Television threatens hierarchy (Postman)
May 19th, 2006 | Published in Television, Quotes, Culture, Technology
Television attacks the monopoly of the printed word. In fact, by distributing information, albeit in pictures, to everyone in the culture simultaneously, it threatens all systems that have a hierarchical structure. A hierarchy is a drama played by superiors, inferiors, and equals. Information is the means by which we assign people their role in the drama and, indeed, justify that role.
–Neil Postman, Teaching as a Conserving Activity (1979), p. 68