I can't write anything today. I just can't. There's just too much to say.That said, I've been thinking about Marshall McLuhan. I don't know about you, but for some reason, we felt compelled to make fun of him when I was young. I recently was reminded of him when I encountered one of his many quotes. If you haven't thought about him in a while you can read about him at the official website and, of course, wiki. This isn't meant to be an advertisement, but, I gotta say, he was one smart man. I would be proud to have come up with these:
"I don't necessarily agree with everything I say."
"I think of art, at its most significant, as a DEW line, a Distant Early Warning system that can always be relied on to tell the old culture what is beginning to happen to it."
"I wouldn't have seen it if I hadn't believed it."
Hi Judith,
ReplyDeleteI have always been amazed at how McLuhan went from media guru to "who was he" and now back to media prophet. Many of his insights are just now becoming appreciated. I especially like his Laws of the Media, otherwise known as the Tetrad, although I think they still need further development and explication.
I write about McLuhan and other media scholars often at my own blog "A Model Media Ecologist" at www.robertkblechman.blogspot.com and I welcome your comments.
I remember it differently. "WE" didn't laugh we were awe struck! But what McLuhan himself felt was probably more people scowling at him particularly his academic colleagues.
ReplyDeleteI think the quotes you cited remind me more of NY Yankee's catcher and manager Yogi Berra!
I read McLuhan way back in j-school but he was my favorite when I studied him all over again for my master's in Media Studies. How he could be so prescient and spot on in that old media world-- so much is ultra relevant today. Thanks for the wiki link....
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