Analysis of Marshall McLuhan's 'The Medium is the Message' Essay

This essay analyzes Marshall McLuhan's 'The Medium is the Message,' exploring how the medium of communication shapes our perceptions and interactions more than the content it carries. The essay discusses various mediums like automation and technology, emphasizing their impact on societal structures, human behavior, and innovation. It highlights examples such as Napoleon's understanding of media and the influence of technology on criminals and law enforcement. Furthermore, the essay examines how technological advancements, including visual and print media, have fostered creativity and altered human thinking, influencing judgments and strategies. It also touches upon the negative impact of television and the role of technology in modern warfare, emphasizing the significance of will power and the power of imagination in a technology-driven world.

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The Medium is the Message
The medium is the various channels through which the information is passed from one
medium to the other. These medium include scale that is introduced to our selves, automation of
tasks that reduces intensity of jobs and innovation portrayed through different medium of
communication. This means that the content of one medium becomes an alternative medium
which is used to independently transmit independent information.
We can equate the medium of communication to an electric light where the light is intact
but it can be used to perform different tasks i.e. it can be used to perform a surgery or to play
base ball. From this content we understand that different medium of communication passes
different messages depending on the state of mind of the user.
Cardinal Newman said of Napoleon, “He understood the grammar of gunpowder.”
Napoleon had paid some attention to other media as well, especially the semaphore telegraph
that gave him a great advantage over his enemies. He is on record for saying that “Three hostile
newspapers are more to be feared than a thousand bayonets.” This demonstrates that the success
of napoleon was not because he had gunpowder but he also learned the art of listening to other
media to know other information from his enemies and friends to. This gave him an edge over
his enemies. The Americas and became successful in concurring the world because they
embraced changes in education that gave them an edge over the British who stack with their
common laws that made them think that they are better than the rest of the world.

Criminals appear as nonconformists who are unable to meet the demand of technology
that we believe inn. This make them embrace new technology that will enable them outwit the
law enforcement agents. On the other side the law enforcement agents try to create concrete
technological advancements that will prevent criminal elements from the society.
Technological media both visual and print media have enabled creativity in the media as
there are many cannels to pass information about invention and innovation. Technology alters
the habit of life and it appeals to modern physics. In the history of human culture people made
judgments using consciousness but today they are aided by new technology that have
revolutionized human thinking towards making new inventions and improving procedures of
performing tasks.
Great men are today distinguished by strategy of imagination demonstrated by the power
of the will rather than power of perception of situation. This can be demonstrated by the negative
power of influence that television have on adults and children. This cannot be cured by changing
of program but by changing character of the users thus the will power. World wars are not today
fort like the they were fort in the olden days through concurring colonies in Africa to prove your
might but they are fort using technological advancements i.e. china today is a threat to the
dominant western power because of technological advancement which have made their products
appear in every corner of the world.