On Television

...It may be true for the person who has something to hide...

...But the invention of the camera, which takes pictures of the art for Life magazine, exposes everybody to everything . . ." "Turn off the lights...

...What are you talking about...

...But there I go falling into the old trap of discussing the message instead of the medium...

...Jack Gould puzzled in his New York Times review: "Has overexposure in the television age already cut short the McLuhan influence...

...McLuhan has said that the invention of television makes books obsolete as an educational tool...

...The new criteria include 1) If a philosopher's eyes are closely set, he tends to be sneaky, and 2) Never trust the man who doesn't look you directly in the eye while talking to you...

...We should not judge a man by the fact that he is profound...

...it's just beginning...

...As far as I can see...

...It shows that someone out there cares...

...Yet the fact that computers know all about us is not a total evil, at least not for many lonely Americans...

...Discredited as a thinker, McLuhan nevertheless won my respect for his ability to use media intelligently...

...replied my wife...

...For example, poor people can't see the rich people's art collections...

...He even noticed that my wife still hadn't made the beds upstairs at 4 p.m...

...The only clue I found to his environmental hang-up is that he doesn't drive his own car...

...In the 60 minutes of this otherwise laudable television show, he never once looked me in the eye...

...Most people who watched the nbc-tv "Experiment in Television" program (March 19), based on The Medium is the Massage, probably used the old-fashioned method of making up their minds on whether McLuhan was kidding or not: They listened to what he was saying...

...Another McLuhan idea I find hard to believe is that computers are modern man's enemy, in the sense that the "electrically computerized dossier bank" is a gossip column...

...Looking disapprovingly at my wife's Sunday-at-home outfit, McLuhan continued: "Television demands participation and involvement in depth of the whole being...

...If he is right, every parent who yells "Shut off that damn tv set and do your homework" is wrong...

...It engages you...

...What about this one: 'The invention of your father makes my getting a regular job obsolete.' " "You finally have something," she conceded...

...The invention of the camera makes conspicuous consumption obsolete.' " "O.K...

...McLuhan opened his discussion of McLuhanism by looking at my refrigerator in the kitchen...

...That may be true of Canadian television, but nobody in America listens to tv...

...I bet he even had sweaty palms...

...I think not...

...the formula he has developed is telling television it is the most important medium in the electronic age...

...This is like telling an ugly woman she is beautiful...

...He should be judged fairly on his own terms...

...Being forced to really compete with the environment??spending a week driving in New York City traffic, for instance??would cure anybody of oversensitivity...

...McLuhan's basic problem seems to be that he is oversensitive to his environment...

...We monitor tv??while we eat, drink, talk or beat the children, still managing to come away with the plot in situation comedies...

...The invention of the pullman car makes the draft lottery obsolete...

...What...

...A few minutes later another thought occurred to me...

...I'm just thinking linearly," I explained...

...He looked at my dog sleeping in the corner of the living room...

...The modern parent who wants his kids to get into a good college will warn that "Candy and books are bad for you...

...All writers can appreciate the University of Toronto professor's accomplishment in getting his book mentioned on a nation-wide television program...

...It will not work as a background...

...It's 3 a.m...

...Otherwise tomorrow's high school graduate will have trouble answering an important question on college entrance applications: "List several tv shows you have watched lately...

...I studied the man in depth by reading Newsweek's cover story about him last month...

...How does this sound: 'The invention of the home video tape-recorder rig makes Jack Gould obsolete.' " "It's getting late," she said...

...in this case, on the seminal idea that the medium is the message...

...The rich distinguish themselves by their ability to be in contact with each other...

...The idea is that rich people need to impress poor people that they're superior...

...But what does it mean...

...After watching the show based on The Medium is the Massage that afternoon, I found myself suggesting at dinner, "The invention of eye glasses makes lasagna obsolete...

...I've got it...