In the essay, "She Wants Her TV! He Wants His Book," scholars Neil Postman and Camille Paglia entertain different ideas on the issue of print versus electronic cultures. This forum takes place over dinner at a private tasting room in New York City. Postman argues for the necessity of literacy and importance of print, while Paglia stands firmly beside the enormous power of image based communications. Both Postman and Paglia express their views thoroughly, including many moments of sarcasm and dry wit. By the end of the evening, the blackened sea bass was not the hottest dish being served between the two dinner companions.

Postman and Paglia are polar opposites in their beliefs on communications. Postman is a strong advocate of the print culture; he argues that reading influences information processing, teaches logic and reason, and requires individuals to make judgments on falsehoods and truths. Paglia, in contrast, advocates the enormous power of the image as a cultural element that is not dangerous but highly effective as an instantaneous influence on the individual. Both ends of the spectrum are examined. Yet, over the course of the meal, both appear unmoved by the other's evidence and confrontational views.

Paglia's main point is that human beings are designed to be visually based creatures. Literacy is a learned skill, but visual processing is something innate. Her evidence states that the image predates literacy. Paglia asserts, "Nature--violent, chaotic, unpredictable, uncontrollable--predates and stands in opposition to the ordered, structured world created by the word, by the law, by the book centered world of Judeo-Christianity" (234). After recapping the story of Moses leading the Jews out of Egypt, she concludes that the world's problems began when the written law, the Ten Commandments, tried to constrain visual imagery and pagan idols. Her point is effective and clear, yet it is hard to say whether the power of images is actually shown through the inability to restrain it.

Postman argues that the gift of written law has advantages over the image. He explains that Moses chose writing as a tool with the capacity to describe something that is twice removed from reality--God, a nonphysical abstract divinity. Postman states, "Writing is a perfect medium because, unlike pictures or an oral tradition, the written word is a symbol system of a symbol system" (235). He also explains that the written law is a portable law that can be taken along throughout space and time. The advantages of writing amount to more of a practical use.

Postman glorifies literacy by explaining how it teaches the individual to resist certain seductions through logic, rhetoric, and criticism. His evidence states that the Nazi regime held its power because the image was abused and illiteracy among the public was frequent at the time. Yet, his defense becomes defensiveness when he assumes an "older and wiser" position by throwing daggers at Paglia about being too young to know the truth.

I find both sides of this essay to be relevant to an understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the print culture versus the electronic culture. Yet, I side with Postman over the issue, even though he appeared haughty and sarcastic. I think that literacy is the single most important development in the human mind. The beauty of literacy is the comprehensiveness that it evokes. It is this type of ability that allows humans to take their own opinions and argue for them. In this case, I believe literacy to be the more powerful concept, even as people allow it to cause conflicts and use it to throw daggers.

Postman, Neil, and Camille Paglia. "She Wants Her TV! He Wants His Book!" CyberReader. 2nd ed. Ed. Victor J. Vitanza. Needhman Heights, MA: Allyn & Bacon, 1999. 233-248.