Shawyer dissertation May 2008 final version - The University of ...

The Dimensions of Man (1964) and The Medium is the Massage (1967) delightedcountercultural revolutionaries suspicious of the Establishment. In these works McLuhanargues that the media create the human environment and responses to it. Surrounded byelectronic images and sounds, bombarded by words and light, people are shaped bytechnology. Because everything is already organized and produced, and there is littleopportunity to intervene or be involved in a television broadcast of a political speech or abillboard, this electronic environment is ultimately oppressive (Medium 100). But antienvironmentaltactics, such as consciousness-raising, humor, or creating new alternativemedia, allow perceptions of this environment to change. By using these tactics, forexample by disrupting conventional expectations of events like press conferences bymeans of humor, Hoffman and the Yippies sought to put McLuhan’s theories intopractice.McLuhan’s concept of hot and cold media is particularly useful for analysis of theYippies. In Understanding Media McLuhan argues that there are two types of media: hotmedia, like radio or movies, which are filled with data, and cool media, like thetelephone, which require that audience members fill in information. Hot media thereforerequire less participation than cool media, and are subsequently less inclusive (36-37).For the Yippies, their public street actions are participatory cool media: while the Yippiesprovide a scenario, such as an equinox celebration or a Festival of Life, participants fill inmissing information with their own ideological slant on issues.In addition, the creation of “cool” demonstrations allowed the popular media tofill in information required by their editors, readers, or viewers. For example, the Yippies158