Rhetorical Analysis

Maya Kochar 9 Mr. Hadley Honors Language and Composition 8 March 2024 AOTD Essay Neil Postman is an American media theorist who wrote the book Amusing Ourselves to Death. In this book, he argues that television has caused political and public discourse to change. This is because different media are good at conveying certain ideas, and the medium of television is good for entertainment, not serious topics. The flashy colors, music, and details of television all work to entertain and distract the viewer from the topic at hand.

She includes many facts, statistics and logical progressions of ideas making her argument is easy to follow and, therefore, extremely convincing. These facts introduce and support the idea that the media has taken too long to reflect societal changes:

I examined the document Does TV Help Make Americans Passive and Accepting of Authority? Throughout the essay the author was arguing that by watching television we as a society are becoming more isolated and passive. The purpose of my analysis is to convey how effective I feel the author did in stating and persuading the audience on this subject. While analyzing this argument the author uses several writing techniques that I feel are very effective in persuading the audience.

Neil Postman writes, Amusing Ourselves to Death to address a television-based epistemology pollutes public communication and its surrounding landscape, not that it pollutes everything. The book was produced in 1984 in a time where television was an emerging epidemic and other forms of communication that today have taken flight, didn’t exist. It is directed to people who have let television drag them away from their Focus and attention to comprehend as they have lost the ability to bring forth your own knowledge and find meaning. Postman’s purpose to spread the word of this discourse and inform them of how much society is being set back due to the over indulging of television

The art of quoting and summarizing an argument is one of the main skills to acquire when it comes to writing a successful piece of work. In the book, They Say I Say the art of inserting quotations is mentioned to be one of the highest mistakes made by writers. Many insert a quote that has no frame of introduction or background information which is considered a “hit and run quote.” Readers need to be able to comprehend not only the writings, but the background information and quotes from another author writing in order to have the whole work cohesive. Dire necessity for the writer is to go back to the initial text and truly understand the background from which they are quoting to make sure their audience understands the quote and why

In “Bring Back Flogging”, Jeff Jacoby addresses the problems within America 's criminal justice system. He gives many reasons why imprisonment simply does not work, and suggests that corporal punishment should be used as an alternative. Published in the Boston Globe, a newspaper well known for being liberal, Jacoby provides a conservative view and directs his argument towards those who strongly support imprisonment and view corporal punishment to be highly barbaric and inhumane. However, in order to shed light on our current situation, Jacoby discusses the dangers that we face though our criminal justice system a nd shows concern that imprisonment is doing more harm than good. In effect, Jacoby looks to the past for solutions, and

All the important things such as politics, religion, news, and education have been transformed into some form of show business unconsciously to many people. This shows that America has slowly become blind to what is going on around us. The development of a major new medium affects structure of discourse by encouraging certain definitions of intelligence and wisdom, certain uses of intellect, by creating new forms of truth telling, and by commanding a certain type of content (Postman, p.27). Postman firmly believes print based epistemology is superior to the epistemology created by television (Postman, p.27). Television is also dangerous and absurdist compared to print and even any other medium.

Television is taking over people’s lives. In the essay “The Trouble with Television”, Robert MacNeil shares his opinion on the amount of time people spend watching television. MacNeil feels that there are so many better things we can accomplish in the time we spend to watch television. Robert MacNeil effectively persuades the readers that television discourages concentration. MacNeil persuades the readers by using ethos and logos.

In Amusing Ourselves To Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, Neil Postman familiarizes his readers to his main objective for his argument right away. His strategies to convince his readers of his claim are extraordinarily well and get across to the readers easily. Postman proposes that the public, without recognizing it, is losing its “autonomy, maturity, and history”. His thesis is that television is changing the way people interact by putting all public rhetoric into on-screen entertainment. He suggests that risks are high if the public does not notice television changing the publics view and that we need to try and regain control over it.

Postman is well credentialed to speak about the effects of television on the literary world. He founded the graduate program in media ecology at NYU and chaired the Department of Culture and Communication. Postman provides many statistics regarding his subject. Postman quotes recognized authorities in television statistics, the Nielson Report. Postman uses familiar language that assert his expertise and familiarity in the subject. Words such as “arguments”, “hypotheses”, “abstract” and “expositional” are contrasted to “amiability”, “imagery”, “quick tempo” and “a good show.” Postman’s knowledge of both subjects is clear. The author addresses the sentiment that television is entertaining and even educational. It provides an avenue to

Postman (1987) claims that television is an evil that destroys the purpose and complexities of public discourse. He argues that important issues are oversimplified and drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Chaffee and Metzger (2001) confirm this assumption by remarking the evolution of print and radio into television and television into new media. Establishing the similarities between Postman’s chief complaints about the television medium and the new media then rearing its ugly head. Chaffee and Metzger indicate the shift in the denotations of mass, media, and communication. With technological advancements, it is impossible to ignore the new media and its impact on modern culture.

Postman says that, as a result, "all public understanding of these subjects is shaped by the biases of television" (78) and that in the absence of rational discourse, cultural decay is sure to follow.

In life, we frequently switch from one attitude to another and mix them together. In watching television, we may easily become absorbed in the program. Then something will jar us out of our spell, such as a breakdown in the illusion or the expression of ideas we disagree with. As a result, we will suddenly distance ourselves from what we are watching, and perhaps ridicule it or suspect the intentions of its creators. The critics of media have been trying to get us to cultivate this second attitude, so we will see through the falsehood we are offered on a daily basis.

The paper explores how dangerous such an important mass media as TV can be, if too many power is concentrated in just a few hands, and how our perception of reality can be manipulated by the selection and manipulation of information presented on TV.

TV today has a great deal of constructive outcomes and impacts on our public and American culture. TV gives us supportive data, different types of instruction and diversion, which can provide some beneficial outcomes on the public. On an everyday premise, TV keeps us educated with a lot of supportive data. However, viewer must watch with wisdom. Viewers must remember the television is a tool to stimulate our thoughts, ideas, and creativity. It should not a be used as manual to shape an individual’s identity or ideas. TV has dependably been a wellspring of contention in the United States. How it influences our public and the general population have sparked inquiries that individuals have been mulling over as far back as televisions creation.