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About this quote

What does it mean?
McLuhan reacts defensively when told his work is misunderstood or wrong.
In plain terms
He gets angry when his teaching is questioned.
What can you take from it?
Critique triggers a defensive response.

Where it applies

  • academic debates
  • intellectual disputes
  • teaching

Putting it to work

  • handle critique calmly
  • clarify work clearly

Questions to consider

  • How should one respond to criticism of their work?
  • Does tone matter in intellectual debates?

Another view

His reaction may reflect passion rather than arrogance.

More from Marshall McLuhan

  1. As we transfer our whole being to the data bank, privacy will become a ghost or echo of its former self and what remains of community will disappear. (1980)

    Permalink to quote #70
  2. Violence, whether spiritual or physical, is a quest for identity and the meaningful. The less identity, the more violence. (1976)

    Permalink to quote #69
  3. At the moment of Sputnik, the planet became a global theater in which there are no spectators but only actors. (1974)

    Permalink to quote #68

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