e most part, wealthy, capitalist society? To say yes would be folly. In a world unfamiliar with consumerism, how could the concept of advertising, so integral to our current understanding of TV, have been developed? How could a deeply religious people, convinced that their lot in this life was to suffer, have bought into the concept of entertainment programming? Quite simply, they wouldn't have. The content of TV in the Middle Ages would have been utterly alien to today's America.
For a more concrete example, one has only to look to the content of TV in preset-day foreign countries. The form of TV does not change from country to country, but the content does, and dramatically. It can be used for anything from propaganda to religious instruction, certainly not necessarily for entertainment as is the case in America.
Indeed, Postman acknowledges this fact, despite the obvious hole it puts in his argument. His attempt to salvage his theory, by claiming that TV in foreign countries is not being used to its maximum potential, does not fly. TV is not an animate bein
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