As I’m reading through the first few chapters of Amusing Ourselves to Death, I’m reminded of similar concepts regarding advertising and media motivation. Essentially, an ad isn’t supposed to inform the consumer about what a product is or does; the ad tells the consumer how the product will make them feel, thereby relieving the ad of any truth-in-advertising responsibilities.
These sentiments are presaged by Jacques Ellul in his 1954 book Technological Society, in which he asserts that humans are slaves to their technology (technicians) rather than users of it. Similarly, John Berger wrote in 1972 in Ways of Seeing about how the mode of communication influences the actual message. Excerpts from Ellul and Berger give you a fantastic snapshot of their books.
What surprised me is that apparently nowhere in either Amusing Ourselves To Death or Persuasion are Berger or Ellul mentioned.
[Edit: I found it! The essay on Photography and Persuasion from this week's reading mentions Berger's Ways of Seeing. Sweet!]
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