became a kind of icon of the ’60s and the media 
age. Important to remember though, always that 
ambivalence was there. What was he saying? Was 
it sense or nonsense? Some thought he was a 
genius, that he’d come up with insights that could 
really explain things. Others thought that he was 
full of nonsense, that he was a madman and a 
charlatan, and it’s important to remember that, 
because it was never the case that there was 
simply this overwhelming reception and embrace of 
McLuhan. Let’s face it, for all his attempt to come 
up with brilliant phrases that still survive in the 
language—like “the medium is the message,” and 
the “global village”—McLuhan was busy citing