Amusing Ourselves to Death

By Neil Postman

Categories: Politics & Social Sciences

What happens when politics, news, education, and even religion all have to compete as entertainment? Writing in 1985, Neil Postman argued that television was reshaping public life in exactly that way, turning serious discussion into show business. He warned that the real danger might not be Orwell's world of censorship but Huxley's, where we're kept distracted and amused. As new media have joined television, his argument has found new readers.

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• Shane Parrish: “RECOMMENDED READING 2015: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business”