Technologies of Narcissism: The Printing Press to Facebook

Written by Rachel Armamentos. In a 2005 commencement speech given by David Foster Wallace at Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, a story of only two sentences in length was told. Although concise and simple, this story and the speech that followed made an impact on the audience in attendance, as well as to audiences today. […]

Donald Trump: Hot Persona for a Cool Medium

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, perhaps one of the most respected scholars on political rhetoric in the electronic age, must be scratching her head right now. Back in the 1980s she explained the popularity of Ronald Reagan by saying he had mastered the “cool” medium of television with his winsome persona. So how does one explain Trump’s […]

McLuhan on Snowden…in 1972

An interview of Marshall McLuhan in 1972 recently surfaced and is published in full by Maclean’s. Many of McLuhan’s insights are more relevant than ever, particularly his comments on surveillance and espionage with electric media. The new human occupation of the electronic age has become surveillance. CIA-style espionage is now the total human activity. Whether […]

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