“A most mischievous word”: Neil Postman’s approach to propaganda education

Abstract

Before there was a term called media literacy education, there was an interdisciplinary group of writers and thinkers who taught people to guard themselves against the manipulative power of language. One of the leaders of this group was Neil Postman, known for his best-selling book published in 1985, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business. Early in his career, Postman promoted a pedagogy of teaching and learning about language, media, and culture. In defining propaganda as "a most mischievous word,” Postman aimed to heighten learners’ attention on the abstracting function of language and its capacity to reshape attitudes, beliefs, and knowledge.