WHY DOES IS HAVE TO BE ONE OR THE OTHER? Both Neil Postman and Camille Paglia make highly educated and well supported points on the issue of print versus television. Because of this, when Postman argues for print and Paglia argues for television, I argue for both.
Going off Postman, print triggers the brain logically and encourages higher rates of information processing, but visual images stimulate a different type of information recall that is neither more or less important than print; it is just different. Postman mainly argues that nothing outweighs literacy and the infinite number of positive affects it has had over time, but when he starts pointing out the age difference in him and Paglia is when I start to side with Paglia. Her views on television and our electronic age are more relevant to society today. Our electronic world could not function without the visual attributes that television and computers bring to our everyday lives. Our reliance on these technologies has become so heavy that we could probably function a relatively normal life without having to read or write.
It is now understandable why in the end these two highly educated people can see the positive aspects of each others views and embrace them to form a more suitable outlook for today and more importantly tomorrow’s world.
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2 comments:
I agree. I love reading and getting imagery from books, but as a fan of science, I would be lost with out images and films about some things. It's good to keep them balanced though, I truly hope the fear of society reverting to illiteracy is just a myth.
I liked how you said you argue for both. It's true- both have valid points. I mean it's an interesting discussion. But is one medium going to win out in the argument? I doubt it. Just like Holly, I would be literally lost if there was some TV and images.
I don't think we'll all become illiterate to be honest. It's just a different kind of medium. When the TV first came out, as Professor King said, people were against it saying it caused health problems.
I think that there is no real "winner" in the print/TV debate. I mean, after all, should there be?
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