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Understanding McLuhan
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Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso
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06919_Field_TCUM T484.txt
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1996-04-10
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16 lines
dedicated to the job of revealing the inside story, whether it is
Montaigne giving to the private reader the delicate contours of
his mind, or Hearst and Whitman resonating their barbaric
yawps over the roofs of the world. It is the printed form of
public address and high intensity with its precise uniformity of
repetition that gives to book and press alike the special
character of public confessional.
The first items in the press to which all men turn are the
ones about which they already know. If we have witnessed
some event, whether a ball game or a stock crash or a
snowstorm, we turn to the report of that happening, first.
Why? The answer is central to any understanding of media.
Why does a child like to chatter about the events of its day,
however jerkily? Why do we prefer novels and movies about
familiar scenes and characters? Because for rational beings to