Technopoly: An Analysis (pt. 2)

The beginning of the second half of “Technopoly” begins just like the first; there are insults to public wisdom disguised among wordy sentences. He starts out the back 9 of the book with the following passage: “That American Technopoly has now embraced the computer in the same hurried and mindless way it embraced medical technology is undeniable, was perhaps inevitable. And is certainly most unfortunate”. For a humanist, Postman really doesn’t seem to have much faith in the average American citizen to make an informed decision about technology. To him, we must all appear to be wide-eyed patrons of Las Vegas every time we enter Best Buy – too preoccupied with blinking lights to worry about any implications of our purchases.

The same vibe continues from the beginning of the book. Postman writes with a holier-than-thou attitude, speaking with disdain when discussing the benefits of any technology or the average person, but speaking a bit more excitably when discussing the detriments of technology on a culture or when providing examples to pad his argument. Unfortunately, I’m not buying it. It simply is not becoming of someone to argue so feverishly against technology, without allowing any acceptance of its benefits, then to continue to think of oneself as fair and unbiased on the subject of such arguments. Postman is a “Technophobe”, through and through.

It is even more obvious when compared to Swedin and Ferro’s “Computers . . . “ As I discussed in my last post, they write very happily about their subjects, almost seeming sated just to be caught up in the history and future of technology – Postman, on the other hand, seems like he’d be happier if we lived in the Stone Age. It is quite obvious I don’t like the author of this book, nor the way he discusses his subjects. However, I do appreciate one aspect of the novel – its excessive use of interesting (though not always valid) examples to “support” his points. Though Postman surely puts his own spin on them, they serve as interesting little stories to break up the otherwise monotony of the book.


-kevin