person
also known as Hoffman
The Yippie activist and author. Bob tells a single anecdote about him: writing his own media book around 1968, Hoffman phoned McLuhan for advice and got only the repeated line "the medium is the message." New to it — start with dialogue 27.
Across the dialogues
27
Enters through a single anecdote — the 1968 phone call in which McLuhan stonewalls the counterculture activist with nothing but "the medium is the message"
Bob frames Hoffman as a counterculture peer reaching for McLuhan's authority while composing his own media book — the setup for McLuhan's non-answer.
"He calls up McLuhan to get some advice as he was writing his media book."
McLuhan's stonewalling of Hoffman — answering every question with "the medium is the message" — is read by Bob as deliberate rudeness that enacts the maxim rather than explaining it.
"He just kept repeating the medium is a message to Hoffman all through the phone call."
Connections
sought advice fromMarshall McLuhan
Around 1968, writing his media book, Hoffman phoned McLuhan, who answered only by repeating "the medium is the message."