Episode 130.1: Amusing Ourselves to Death

Nathan Gilmour and Michial Farmer hold forth about Neil Postman's 1985 book "Amusing Ourselves to Death." Postman's most widely read book explores the philosophical and psychological implications of the historical shift from a print culture to a televised culture and examines what happens to institutions like political debate and public education when such shifts happen. Among the ideas and other realities engaged are media ecology, cable television news, MTV, Sesame Street, the genre-distinctives of television programming, and Ben Affleck.