Marshal McLuhan Character Analysis in Amusing Ourselves to Death

A media theorist and former teacher of Postman’s. A philosopher of communication and a public intellectual, McLuhan famously said “the medium is the message.” He believed that the form of a medium had a determinate effect on the content of the medium’s message. This insight underlies the whole of Postman’s argument.

Marshal McLuhan Character Timeline in Amusing Ourselves to Death

The timeline below shows where the character Marshal McLuhan appears in Amusing Ourselves to Death. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.

Here Postman invokes media theorist Marshall McLuhan, who famously argued “the medium is the message.” This means that the content of any... (full context)

...augment the intellectual traditions of other media. He says this is an example of what McLuhan called “rear view mirror thinking,” where we attempt to define new technologies by past ones.... (full context)