The first and most vital step of all, as I said at the outset,
is simply to understand media and their revolutionary effects on all
psychic and social values and institutions. Understanding is half the
battle. The central purpose of all my work is to convey this
message, that by understanding media as they extend man, we gain
a measure of control over them. And this is a vital task, because the
immediate interface between audile-tactile and visual perception is
taking place everywhere around us. No civilian can escape this
environmental blitzkrieg, for there is, quite literally, no place to
hide. But if we diagnose what is happening to us, we can reduce the
ferocity of the winds of change and bring the best elements of the
old visual culture, during this transitional period, into peaceful
coexistence with the new retribalized society.