A number of years ago Neil Postman wrote a book entitled Amusing Ourselves to Death. Since some of us have miraculously survived the torrent of suffocating entertainment rained down upon us by Big Media, it is good to conduct a reality check and a sanity check.
It seems I am not the only one who has noted the hoopla over the Letterman resignation. (See previous post here.) My concern was over the involvement of former Presidents who saw fit to appear on the show in some way during the lead-up to Mr. Letterman's retirement. One President, two Presidents, three? How many actually appeared? (As I said before I do not receive television programming at home.)
At any rate I like the author who describes the evolution of late-night TV over the last forty years, as the triumph of irony. That is a description which is as good as any. Irony has triumphed over outrage, she says. I agree. (See the link below.)
Edward Snowden says broadcast TV is old technology for him. And I agree with that, too.
Let's hope the Internet may somehow help television live up to its potential as a medium for true education and change, not just entertainment -- and that of a cheap kind.
About the article linked to below, a quick fact check. The author has this to say about Gerald Ford:
"... the bumbler who tried to sell his shocking pardon of Nixon with the clumsy and obvious lie: “Our long national nightmare is over.” This quote of President Ford's was actually said a month before the pardon (on August 9, 1974), and was thus completely unrelated to it. The pardon came on September 8. Still, I believe it was Bob Woodward who revealed a number of years ago that there had indeed been an "understanding" between Nixon and his Vice-President Ford regarding a forth-coming pardon. I leave it to others or a future post here to reveal greater detail or a refutation.
Letterman's Swan Song to Irony
It seems I am not the only one who has noted the hoopla over the Letterman resignation. (See previous post here.) My concern was over the involvement of former Presidents who saw fit to appear on the show in some way during the lead-up to Mr. Letterman's retirement. One President, two Presidents, three? How many actually appeared? (As I said before I do not receive television programming at home.)
At any rate I like the author who describes the evolution of late-night TV over the last forty years, as the triumph of irony. That is a description which is as good as any. Irony has triumphed over outrage, she says. I agree. (See the link below.)
Edward Snowden says broadcast TV is old technology for him. And I agree with that, too.
Let's hope the Internet may somehow help television live up to its potential as a medium for true education and change, not just entertainment -- and that of a cheap kind.
About the article linked to below, a quick fact check. The author has this to say about Gerald Ford:
"... the bumbler who tried to sell his shocking pardon of Nixon with the clumsy and obvious lie: “Our long national nightmare is over.” This quote of President Ford's was actually said a month before the pardon (on August 9, 1974), and was thus completely unrelated to it. The pardon came on September 8. Still, I believe it was Bob Woodward who revealed a number of years ago that there had indeed been an "understanding" between Nixon and his Vice-President Ford regarding a forth-coming pardon. I leave it to others or a future post here to reveal greater detail or a refutation.
Letterman's Swan Song to Irony
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