Amusing ourselves with George

Neil Postman once wrote a book called “Amusing Ourselves to Death.” That was the book that launched me onto decades of thought about media issues. I don’t think I agree with all of what Postman was up to, and some recent examples help to make clear the difference. His main thesis in the book was that we’ve turned news into entertainment and in so doing deadened our democracy. But nowadays it’s the “entertainment news” — particularly that which is entertainment satirizing the news (I’m thinking here of Jon Stewart) that offers the most cutting edge social/political commentary. And then there is the Net, and the enormous creativity bubbling up in satire and humor. Pieces like this remix of George from the debate. Or the political humor site on the web. What used to live only as editorial cartoon is now spread throughout animation on the web — and I think that’s a good and creative thing!