Certainty Abolishes Hope, And Robs Us Of

It Is Not Entirely True That A Tv Producer Or Reporter Has Complete Control Over The Contents Of Programs. The Interests And Inclinations Of The Audience Have As Much To Do With The What Is On Television As Do The Ideas Of The Producer And Reporter.

Television Is Our Culture's Principal Mode Of Knowing About Itself. Therefore -- And This Is The Critical Point -- How Television Stages The World Becomes The Model For How The World Is Properly To Be Staged. It Is Not Merely That On The Television Screen Entertainment Is The Metaphor For All Discourse. It Is That Off The Screen The Same Metaphor Prevails. (92)

My Argument Is Limited To Saying That A Major New Medium Changes The Structure Of Discourse; It Does So By Encouraging Certain Uses Of The Intellect, By Favoring Certain Definitions Of Intelligence And Wisdom, And By Demanding A Certain Kind Of Content - In A Phrase, By Creating New Forms Of Truth-telling.

There Is No Escaping From Ourselves. The Human Dilemma Is As It Has Always Been, And We Solve Nothing Fundamental By Cloaking Ourselves In Technological Glory.

In Russia, Writers With Serious Grievances Are Arrested, While In America They Are Merely Featured On Television Talk Shows, Where All That Is Arrested Is Their Development.