HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1967-11-16, Page 10D
et ith' 100.1.far,. th4CSCIOy, Npv. 16, 1967
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IS Marshall McLuan a genius
aJoker? Inspite of his recent
,publ;icit t, Insp to of his oft
quoted axioms "The Medium is
the Message", to most people
he remains an enigma. For
21 years he . has, been kept on
Ice by the University ofToronto
as Professor . of English: But
a prophet is not without profit
save in his own country and last
year he becai'ne a cult in
America.Re leaves this fall
to take up the AlbertSghweitzer
chair at Fordham University in
New York,
He was interviewed recently
and vouchsafed some of his
theories, staring all the time
into space. Since he is a reputed
expert on communication, it
strikes most people as odd that
he fails so signally to get his
message across. Like the notor.
sous Bishop Pike, he extrudes
words, makes statements using
a vocabulary for which he gives
no definitions. Like Cardina`t
Richiileu, he never explains how
he supports these statements.
He is hard to tie down; is not
interested in debate , and one
arshall McLuan -t Is He
wonders whether his students
understand him andbenefitfrow
his• monologues, or do they just
think it lends a touch of glamour
to sit at the feet of a lion
at least a temporary lion. L.
fatsw, spoken or written is the
Mark of man and of civilian.
tion, but McLuhan and his cur.
rent student generation seem to
be Vypassipg language in order
to 'communicate".
For example he says: "News.
papers have had it, Education
is over and money is finished."
(Taken at face value we, of
Ontario, can agree whole.,
heartedly that the exchequer
is 'finished' — empty. The Car.
ter report finishes our money
as does the Provincial govern.'
ment. Every day, until October
26, a new handout is given to
any organized minority which
troubles to cat 'wolf'.- Per.
chance he refers to our moue.
tary system. If so, why is it
finished?),
He rushes on: "Printbrought
literacy, which meant using our
eyes to obtain inforniation in.
stead of our senses of hearing
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and toughs' Ile loves his own .
jokes: "Civilization gave tribal
man an eye. for an ear. Print
caused western civilization to
emerge from nationalism to in.
dustrialism to art and arch'.
Lecture". (Surely there was an
age before the printed word,
when men used their ears and
when artizans gave us some of
the most beautiful architecture
as for instance in our ancient
cathedrals.) •
So, we oldsters belong to the
visual age. We think in patterns.
But our children live in 'the
"electric age, brought on by
such electric Media as TV and
the telephone." (The telephone
was patented in 1876-77 by Bell,
so most of us grew up with
it. I can remember when it
was feasible td give a man a
verbal order which he would
fulfil to the. letter. This ability
has long since gone,., which
means,` that the,power of the in:
divl,dual to -concentrate has dis•
appeared - lost in a 24 hour
babel of radio and other
electric media.)
McLuhan claims that TV and
the phone develop hearing and'
touch so he derives his favourite
phrase: "audio -tactile". It is
hard to see how TV or the
phone stimulate the sense of
touch, 'unless he refers to the
stimulus of the live wire. But
it is a nice new term and pre•
sumably is taken to the un-
thinking bosom of the student of
today. He bolsters the phrase
by saying: "The tactile world
• is a world of touch. The East
is tactile and the West is visual.
(If we wanted to be facetious,
what about the untouchables of
India?) He continues: "To The
blind everything is sudden; sud•
denly felt and all information
comes to them. from all media,
save the visual, at once. -I'
(Which seems highly irrelevant.
Or is blindness considered an
advantage?)
M ^Luhan. explains his sudden
emergence to prominence as
=
being glue- to. , Allis new audio.
tactile generation, which under-
stands him The Beatle haircut,
or lack of it, is a mask. The
' owner is playing a role and the
new generation wants roles, not
jobs, (This seems to be only
another way of saying that their
childhood has been extended,
for most children play .a role
when young and unweaned: Cow-
boys and Indians or Cops and
Robbers. They want 'roles' be.
cause thereby they evade dis.
cipline and they will continue
to play with themselves so long
as a grateful government
secures theme soolslly: They
spin 'npt, neither do they toil
and they emerge as totally use.
less citizens.).
Hesays these children crave
situations which 'involve them'
like TV, beat music and sports
cars, which wrap around them
like a pair of pants. To them-
Hollywood
hem-Hollywood films ° are hot. They'
introduce external spectators
and are therefore no use to the
egotistical audioAactile. They
want films by Bergman and Fel•
lint which have no story and are
4
d Genius or a Jok�r? „.
of privacy, which in turn brought
special places in the house for
adults and for children. Child.
hood is becoming wise to every.
thing an adult knows.
•
"Education will go.- Class.
rooms are obsolete."(Thiswill
be received with cheers by the
taxpayers of Qnthrrio at least.)
4".11 the world's a sage". An.
other joke of his. "The planet
is now a school. Nature used
to 'be education, but now nature
can be totally programmed and
so classrooms will go, Special.
considered 'cool'. These latter... fists will cease to 'exist 'too.
make no demand on their Intel.
ligence and allow them to
wallow. (Do you begin to see
what self.satisfied, ingrowing
individuals this gospel of his
will spawn?) -
"Now we have satellites.
Nature is inside a man-made
environment: Our 'images can
move anywhere wewish,.without
moving our bodies. Video.
_telephones; shopping by seeing
the store contents on TV.
(There'- some truth here, even
for an effete generation, for
you see a football or hockey
game, ,a ceremony . or a pro-
cession far better through the
thousands eyes of the TV
cameras than through your own
two eyes, placed actually in the
arena or in the street.)
Childhood, ' as we know it,
will come to an end, he pro.
phesies. It only came about in
the 17th century with the idea
childhood was a.form of special.
ization. The whole human en.
yironment will ,be a teaching
Machine, teaching everyone
everything. We'll all be special.
I,sts, thus specialists will dis.
appy'."
"To be a success you've got
to put-on your audience. Church.
ill put-on a corporate identity
of tha,B fish people. De Gaulle
puts -on a teenage image which
15uts.on the whole of France.
(He would like to add Quebec
too!) Kennedy put-on -a teenage
image which is what theAmeris
can people wanted and still want.
Johnson hasn't got a corporate
fmage, so he can never be a
success. He beldngs to some
other country at some other
time." (It seems''that McLuhan-
is
cLuhanis sincere, at least here, for
he admits indirectly that he
himself must "put.on a show to
attract attention and we can only
congratulate 'himn on his verve.)
"Every suecessft>l person
works by feedback; the are.
spouse he Sets back from his
audience conditions his public
image." (In this day of pop
art, •'love•ins, students clamour.
Ing to get a place on the Board
of Governors Of their Universi•
ties, it becomes clear that Mc.
Luhan has learnt his own les.
Sons too well:)
Is Mi:Luhan a bit niore`'com•
prehensible - to you now? Are
we, in Canada, adding to the
'brain -drain' by letting him go
from us? Asked his opinion of
his father, son Michael replied:
"Weird, man, weird". The Pro.
fessor should bee"taken seriously'
-because he apparently repro.
sents the imminent death of
clear thinking and 'clear
language. Heels obviously . a
deadly, lively observer, whom
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we would do well • to tee, ear
do ear with. Having said'Whlch,.
we should examine ourselves
and decide whether we can, in
all honesty, subscribe to sup.
port such a cult. Has gone
k
public °Proton become a total
casualty?
So is he a genius, a joker,
or possibly thelead nglemming
taking his followers to per.
&loon?
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