1. Since JFK, all USA presidents have used TV to one degree or another, but Trump is truly the first thoroughly television president.
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4. Trump invites us to revisit the ideas of Marshall McLuhan, Walter Ong, Neil Postman & others about literacy as a state of mind.
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5. According to McLuhan et. al., print doesn't just contain information but also fosters mental habits: linear, analytical, logical thinking
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6. Pushing point further, McLuhan et al thought post-print electronic culture (not just TV but digital) fostering new mental habits.
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7. TV, by this view, had many features in common with orality: immediacy, primacy of personality, love of sharp outlines.
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8. One example: Trump's use of nicknames ("Crooked Hilary) comes from wrestling but also harkens back to to bardic warriors.
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9. I look at Trump as the triumph of a post-literate age here:https://newrepublic.com/article/144940/trump-tv-post-literate-american-presidency …
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That is truly sad. For him and all of us.
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This was very insightful.
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Illiterate is closer to true than post-literate. Idiots have always been with us; he’s just the latest to be installed in position of power.
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