The point is that television does not reveal who the best man is. In fact, television makes impossible the determination of who is better than whom, if we mean by 'better' such things as more capable in negotiation, more imaginative in executive skill, more knowledgeable about international affairs, more understanding of the interrelations of economic systems, and so on. The reason has, almost entirely, to do with 'image.' But not because politicians are preoccupied with presenting themselves in the best possible light. After all, who isn't? It is a rare and deeply disturbed person who does not wish to project a favorable image. But television gives image a bad name. For on television the politician does not so much offer the audience an image of himself, as offer himself as an image of the audience. And therein lies one of the most powerful influences of the television commercial on political discourse. . Neil Postman
Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
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Unknown
It comes from a very ancient democracy, you see.."" You mean, it comes from a world of lizards?"" No, " said Ford, who by this time was a little more rational and coherent than he had been, having finally had the coffee forced down him,...
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Douglas Adams
Democracy is a pathetic belief in the collective wisdom of individual ignorance. No one in this world, so far as I know–and I have researched the records for years, and employed agents to help me–has ever lost money by underestimating the intelligence of the great...
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H.l. Mencken
The first duty of a man is to think for himself
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Unknown
You show me a capitalist, and I'll show you a bloodsucker
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Malcolm X
More Quotes By Neil Postman
The opposite of a correct statement is an incorrect statement. The opposite of a profound truth is another profound truth (Niels Bohr)." By this, he means that we require a larger reading of the human past, of our relations with each other, the universe and...
Educators may bring upon themselves unnecessary travail by taking a tactless and unjustifiable position about the relation between scientific and religious narratives. We see this, of course, in the conflict concerning creation science. Some educators representing, as they think, the conscience of science act much...
The scientific method, " Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of...
Americans no longer talk to each other, they entertain each other. They do not exchange ideas, they exchange images. They do not argue with propositions; they argue with good looks, celebrities and commercials.
In saying no one knew about the ideas implicit in the telegraph, I am not quite accurate. Thoreau knew. Or so one may surmise. It is alleged that upon being told that through the telegraph a man in Maine could instantly send a message to...
