Is there anything useful in Marshall McLuhan's Understanding Media

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10-27-2011 , 09:41 PM

Akileos

old hand

Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1,337

or is it just a collection of jazzy riffs and happy rants that have a nice beat but signify nothing?

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10-27-2011 , 11:38 PM

uke_master

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Join Date: May 2008 Posts: 15,911

link?

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10-28-2011 , 12:03 AM

lagdonk

Pooh-Bah

Join Date: Nov 2008 Posts: 4,861

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Originally Posted by Akileos

or is it just a collection of jazzy riffs and happy rants that have a nice beat but signify nothing?

you've just summed up all of the non-research-based humanities, though I'd soften "signify nothing" to "signify vaguely"

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10-28-2011 , 12:38 AM

Akileos

old hand

Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1,337

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Underst...ensions_of_Man

That's a decent link that provides a summary of the book.

Let's say I were trying to understand media, would the theories on that book provide more light than a poem by Dylan Thomas? ( These questions become more rhetorical with every iteration.)

Let's take the notion of "The medium is the message." If so then watching a hundred hours consisting of boxing matches should have the same effect of watching a hundred hours consisting of PBS documentaries. In my experience the results are significantly different.

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10-28-2011 , 12:43 AM

Akileos

old hand

Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1,337

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Originally Posted by lagdonk

you've just summed up all of the non-research-based humanities, though I'd soften "signify nothing" to "signify vaguely"

I prefer the Calvinist austerity of my hard label but appreciate your position.

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10-28-2011 , 12:54 PM

econophile

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Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 11,319

You mean my whole fallacy is wrong?

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