Changing characteristics modern discourse (communication)

 

The Typographic Mind

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p. 57

 

Amusing Ourselves To Death

 

ÒÉwhose mind is formed by the printed word.Ó

 

ÒÉAn ideal to which every lawyer aspired.Ó

p. 58.

 

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The typographic mind is in retreat today from the digital simulacrum of mind; and in steps from printed words being replaced by telegraphed messages, photographed events, and broadcast talks the arrival of the computer was along a path paved by the very means that eroded discourse based on writing.

JVS commentary on Postman's Typographical Mind and its passing.

Contents

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ÒAnd not until the end of the nineteenth century did advertising move fully into its modern mode of discourse (communication).Ó

 

Typographical refers to the technology of typesetting in order to mass produce leaflets, pamphlets, newspapers, books, magazines and journals composed largely in not entirely of the printed word. It is -- or was for many centuries the foundations of literacy.

 

The typographical imagination, derived from reading, analytical discourse and recitation was:

 

An Òessentially serious and rational enterprise.Ó

p. 59.

ÒAppeal to understanding – not passionsÓ

p. 60.

Òritual invested with special meaningÓ

p. 61.

ÒWhat else was reading but comprehending?Ó

p. 61.

What constitutes learning well?

 

ÒExposition is a mode of thought, a method of learning, and a means of expression.Ó

 

"A sophisticated ability to think conceptually, deductively, and sequentially; a high valuation of reason and order; an abhorrence of of contradiction; a large capacity for detachment and objectivity; and a tolerance for delayed response.Ó

 

ÒToward the end of the nineteenth century the Age of Exposition began to pass, and the early signs of it replacement could be discerned.

p. 63.

 

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The Peek A Boo World,

Chapter 5.

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Pages 65-80.

 

Conquest of space

The solution to these problems was electricity.

 

 

Telegraphy did something that Morse did not foresee

ÒOne neighborhood of the whole country.Ó

Strangers became neighbors

 

Created its own definition of discourse

Irrelevance, impotence and incoherence were introduced by telegraphy in                     

                    redefining discourse

    ÒThe telegraph made information into a commodity,a ÔthingÕ that  

       could be bought and sold irrespective of its source of meaning.Ó (65)

 

Partnership between telegraph and newspapers altered journalism

Baltimore Patriot reporting of the Congressional debate on the Oregon issue

Òthis indeed was an annihilation of space.Ó (the news report said).

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Newspapers investing in telegraphy was a sign of the future in 1850s

 

May 24, 1844 Morse opened the telegraph office, 1848 AP wire service est.

 

Òtelegraphy made relevance, irrelevant.Ó

 

Òpopulated by strangers who knew nothing but the most superficial facts about each other.Ó (p. 67).

 

Òinformation derives its importance from the possibilities of action

 

ÒBut most of our daily news is inert.Ó  ÒInformation :  action ratioÓ was altered

 

      

Òinformation glutÓ is a condition wherein the I:A ration diminishes capacity to act

 

 

 

úÆú  

 

ÒWhat steps do you plan to take?Ó

 

        ÒVoting we might say Is the last best refuge of the politically impotent.Ó

       

Information – Òdid not permit the right of reply.Ó

 

ÒDignify irrelevance and amplify impotence.Ó 

 

Òtelegraphy exact opposite of typography (p. 69)

 

 

Books –

Òorganized analysis of information.Ó

Òit takes timeÓ

 

Telegraphy fails to pass the Òtest of permanence, continuity or coherence.Ó

 

ÒSensational, fragmented, impersonalÓ headline culture, disconnected messages

 

Telegraph wrought a world – delivered by newspapers—of fragments & discontinuities.

 

Origins of Photography

 

Louis Daguerre was re conceiving the meaning of nature –or realty itself.Ó P. 71.

 

ÒThe daguerreotype it gives her the power to reproduce herself.Ó

 

Òrefashioning nature to make it comprehensible and manageable.Ó

 

Òhe had invented the worldÕs first cloning device.Ó

 

HerschelÕs name Òwriting with lightÓ had an ironic quality

 

Photography and writing emerged into two different universes of discourse (p. 71)

 

Photography as a Òlanguage is a risky metaphorÓ because it has a limited vocabulary

 

Any photo lacks a syntax, making it unable to argue with the world.

 

The point of photography is to isolate images from context.Ó (Sontag refer.) p. 73

 

Amusing Ourselves to Death, pp, 73-80.

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Fragmentation

ÒLike telegraphy photography recreates the world as a series of idiosyncratic eventsÓ

 

ÒThe sudden and massive intrusion of the photograph into the symbolic environsÓ

Daniel Boorstin's The Image is an account of how events and reality were replaced by pseudo-events and advertising values creeping into and eventually supplanting journalism

 

Òfierce assault of machine produced imagesÓ on language

 

Òthe picture forced exposition into the background.Ó Òobliterated it altogetherÓ

telegraphic Ònews from nowhereÓ was perfectly complemented by photos

the context created by tele-&photography was Òof course entirely illusory.Ó

 

"People once gathered information to manage the real contexts of their lives, now they had to invent contexts (crossword puzzles) in which otherwise useless information might be put to some apparent use.Ó p. 76.

 

The emergence as a the phony, fake, and fabricated reality passing for knowledge of the world.

 

The major Òcreation of the graphic revolution was the pseudo-eventÓ specifically staged to be reported.Ó

 

ÒThe pseudo-context is the last refuge,É of a culture overwhelmed by irrelevance, incoherence, and impotence.Ó                                p. 76.

 

A language that denied interconnectedness, proceeded without context, argued the irrelevance of history, explained nothing and offered fascination in place of complexity and coherence.Ó

 

A mediated world of passivity

Òa world that does not ask us,--does not permit us to do anything

 

 Childishly Òpeek a booÓ  world that is endlessly entertaining (p. 77.)

 

ÒThe problem comes when we try to live in them.Ó (our dreams)

 

Television allowed us to actually Òlive in themÓ 78

 

TV I the command center of the new epistemologyÓ shaped by the biases of TV

 

TV arranges our communications environment for us in waysÓ no other medium can

 

Why we believe the unbelievable.

 

Computer literacy in the future – but TV is the Òmeta-mediumÓ but our knowledge of the ways of knowing as well.Ó p. 79.

 

Status of myth – Òwhich is a way of understanding the world that is not problematic.Ó – Roland Barths

 

ÒWe do not doubt the reality of what we see on television.Ó  P. 79

 

Òthe background radiation of the social and intellectual universe.Ó No longer strange

 

Òthe world as given to us through television seems natural, and not bizarre.Ó

 

Make the epistemology of television visible again.Ó 80

 

ÒFor the loss of the sense of the strange is a sign of adjustment, and the extent to which we have adjusted is a measure of the extent  to which we have been changed.Ó

 

Pp. 79-80.

 

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The Age of Show Business

 

Chapter 6,

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Television & an assault on literacy based on context and content.   

 

 

"These quixotic uses of television to ridicule the hope harbored by some that television can be used to support the literate tradition.Ó

 

Exactly what M. Mcluhan called Òrear-view mirrorÓ thinking?

By applying today, past ideas in an effort to fit (shoe-horn in) radically disruptive technical advances that actually cannot incorporate older ways of doing things.   

p. 83.

Day After (a prime-time television show on an imagined nuclear ÐwarÐ holocaust) discourse:

 

ÒOur culture has moved toward a new way of conducting its business – even important business. Experts must answer not to the rigors of their disciplines, but to the bar of Ògood showmanship.Ó

 

ÒThere is no business, but show business.Ó

p. 98

 

How commercial radio and television media dislodged discourse from flowing to staccato imagery.

 

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Now .  .  . This.

  Chapter 7,

 

ÒA conjunction that does not connect anything to anything but does the opposite: separates everything from everything.Ó

p. 99.

 

Disconnected and fragmented concepts mixed with images and sounds --

 

Can we survive if we take the measure of the world in twenty –two minutes?

 

Is the value of our news determined by the number of laughs it provides?

p. 113.

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Shuffle off to Bethlehem

Chapter 8,

 

"Television is not congenial to messages of naked hate.Ó

p. 116.

 

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Reach Out and Elect Someone

Chapter 9,

 

Politics is "AmericaÕs number 1 spectator sport.Ó

Us versus Them

In addition to sport, then Governor ReaganÕs Òpolitics is just like show business.Ó

Remarks are made not with a speaker's audience in mind but with television media more so than radio in mind.

 

ÒAppear as if you are.Ó

Pursuing quality of clarity. honesty, and excellence

 

ÒIn America, the fundamental metaphor for political discourse is the television commercial.Ó

p. 126.

Amusing Ourselves To Death

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Steinham | Sontag | Griffin | Postman's point

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