Understanding McLuhan/Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso/pc/mcluhan.dxr/06478_Field_TCUM T43.txt

Text File | 1996-04-10 | 850b | 15 lines

     of the techniques of communication and the capacity of the
     individual’s own reaction.

     Failure in this respect has for centuries been typical and
total for mankind. Subliminal and docile acceptance of media
impact has made them prisons without walls for their human
users. As A. J. Liebling remarked in his book The Press , a man is
not free if he cannot see where he is going, even if he has a gun
to help him get there. For each of the media is also a powerful
weapon with which to clobber other media and other groups.
The result is that the present age has been one of multiple civil
wars that are not limited to the world of art and
entertainment. In War and Human Progress , Professor J. U. Nef
declared: “The total wars of our time have been the result of a
series of intellectual mistakes . . .”