Haha... Haha... Haha...

The distinction between people laughing instead of thinking, and not knowing what they were laughing at and why they had stopped thinking is crucial to understand what Postman is trying to leave the reader with at the end of chapter 11. The thought of people losing all thought and going along with laughing with the television is terrifying but it is happening today. This can be seen especially on shows on kids channels such as Disney and nickelodeon when there is laughter that is prerecorded and edited into the show. By distinguishing between the two types of laughing Postman shows the sense of urgency that he feels about the problem of television as a media. The absence of thought is bad, the unintentional and prolonged absence of thought is a recipe for a cultural disaster.