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Summarize the first argument against preaching in your own words (be sure to distinguish between “hot” and “cool” media). What parts of McLuhan’s perspective do you agree with? What parts do you disagree with? Why?
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5 Replies
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First of all i think mcluhan was badly mistaken about print. Gods word says that the word of god is good for learning growing teaching and so on.
Secondly print and media enhance the ability to create and elaborate articulate more . 3rd God gave print for the purpose of learning and growing.
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The argument is that it detaches the reader from the author. As a minister of 20 plus years, I disagree with that. Preaching is very active and social. You have God’s written word shared between both the speaker and the listener. In addition, you have the interpretation or exposition of that word by the Holy Spirit of God working through the mind and speech of the preacher. Then, the listener will receive that message and reason it out in their mind making personal application through the anointing of God’s spirit. Many times the listener will also take notes. In fact, there are moments during my preaching that I am connected to hundreds of souls and minds at once. I disagree in the alienation that is expressed in the first argument. However, as a teacher in chemistry, I agree that we should use demonstrations, presentation slides, and questions with response to include many senses and modes of learning.
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Dr. Stott presents the cybernetics revolution as the first and most serious of the arguments against preaching. The basic gist of this argument is that modern media, such as television, will inevitably relegate preaching to the abyss of communication. This is because TV is engaging, whereas preaching is not. McLuhan also makes a distinction between what he calls Hot media and Cool media. Hot media is that which engages one sense completely. It demands very little interaction from the user because it ‘spoon-feeds’ the content. Typically the content of hot media is restricted to what the source offers at that specific time. Examples of hot media include radio and film because they engage one sense of the user to an extent that although the user’s attention is focused on the content, their participation is minimal.
Cool media, preferred by McLuhan, generally uses low-definition media that engages several senses less completely in that it demands a great deal of interaction on the part of the audience. Audiences then participate more because they are required to perceive the gaps in the content themselves. The user must be familiar with genre conventions in order to fully understand the medium. Examples of cool media are: TV, phone conversations, and comic books. -
McLuhan implies that “cool” media is better for promotion of community and “hot “ media leads to disconnection and alienation. I believe “cool” media is actually MORE dehumanizing in that it discourages actual thinking, promotes feelings and emotions over logical analysis, and in short accelerates the dumbing down of the masses.
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Preaching is being seen as outdated due to the development of different media (electronic, print and social media). Hot media is seen as low participation and cool media as high participation.