Amused to Death (feat. Phil Christman)

On today's episode, Phil Christman joins Josiah to discuss Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. They explore Postman's intellectual trajectory and legacy, as well as the broader media ecology movement. Did Postman predict Donald Trump? Is Postman a conservative? Would Postman have liked podcasts? All this and more on today's episode.

• Phil Christman's previous appearance on Fruitless: https://share.transistor.fm/s/e49b23bc
• Pre-order Why Christians Should Be Leftists here: https://www.eerdmans.com/9780802884053/why-christians-should-be-leftists/
• Check out Phil Christman's Substack The Tourist: https://philipchristman.substack.com/
• Follow Phil on Bluesky @philipchristman.bsky.social
• Become a Fruitless Patron here: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=11922141
• Check out Fruitless on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIZWDsDrQ0XvDQFWzE6s2gg
• Find more of Josiah’s work: https://linktr.ee/josiahwsutton
• Follow Josiah on Twitter @josiahwsutton

References

• Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman
• Technopoly by Neil Postman
• The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan
• "The Media Ecologists," Phil Christman on Substack, https://philipchristman.substack.com/p/the-media-ecologists
• "You Don't Need a Postman To Know It's Mostly Junk Mail," Phil Christman on Substack, https://philipchristman.substack.com/p/you-dont-need-a-postman-to-know-its
• Teaching as a Subversive Activity by Neil Postman
• Teaching as a Conserving Activity by Neil Postman
• The Disappearance of Childhood by Neil Postman
• The Age of Missing Information by Bill McKibben
• WNUF Halloween Special (2013, dir. Chris LaMartina)
• Ghostwatch (1992, dir, Lesley Manning)
• 71 Fragments of a Chronology of Chance (1994, dir. Michael Haneke)
• Benny's Video (1992, dir. Michael Haneke)

Music & audio credits

• Sunflower (Prod. Lukrembo)
• Yesterday – bloom.
• "Russia Invades Ukraine Sponsored By Applebee's - CNN Clip (February 24, 2022)," YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6QUsx68DCA
• In My Dreams – bloom.