More McLuhan

McLuhan can be difficult--as we discussed in class, this is often because he moves between different moments in time (different stages of history) within the same paragraph or sentence. So, as you review and start to work with McLuhan's ideas, you should ask yourself the following three questions:  

• Is this phrase/sentence discussing the time before print? 
• Is it discussing the explosion of print? 
• Or is it discussing the implosion of electric communication?

For the essay assignment in Unit 2, you should also focus on the specific "social and psychic consequences" of print.  A brief list would include:

• spread of knowledge and ideas
• shattering tribal bonds (questioning traditional, hierarchical structures of power and social organization)
• emergence /strengthening of individuality
• individual self-expression; change in the idea of authorship
• private point of view
• acting without reacting (detachment, dissociation, objectivity, analytic thought) [key]
• transparency and openness based on repeatable, regular printed materials (think school and laws)

Questions you might start to ask as you move into writing your own essay might include:

• What are the dangers (the 'torpedoes' in McLuhan's final image) that moving forward might expose us to?
• What do we stand to lose or gain by moving into the use of 'newer' media? Are we becoming a global village? Are there costs for entering the global village? 
• McLuhan tells us not to panic about the threat of new media, but could he be wrong? Are there reasons to panic?