[The medium is the message] might be illustrated by saying that the English language is an enormous medium that is very much more potent and effective than anything that is ever said in English, but anybody who uses that medium invokes or resonates the totality of it even with the most trivial remark. Our own mother tongues are things in which we participate totally. They change our perception. So that if we spoke Chinese we would have a different sense of hearing, smell and touch. The same is true of printing, radio, movies and TV. They actually alter our organs of perception without our knowing it. We are never aware of these changes. It's like fish in water. Fish know nothing about water, and yet it is the only element they enjoy.