IWA #2
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Drew Cunningham Dr. Soulis FYS Section 4 9/17/12 IWA #2 Author: - The author of the essay NOW…THIS is Neil Postman. Postman graduated from the State University of New York at Fredonia and received his masters and Ed. D from Teachers College, Columbia University. He was employed by NYU and was the founder of the media ecology graduate program at the Steinhardt School of Education. He died at the age of 72 from lung cancer. Postman published many works about his beliefs of how television, along with other forms of visual media, had made our society into one that was desensitized to the serious and complex nature of many issues. That our news had been compromised and that we were much worse off than in the 19 th century when the main source of discourse was through the written word. Purpose: - The title of the work was selected to make the reader start to wonder how the phrase, “now…this” is going to be used in the essay. Postman starts off his essay by giving the example of what the humorist H. Allen Smith thought was the scariest words in the English language were: uh-oh. However, Postman refutes this and suggests that “now…this” (the words used by newscasters to switch subjects. His reasoning for this is that he feels it has ruined the discourse of America and has caused us to only view the news in an entertaining light. Postman’s final paragraph compares the informational environment of the world to the game of trivial pursuit—using current topics and news for the entertainment. Herein lays the main motivation of Postman for writing this essay. He is drawing attention to the fact that America has allowed our news to only serve us as a vehicle for entertainment instead of actually informing us about what is happening in the world.
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Transcript of IWA #2
Drew CunninghamDr. SoulisFYS Section 49/17/12IWA #2 Author: The author of the essay NOWTHIS is Neil Postman. Postman graduated from the State University of New York at Fredonia and received his masters and Ed. D from Teachers College, Columbia University. He was employed by NYU and was the founder of the media ecology graduate program at the Steinhardt School of Education. He died at the age of 72 from lung cancer. Postman published many works about his beliefs of how television, along with other forms of visual media, had made our society into one that was desensitized to the serious and complex nature of many issues. That our news had been compromised and that we were much worse off than in the 19th century when the main source of discourse was through the written word.
Purpose:
The title of the work was selected to make the reader start to wonder how the phrase, nowthis is going to be used in the essay. Postman starts off his essay by giving the example of what the humorist H. Allen Smith thought was the scariest words in the English language were: uh-oh. However, Postman refutes this and suggests that nowthis (the words used by newscasters to switch subjects. His reasoning for this is that he feels it has ruined the discourse of America and has caused us to only view the news in an entertaining light. Postmans final paragraph compares the informational environment of the world to the game of trivial pursuitusing current topics and news for the entertainment. Herein lays the main motivation of Postman for writing this essay. He is drawing attention to the fact that America has allowed our news to only serve us as a vehicle for entertainment instead of actually informing us about what is happening in the world. Postman noticed this through his work and wanted to inform his readers of the disconnection between the purpose of the news and the function it actually achieves.
Audience:
The target audience for this essay is for those individuals who are trying to stay aware of the workings of the world. Postmans critique of society in this essay would appeal to those readers and serve to inform them of his ideas. This is addressing readers like me because I am in college trying to obtain my education and to mold my mind to be a contributing member of society.
Content:
The title tells us very little about the content of his essay and only serves to introduce the phrase, nowthis. The first paragraph however does introduce Postmans thesis and the central theme of his essay. The conclusion is a powerful reinforcement of the ideas that were developed throughout the piece. Comparing televised news to trivial pursuit though a simile is a strong reiteration of Postmans point and sums up his critique of the main discourse through which ideas are shared in this world.
Context:
The publication date of this work is from 1985 as part of Postmans book Amusing Ourselves to Death. The date is important to this work because in our day and age many things are read and viewed on the internet and this is where much discourse is done. There is still the use of televised news and it is important in broadcasting what is happening in the world. The book was published by Viking Press, which is a part of the Penguin publishing company.
