I’ve noticed since doing the biography that I see 
this constantly. When people talk about media or 
society there’s always a moral tone to it. As if by 
making a moral statement a) they establish the 
fact that they are moral people and b) that they 
are serious people. And this McLuhan always 
thought was just an evasion of the worst sort. As 
he used to say, “Moral indignation is a technique 
used to endow the idiot with dignity.” Of his 
specific insights, I’m not sure—about television for 
example—but I think he certainly has left us an 
example of a kind of mind that, can at least make 
serious attempt to look at things freshly.