Amusing Ourselves to Death??? yes we are.

I greatly enjoyed reading Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. It opened my mind to many new concepts and perceptions that I had never considered before, regarding the strong influence of media in our world.

The strongest message I received from the novel is that our culture is beginning to become purely entertainment based. My first reaction to this was, so? What’s the big deal if people want to spice things up a bit? Entertainment is nice, appealing and cheery. After further reading Postman was able to explain to me “ the problem is not that t.v. presents us with entertaining matter, but that all subject matter is presented as entertaining” (Postman 87). Television shows, magazines, novels, ways of educating are all revolving around entertainment, no matter what the content. This I consider a serious issue. Although I myself enjoy entertainment, I know that the world is not all sunshine and rainbows and we need to face reality. My favourite example Postman gives of our entertainment and image based society, is when he discusses politics and how important image is within the electoral process. What the candidate looks like and how they plan on pleasing the audience has become part of the electoral campaign. Early in the book Postman makes reference to the 27th president of the United States, William Howard Taft. Postman states that Taft would never be elected in today’s elections because he is a “multi-chinned, three hundred pound” man, this is not the ‘image’ people want for their president (Postman 7). I found this very amusing because it is true! We judge people by their image, their appearance, their family, and their conduct. He later explains that Abraham Lincoln suffered from depression and his wife was “in the likelihood of a psychopath” (Postman 135). Imagine if Abraham Lincoln had never been elected because of his ‘image’! I feel these were excellent examples of how greatly our society has changed and become image and entertainment based. Those running for office strive to entertain the audience in hope that they will be pleased and vote for him. Debates are used to see who can please the audience best, who presents themselves as the best suited president, whether they are or are not.

Neil Postman’s writing illustrates his strong passion and concern for our culture and the media’s growing influence on it. It was well organized and each chapter brought new enlightenment. Amusing Ourselves to Death was humourous and very informative. Coincidently, after I finished reading it I was waiting at a bus stop and there was an advertisement for E News and the slogan was 'Everything Entertainment!', I just stopped and starred thinking, My God! He’s right!


Postman, Neil. Amusing Ourselves to Death. New York: Penguin, 1985.