Problem
Restate each of Postman's worries about how TV and manufactured media had turned politics into hyperreal entertainment. What were his specific concerns about how voters were affected, and do you agree or disagree with those ways of characterizing television and the Society of the Spectacle in the 20th century? How does this passive television viewer mindest become a danger to democracy or make democracy dangerous? Do Postman's arguments still describe problems for democracy in the 21st century? Think of your own experience of political issues and how mass and social media have shaped your own political attitudes in the world. Do you believe the hyperreality in which most of us so constantly live is a problem in a democracy? Discuss.