No Laughing Matter

Neil Postman ends his book with a thought-provoking point. He bases this point off of Aldous Huxley's book Brave New World. The problem is not that we laugh at things rather than thinking about them. Not knowing why we laugh or why we stop thinking is the real problem. Many of the things on television and radio fill our minds with useless information yet entertain us for hours. Why? Because they do not provoke thought and there is no effort to care that no thinking is necessary. In today's standard, you don't have to understand something to be entertained. Simply laughing at "entertaining" shows and programs is the norm. Laughter without reason is what Huxley is warning the people of today about. Thinking is also a lost art because of the entertainment put out today. Rarely does a show on television cause us to truly think or philosiphy. This deadly combination, according to Postman, is what will determine how our society will grow or decline.