CHAPTER 11

Neil makes the distinction that the problem with television is not the fact that we are being entertained, but the results of a world based on the thought-process of television. Postman states that if we continue to fill our lives with the incoherency and triviality of television, we will begin to lose recognition of these specific downfalls. This distinction is important because it shows that Postman's purpose was not to discourage entertainment itself, or the watching of television to do so, but he wrote with the intention to warn viewers that it is unsafe to rely on television for any other use. He reveals its fallacies and dangers when television attempts to take a serious informational or educational role, as it distorts the truthful, logical thought process that the print-based world established. He does not state that "garbage television" or pointless amusement is dangerous in the least bit.