In chapters 3-5 Postman sketches out what a print-culture is like by tracing American history since Colonial Times (17th c.). He then guides us through the vast changes of the mid-19th century, with the invention of the telegraph and photograph and the rise of advertising. This time the shift from print to image occurred, and finally,we arrive at our culture today where the medium of communication, whether an advertisement, a magazine, or a newspaper is based on the medium of television. Postman calls the television the "command center" and "meta-metaphor" and he calls this time in history the "Age of Show Business" (the subtitle of the book is "Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business").
Postman calls the early American print-culture the "Age of Exposition" (exposition being "a mode of thought, a method of learning, and a means of expression."). Recalling the basic idea that a form of communication, in this case print, favors certain kinds of content, in the case of print, a logical, rational, and sequential content, one can begin to see what a culture would be like with print as the dominant monopoly of all communication.
In chapter 3, entitled, "Typographic America", and chapter 4, "The Typographic Mind", Postman proves that early America was a truly literate culture, the "Typographic Man" was common, and public discourse was rational, coherent,and centered on print. All forms of communication, from sermons, to the law courts, to stump speeches, newspapers and even advertisements - were based on print - which meant the content was rational, logical, sequential and propositional.
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| Common Sense by Thomas Paine |
Literacy rates (though hard to determine) were high, with a literacy rate of upwards to 95% in Massachusetts and Connecticut. (31) Interestingly, reading was not an elitist activity and "a thriving, classless reading culture" developed (32). Many communities had a school every 12 square miles, something that was even put into laws in some places. In 1776, Thomas Paine's Common Sense sold 400,000 copies to a population of 3 million, a book today would have to sell 24 million copies to equal this feat (35), something today that only a few books have done, and done the help of marketing and advertising, and whose contents are not the same as Common Sense in intellectual content and mastery of language. These quick references to a much more developed argument in the book give you a taste for the culture. Again, the culture was one interested in thought, discussion, and reading because print as a medium creates this kind of content. Newspapers, pamphlets, lecture circuits, public debates, and a general outburst of print and print-based speech pervaded the culture.
Here is an extended example to demonstrate what this print culture (or as I call it "print-intelligence") was like. Public debates between candidate often lasted for hours and hours. Postman spends considerable space talking about those between Lincoln and Douglas. During one of the debates, after three hours of Douglas making his points, Lincoln "reminded the audience that is was already 5 p.m., that he would probably require as much time as Douglas and the Douglas was still scheduled fora rebuttal. He proposed, therefore, that the audience go home, have dinner and return refreshed for four more hours of talk. The audience agreed, and matter proceeded as Lincoln had outlined" (44). What kind of audience would do this? And by the way, that debate was in 1854. It was not for the Presidency or even for the United States Senate! This fascinating piece of history reveals the power of a culture whose minds are formed by the printed word. Minds that could follow a line of thinking for an extended period of time because to read takes discipline, attention, and time. This habit of mind is encouraged by the act of reading, and a speech based on "print-intelligence" succeeds only insofar as the audience can follow it.
Another supporting fact to the idea of a print-culturei is that these debates were a cultural event. There was often bands, and programs, and whole families that attended. There was no shortage of crowd exclamations either. Once, during the famous Lincoln-Douglas debate the crowd was being a bit loud, so Douglas addressed them saying: "My friends, silence will be more acceptable to me in the discussion of these question than applause. I desire to address myself to your judgment, your understanding, and your consciences, and not to your passions or your enthusiasms" (45). Can you in recent memory recall a debate in your locality about anything? I last attended a debate in Newberg between a Protestant and Catholic on purgatory two popular apologists. I was disappointed that only about 50 people were there. Compare the Lincoln-Douglas debates to today's Presidential debates with one-liners and slogans, assertions, and loaded questions. All this why the audience sits unable to interact.
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| Jonathan Edwards |
Something Postman insisted upon, especially "for those who are reluctant to acknowledge profound differences in the media environments of the hen and now." was that the printed word had a monopoly. This is important because we have more books now than ever, more information and available to more people; however, then all public business and communication was based on the printed word. And again, the printed word favors analytical thought, rational discourse, abstractions and attention to contradictions in logic and over-generalizations. In effect, a kind of print-intelligence formed culturally that differs greatly from the past oral-intelligence and today's visual-intelligence.
Every new form of communication comes with a benefit and a loss. With the transformation from an oral culture to one of print there was a loss. When communication was dominated by the oral, it encouraged great memory. King Solomon memorized 3000 proverbs, rabbis memorized entire books of the Old Testament, and it is said, that St. Jerome memorized the entire Old Testament. Also, when knowledge is communicated by sound, it is natural to make it skillful. Homer's epics were most likely sung from beginning to end! This oral-intelligence was lost when we began to rely on print. With writing, humans did not need to memorize as much because it was preserved in writing. This was a loss, yet, with knowledge being written down and preserved the ideas of the past could last longer, be analyzed more, contemplated for years and years, through generations in fact. This is what the Western Tradition calls, "the Great Conversation"; it is based upon written classics. With the rise of the print-culture, Karl Marx asked rhetorically, "Is the Iliad possible when the printing press and even printing machines exist? Is it not inevitable that with the emergence of the press, the singing and the telling and the muse cease; that is, the conditions necessary for epic poetry disappear?" (43) He was right, but all in all, like Postman I believe that overall the print-culture was a gain for humanity.
After Postman's captivating historical sketch of a print-culture in chapters 3 and 4, he then goes on in ch. 5 to describe the time of transition from print to TV-culture. Just as the change from oral to print had benefits and losses, so does the shift from print to TV-culture, however, in the case of the latter the benefits do not outweigh the losses. Let us hope Huxley was not as right as Postman thought, but then again, don't just read my summaries, buy Postman's book, read it, critique it, summarize it, blog about it, and live out to the renewal of our culture.
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