Neil Postman's AMUSING OURSELVES TO DEATH Part 1

1. Describe three specific characteristics of the "Typographic Mind."

One who is said to have a typographic mind has “a sophisticated ability to think conceptually, deductively and sequentially” (63). When writing was the only means of communication, other than oral, people were said to be much more intellectual when it came to language and also had much more patience for it. It was often custom for the public to listen to speakers. Not only politicians but anyone with something to say, “typically at county or state fairs, programs included many speakers, most of whom were allotted three hours for their arguments” (45). The typographic mind at this time had the ability to “comprehend lengthy and complex sentences” not to mention the patience to listen to them for hours without the aid of visuals. 

2. Postman suggests that the twin inventions of 19th century Telegraphy and Photography challenged Typography's monopoly on public discourse. How, specifically did each of these two new media/communications inventions do this?

Before telegraphy & photography became apparent in culture, there was “no other means, besides oral, to have access to public knowledge” (60). If one wanted to know about what a speaker at the fair had to say, they would only be able to learn of it from another person face to face or read an account of what happened. They wouldn’t be able to see what the speaker looked like or his/her facial expressions during the lecture. Telegraphy & photography began to change public discourse because people now began to care about what politicians looked like and wore rather than their policies and tactics. These two new means of communication were beginning “a language that denied interconnectedness, proceeded without context, argued the irrelevance of history, explained nothing, and offered fascination in place of complexity and coherence” (77). People could now learn about something that was going on, on the other side of the country. Sophisticated paragraphs about relevant information began to be traded in for headlines about an incident hundreds of miles away that wasn’t necessary to be aware of.

3. What does Postman mean by "The Peek-A-Boo World," and can you give an example of this world from your own media experiences?

The peek-a-boo world didn’t form until the invention of the television began to sink into American homes. Media outlets such as film and radio are also culprits of introducing Americans into this new world, a world “where now this event, now that, pops into view for a moment, then vanishes again” (77). Just like when playing peek-a-boo, something is there in a flash and then gone, so is much of the information we see on a daily basis. The news is flashed in front of us and then gone, products, advertisements, even technology. The information is catchy and grabs our attention at first but it doesn’t last for very long.