The medium is the message is a phrase coined by Marshall McLuhan meaning that the form of a medium embeds itself in the message, creating a symbiotic relationship by which the medium influences how the message is perceived. (He was the FIRST to coin the term surfing, years before there was an Internet.)
After you watch 6 seasons of "Sex In The City" you start to wonder where YOUR three best pals are and why every minute isn't exciting. Did you notice how, during the hearings over Justice Elena Kagan appointment some of the Senators were doing stand up comedy, one-liners. Do you think that happened in the 1950s. Do you think that we are a society conditioned by television since 1954 to think that we are always supposed to be laughing and happy and smiling? How many jokes do you remember Dwight David Eisenhower cracking? But now, we elect so many entertainers, and all the candidates tour the talk shows, and even sitting presidents throw Dean Martin style "roasts." Take a look at photos of crowds from the 1930s and notice that EVERY SINGLE WOMAN HAS HAT AND GLOVES, and ever single man has a hat. Times have changed. Do you realize that an entire generation of Vaudevillians got laughs without one single off-color word or joke?
