Amusing Ourselves to Death, McLuhan

This book and the Playboy interview are theories and concepts that are hard to comprehend. What these authors are saying is that without these forms of medium, or to stick to our basic forms of discourse (phonetic alphabet, printing press) our race would be alot better off. I don't really agree with this point of view because I myself am knee deep within our modern forms of medium. Also the alternative, which McLuhan puts forward, is that we would live again in an undemocratic tribalized society where our individual freedoms would not exist. "By their dependence on the spoken word for information, people were drawn together into a tribal mesh; and since the spoken word is more emotionally laden than the written -- conveying by intonation such rich emotions as anger, joy, sorrow, fear -- tribal man was more spontaneous and passionately volatile." (pp. 6) To go from where we are now to that lifestyle doesn't seem very reasonable or in any way better than where we are today. Being passionately volatile is not something that is accepted in our culture anymore. McLuhan's theories definitly struck something in me, although, and made me wonder why we actually watch TV so much, what is so appealing about TV? 15 Minutes of commercials every 2 minutes, shows that give us no solid opinions or observations on the world around us and the fact that if you step out your door, something called fresh air will fill your lungs and give your lungs some satisfaction. I like the fresh air, and hopefully we can all figure out someday that the air outside is nice and that the TV is a good form of getting information, it shouldn't be the only form.