I felt as though this Postman reading was a little bit more difficult to understand. When he started talking about President Reagan I was like “What the heck is he talking about?!” However, as I got further into the reading I began to understand a little bit better the comparisons he was making. For instance, Postman says on page 22, “In America, the fundamental metaphor for political discourse is the television commercial”. I took that to mean he was saying that the television commercial is a reflection of our society and especially our government.
I couldn’t find the exact spot in the article but I remember discussing a quote from Ronald Reagan when he said that politics is like show business. I tend to agree. It was kind of ironic that in my next class after this one, we had a similar discussion. We actually got into a little bit of a heated debate about how politicians say things like “God bless” and “by the grace of God” and how some people thought that was unnecessary and that they should leave their religious views out of the spotlight. However, ignoring the fact that I am a pretty religious person, I feel that most politicians mention God because they are trying to appeal to the highest number of people. The majority of the United States is Christian and so politicians say thing to work in the favor with the most people they can. Whether they believe in God or not, they will still make reference to Him if they think it will help their campaign.
Back to television commercials, when I think of those, I think of the Super Bowl commercials. Supposedly, they are some of the best commercials on television. Advertisers pay thousands of dollars to have their slogan or jingle shot across the country. I feel like theses commercials really do reflect our society. They will be for beer or for a movie or a bank. However, they are all somewhat flashy and I think that in life, a lot of people feel the need to always but on a show (example politicians!). That’s what I got out of this Postman article and I have to agree with him this time.
Side note: We also talked about how commercials reflect on society in my Spanish class so I thought it was kind of funny that we talked about this in 3 of my classes. :)
1 comment:
I agree with your statement. I also agreed with Postman about this topic. I think politicians are all about the image and show business. I think its sad that we don't always get the truth in politics (when would we ever lol) and it squashes our chances of ever really knowing who the person is. We are supposed to vote for someone to RUN OUR COUNRTY and yet I would have to say that I don't believe half the b*llsh*t that comes out of their mouths. I realize that politicians have a stereotype that they're all liars, but if you think about it, its kinda true. They are so caught up in their image that they don't even worry as much about what is coming out of their mouths. Like you said about them making refrences to God, thats just for show. I'm sure that some truly are religious and so you can't assume its all bull. On the other hand, how are we supposed to distinguish what is the truth and what is for show? I don't want someone telling me what I want to hear, I want them to tell me what they'll promise to do for our country. I think everyone can agree on that. Good blog, I'm right there with you on this one!
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