The Death of Discourse [Paperback]

Ronald K. L. Collins (Author), David M. Skover (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 10, 2005 | ISBN-10: 1594600295 | ISBN-13: 978-1594600296 | Edition: 2

This book explores one of the most disturbing intellectual dilemmas of our time -- that our beloved First Amendment is being exploited in the name of the dumbing of America. It is the first book to examine the popular culture of the First Amendment, specifically with reference to television, advertising, and pornography. Comparing the culture of popular discourse with traditional First Amendment ideals, the authors expose the vast gap between our speech practices and our speech principles. Is the tyranny of the trivialization of discourse a problem? In a dialogue-like way, the authors invite their readers to judge.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The text of the First Amendment as it pertains to freedom of speech is plain and broad: "Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press." Collins, co-founder of the Center for the Study of Commercialism, and Skover, a law professor at Seattle University Law School, are concerned that the simple language hides a chasm between the 18th-century intent and 20th-century social and technological realities that encourage not free exchange of ideas but a mind-numbing pursuit of self-gratification. Huxley's dystopia is looking far more familiar than Orwell's. The authors argue that we ought to reconsider First Amendment protections for TV that has sacrificed its public interest mandate to sound bites and dulling entertainment; for advertising that creates reactive consumers rather than well-informed citizens by touting image over information (think Calvin Klein jeans); for pornography that no longer pretends to satire or self-realization but is simple self-indulgence. This is descriptive, the authors say time and again, not normative, so there is little by way of prescriptions. And the book's design includes many of the elements the authors criticize in other media, including slogans, side-bars and other disruptions of the discourse. But the main argument is important: Not everyone will agree with Collins's and Skover's assessment, but every reader will come away feeling that there is much to be lost by adhering to the letter of the First Amendment and ignoring its spirit.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Ronald K. L. Collins is a scholar at the First Amendment Center in Arlington, Virginia.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Carolina Academic Press; 2 edition (August 10, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594600295
• ISBN-13: 978-1594600296
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,042,872 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Ronald Collins is the Harold S. Shefelman scholar at the University of Washington Law School and a fellow at the First Amendment Center. He is the editor of CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT IN AMERICA (1980), THE DEATH OF CONTRACT (1992), and THE FUNDAMENTAL HOLMES: A FREE SPEECH CHRONICLE AND READER. He is the co-author of THE DEATH OF DISCOURSE, (1996, 2005), THE TRIALS OF LENNY BRUCE (2002), AND WE MUST NOT BE AFRAID TO BE FREE: STORIES OF FREE EXPRESSION IN AMERICA (2011). IN 2010 he was selected as a writer in residence at the Normal Mailer home in Provincetown.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Death of Discourse, November 3, 2001

By 

John P. Saunders ((intermittently) Seattle, Tacoma, Virginia, and Europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Death Of Discourse (Paperback)

This is an elegant, insightful, thought-provoking look at, essentially, the struggle between two different ideas of the First Amendment: The rather narrow notion of the First Amendment as protecting only political speech or speech that enhances democratic debate versus the more free-wheeling idea that the First Amendment protects all speech, from pornography to offensive literature.

While I believe a truly free society must embrace the latter position, I find the authors compellingly present the views on both sides of the issue, and they do so via a playful, socratic dialectic rather than a dry rehashing of esoteric law review articles. I recommend this book for anyone who seeks to understand the pressure the first amendment is subjected to by our modern society.