Media Criticism Quotes

“In the "Republic," Plato vigorously attacked the oral, poetized form as a vehicle for communicating knowledge. He pleaded for a more precise method of communication and classification ("The Ideas"), one which would favor the investigation of facts, principles of reality, human nature, and conduct. What the Greeks meant by "poetry" was radically different from what we mean by poetry. Their "poetic" expression was a product of a collective psyche and mind. The mimetic form, a technique that exploited rhythm, meter and music, achieved the desired psychological response in the listener. Listeners could memorize with greater ease what was sung than what was said. Plato attacked this method because it discouraged disputation and argument. It was in his opinion the chief obstacle to abstract, speculative reasoning - he called it "a poison, and an enemy of the people.”
― Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Massage

“If you not longer let the community hear all of it's significant voices - you begin to have; a single narrow view of: the problems of the society,
of the solutions of society - and you begun soon or later overwhelmed by the society you don't understand.”
― Ben Bagdikian