To say that "the camera cannot lie" is merely to underline the multiple deceits that are now practised in its name.
Marshall McluhanRead
The content or time-clothing of any medium or culture is the preceding medium or culture.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that every medium or culture builds upon its predecessors and is shaped by them.
Marshall McLuhan's quote emphasizes the idea that all forms of communication and cultural expressions are influenced by those that came before. It highlights the interconnectedness of mediums, suggesting that each new development in communication is both a product of prior innovations and a reflection of the cultural context from which it emerges. Therefore, understanding the past is crucial to grasping the present and the future of communication.
In practice
In a lecture on media studies, a professor might use this quote to explain the evolution of technology.
To say that "the camera cannot lie" is merely to underline the multiple deceits that are now practised in its name.
A point of view can be a dangerous luxury when substituted for insight and understanding.
In big industry new ideas are invited to rear their heads so they can be clobbered at once. The idea department of a big firm is a sort of lab for isolating dangerous viruses.
The news automatically becomes the real world for the TV user and is not a substitute for reality, but is itself an immediate reality.
Faced with information overload, we have no alternative but pattern-recognition.
The poet, the artist, the sleuth, whoever sharpens our perception tends to antisocial; rarely 'well adjusted,' he cannot go along with currents and trends.
We look back, already, with astonishment, at the daring outrages committed by despotism, on the reason and rights of man; we look forward with joy, to the period, when it shall be despoiled of all its usurpations, and bound forever in the chains, with which it had loaded its miserable victims.
Liberty, as it is conceived by current opinion, has nothing inherent about it; it is a sort of gift or trust bestowed on the individual by the state pending good behavior.
The price of apathy towards public affairs is to be ruled by evil men.
If you have a high evaluation of yourself then your ability to recognize new facts is weakened.
Decidedly it will never have been given to me to finish anything, except perhaps breathing. One must not be greedy.
A person who has been punished is not thereby simply less inclined to behave in a given way; at best, he learns how to avoid punishment.
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