Amusing Ourselves to Death Rhetorical Analysis

The development of technology is as inevitable now as it always has been. It’s as unavoidable as it was in the first American colonies as they began indulging in ever-increasing quantities of books as literature was introduced. Technological advances are just as inescapable as when Morse created the first telegraph line from Maine to Texas to deliver unimportant and completely unnecessary news. Although I do agree with Postman’s allegations of the corruption of society due to television, we choose this lifestyle. Just because television is easily accessible and generally entertaining doesn’t mean that it needs to be overly utilized. We allow the enticement of television to overpower our lives, and that is our mistake.

Postman’s general approach is to use logos, appeal based on logic or reason, to persuade the audience. Instead of pushing his opinion on the readers, he is providing them with raw material. These raw statistics speak for themselves; Postman need not explain their significance. This technique is highly effective when accompanied by understatements. When presenting extreme data, he expresses it as if the idea is less important than it actually is, as if to create a welcoming environment that is accepting to perspectives other than his own.

Although logos are most commonly utilized, throughout the book, I often detect ethos hidden in the text. By giving his own view on the given topics, Postman is revealing his character in his voice. This voice is expressed in many subtle ways such as expletives, interrupting normal syntax to lend emphasis to specific words. Another common device is hypophora, asking a question and proceeding to answer it. I find this to be more successful than asking rhetorical questions because then Postman gets the chance to speak freely about the topic without sounding too opinionated. Procatalepsis plays a major role in this style of writing because it anticipates an objection and answers it, therefore permitting an argument to continue moving forward while taking into account the opposition.

I agree with Postman’s assertion that the media has indeed corrupted certain aspects of our society; as testimony, merely search through the cable channels or a flip through People Magazine. Are the tremendous breakthroughs of technology worth this corruption? Television controlling a major portion of our life is temporary just as books, newspapers and pictures once were. Recent technological discoveries have created paths for the betterment of mankind. It is mankind that is then over-obsessing and enabling it to control their lives. Ask yourself; “does the man make the media or does the media make the man?”