Image obliterates ideas and issues (Postman)
May 17th, 2006 | Published in Culture, Quotes, Technology, Television
In a medium in which the image captures most attention, personality supercedes—in fact, all but obliterates—ideas and issues. That is why one becomes a celebrity by the mere fact of appearing on television. No prior accomplishment is required. Nor a reason for being there. It is accomplishment enough for one’s image to be on television. It is its own reason. In such a situation, individualism takes on a wholly different aspect from its meaning in a book culture. The individualism of the book leads to the dominance of the mind. The individualism of TV leads to the dominance of personality.
–Neil Postman, Teaching as a Conserving Activity (1979), p. 66