Blazing a Trail

Mohandas K. Gandhi, who lived from 1869 to 1948, could be said to have anticipated Marshall McLuhan, who lived from 1911 to 1980. McLuhan was the so-called prophet of the electronic age; he contended that an image can convey much more than reams of words, that the message is purveyed by the medium itself. Many of us have forgotten the innumerable speeches made during the war in Iraq, but certain images are permanently etched in our minds, such as the statue of Saddam Hussein toppling in Baghdad, or U.S. President George W. Bush standing in a military flight suit on an...