, while teaching the child basic skills.
Chapter 11 - "He believed with H. G. Wells that we are in a race between education and disaster, and he wrote continuously about the necessity of our understanding the politics and epistemology of media."
I do not agree with this quote. We are not in a race between education and disaster. This only happens to those who let it happen. Technology is a nice, fast, enjoyable invention that we have. We should enjoy that there are people out there who educate themselves to make this technology. We should not be put at blame for those who can not think for themselves. Those who do not try to educate themselves or even care if they are or are not. So I take it as an insult when he states that many of us do not know what we are laughing at, we just enjoy that we are being entertained.
