Neil Postman argues that the form of communication and its delivery determines how individuals feel, think, and react. His book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, discusses how the medium of television and the media in general can change of society’s way of thinking and the general public discourse. The most obvious political detriment of television is that it affects society's ability to form an informed electorate. Television and all forms of media has taught society to judge politicians by their celebrity aspect. This does not allow individuals to consider the important issues and elect politicians who have the best chance of bettering our lives or ensuring our safety (Postman, 1985, p. 95). In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Postman writes "You …show more content…
Postman would refer to this as the magic of the media. He referenced the novel, A Brave New World, depicting a society that is too amused by distraction to realize that they had been made powerless. Image is everything and sound bites are powerful. Unknowingly, individuals are affected by the media and are persuaded easily. We are so amused and distracted by the desire for immediate social media updates that society has lost the ability to thoughtfully partake in the educated discussion of the political candidates and their policies. Postman writes “the clearest way to see through a culture is to attend to its tools for conversation” (Postman, 1985, p.9). Television and the internet bring images through the media’s lens, not through the rational discourse of a print or oratory based culture. Political elections have simply become a battle of advertisements, in which candidates develop images meant to work in the same way that commercials do: namely, by offering an abstract image of what the public feels it lacks. Individuals will lose the ability for pure thought and discussion as the media feeds them the images and information that will dilute the true message in context and the content is lost in the spectacle of television and the