Understanding McLuhan/Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso/pc/mcluhan.dxr/06843_Field_TCUM T408.txt

Text File | 1996-04-10 | 739b | 12 lines

understanding print it is necessary to stand aside from the
form in question if its typical pressure and life are to be
observed. Those who panic now about the threat of the newer
media and about the revolution we are forging, vaster in scope
than that of Gutenberg, are obviously lacking in cool visual
detachment and gratitude for that most potent gift bestowed
on Western man by literacy and typography: his power to act
without reaction or involvement. It is this kind of specialization
by dissociation that has created Western power and efficiency.
Without this dissociation of action from feeling and emotion
people are hampered and hesitant. Print taught men to say,
“Damn the torpedoes. Full steam ahead!”