Chapter 1: The Medium Is The Metaphor

"American businessman discovered, long before the rest of us, that the quality and usefulness of their goods are subordinate to the artifice of their display; that, in fact, half the principles of capitalism as praised by Adam Smith or condemned by Karl Marx are irrelevant." I chose this quote from the reading because the chapter talks about how America's cities have changed. This is in regards to back when immigrants first came off the boats to Ellis Island, to now how Las Vegas is known for its slot machines, and where "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas." America has changed, from how we build buildings to the technology of this day and age and how it helps us to communicate. Also the chapter goes over how we have made improving the look of a product more than focusing on the product itself. For example in a part of the chapter Postman discusses how “America's journalists...have not missed the point. Most spend more time with their hair dryers than with their scripts...” Have we really become this kind of a society? It also goes over how media plays a role in how much we see or don't see and we don't even realize how controlled it is. We watch the news, or read a book, and let that determine our view of the world. I think this was an interesting chapter and I can see why Postman chose this as the first one because from this chapter it really gets you thinking about many aspects of our country as a whole and about our forms of communication. My great grandpa is 96 years old and this is one of the main reasons why this chapter intrigued me. From hearing his stories from when he was a young boy and all that he has seen in his life. He has seen our world change and in his opinion some of it is for the better and some not so much. The ending to this chapter is “...our languages are our media. Our media are our metaphors. Our metaphors create the content of our culture.” This is very true, our language and media shapes our society from what it was in the beginning to what it is today.