Right as I start reading into chapter nine I find myself still agreeing with many of Postman’s points he makes; the first of these being Postman making the comparison of politics being similar to that of a spectator sport. This comparison was intriguing to me personally considering I had never looked at it in such a way. As Postman says, many people in society know how to understand and watch a sport. He makes the comparison to politicians as athletes and how we understand politics the way we understand the scoring in a sports game. Just as a professional athletes rightfully becomes more popular based off their on field performance, a politician needs to be elected based off their performance. The other simile Postman makes in the chapter is comparing politics to that of show business. …show more content…
The direct comparison he makes to television itself is with commercials. Postman tells the reader that the main priority of a politician’s campaign is to sell themselves through these commercials. The same can obviously still be said for politicians today. Come election time on any channel we are constantly flooded with politicians campaigning for themselves or campaigning against their competitors. Obviously with the amount of television the average American watches, these commercials alone could possibly sway a person who is unaware of a particular politician’s “performance” to side with them. To me, this chapter truly supports Postman’s thesis in how media and television can in fact have a negative effect on American society; in this case through