Amusing Ourselves to Death

Typographic America & the Typographic Mind

In setting an agenda for his argument, Postman capitalizes on the importance of typography itself. In the 16th century, a great epistemological shift occurred where knowledge of every kind was transferred and manifested through printed page. There was a keen sense to be able to read. Newspapers, newsletters, and pamphlets were extremely popular amongst the colonies. At the heart of the great influx of literacy rates was when we relied strictly on print material, not through television, radios, etc. “For two centuries, America declared its intentions, expressed its ideology, designed its laws, sold its products, created its literature and addressed its deities with black squiggles on white paper. It did its talking in typography, and with that as the main feature of its symbolic environment rose to prominence in world civilization” (63).

Postman’s main argument here is that the power of typography has the ability to control discourse. When language is controlled by print, an idea, a fact, or a claim is the result. And today we have this unrelenting demand to understand and know everything we are presented with. Print gave priority to the intellectual and rational mind, therefore encouraging serious, logical public discourse. Postman supports this claim by arguing that the Thomas Paine’s “Age of Reason”, a written pamphlet that challenged the religious and political institutions of the 18th century, was coexistent with the growth of print culture. Paine scrutinized the Bible and charged its divine claims as false. He did this through careful analysis and came up with logical conclusions. In essence, typography and print created and changed people’s identities and beliefs.

Another ex...

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...ers need no substantial ideologies and beliefs to run a country. As long as they create a “performance”, they can be trusted. In addition to being glamorous, a newscaster’s job is to simply report, free of all emotional ties from the story. If a reporter were to show any signs of terror or inflict a concerned tone of voice, the viewer would be quite disconcerted. “Viewers, after all, are partners with the newscasters in the “Now…This” culture, and they expect the newscaster to play out his or her role as a character who is marginally serious but who stays well clear of authentic understanding” (104). If story is in fact, grave, the audience will not perceive it that way because of the constant commercials and discontinuities throughout the program. Unlike a book that maintains a consistent tone and continuity of content, this is not the expectation of television.