229 EME 15 (3+4) pp. 229–241 Intellect Limited 2016 Explorations in Media Ecology Volume 15 Numbers 3 & 4 © 2016 Intellect Ltd Article. English language. doi: 10.1386/eme.15.3-4.229_1 www.intellectbooks.com 229 ABSTRACT This article examines some of the rhetorical bluffs identified by Jacques Ellul in his book The Technological Bluff. The author explores how understanding the rheto- ric about media and technology can contribute to teaching media literacy. Often the focus in education is on a critique of specific media and technologies. Ellul focuses our attention on the rhetoric about technology. This is a unique and impor- tant approach to media literacy. Media literacy includes the ability to think critically about the technologi- cal society in which we live. No one, to my knowledge, has thought more critically about technology than Jacques Ellul. His major treatises on technol- ogy, The Technological Society (1964), The Technological System (1980) and The Technological Bluff (1990), have explored the social movement into a techno- logical milieu along with many of its ramifications. His book Propaganda (Ellul 1973) provided an understanding of how the technological society influences the messages we encounter on a daily basis. The Humiliation of the Word (Ellul 1985) is a sociological and theological analysis of the shift from a word-based culture to an image-based culture. I have argued previously that Ellul can provide English education with an important perspective on technology, on KEYWORDS Jacques Ellul media ecology media literacy critical thinking rhetoric technology GERALDINE E. FORSBERG Jacques Ellul’s contributions to media literacy: Examining The Technological Bluff