McLuhan's 1971 essay in the varsity version of Explorations. Dialogue 73 uses it to solve a dating problem: if McLuhan admitted he had miscalculated global management, when did he see it? Bob's answer is this essay — the hijacking was understood by 1970, which is after Understanding Media and so after the miscalculation was already in print.
Across the dialogues
Promoted from a title into the hinge of the management argument — the essay is what lets Bob date McLuhan's recognition of the hijacking to 1970, after Understanding Media had missed it
The title is treated as the argument in miniature — cities, nations and planets in one series asserts that the same operation runs at every scale, which is what licenses Bob's mixed list of managers.
"He titled the essay, The Hijacking of Cities, Nations, and Planets."
The essay is used to date the recognition rather than to establish it — McLuhan did see the hijacking, but late enough that the earlier miscalculation stands.
"He understood the hijacking, so actually he did say they were hijacking. But maybe that was his realization by 1970."
Connections
McLuhan's essay in the varsity version of Explorations, 1971.