What Huxley teaches is that in the age of advanced technology, spiritual devastation is more likely to come from an enemy with a smiling face than from one whose countenance exudes suspicion and hate. In the Huxleyan prophecy, Big Brother does not watch us, by his choice. We watch him, by ours. There is no need for wardens or gates or Ministries of Truth. When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; a culture-death is a clear possibility."
In 1985, Americans had been saying, “Look! 1984 didn’t happen! We’re still here!” But in the above quote Neil Postman pointed to "Brave New World", a book that was “slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling.” In Huxley’s vision, Postman writes, "no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think."
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.
Although originally published in 1985, with television now joined by more sophisticated electronic media — from the Internet to cell phones to DVDs — Neil Postman’s groundbreaking polemic has taken on even greater significance. It's unlikely that Trump has ever read "Amusing Ourselves to Death", but his ascent would not have surprised Postman.
what we've lost as long as we're being entertained ..."
For those of you who do little reading (you've been found out, Des!), I finish this off with Stuart McMillen’s webcomics which adapt (and update) Postman’s famous book-length essay which argues that Aldous Huxley’s vision of the future in "Brave New World" was ultimately more accurate than the one proposed by George Orwell in "1984" - click here.
P.S. If you are still in that exclusive club whose members do some critical reading and, by extension, some critical thinking, please, PLEASE! P-L-E-A-S-E!, read "Brave New World Revisited", in which Aldous Huxley compares the modern-day world with his prophetic fantasy.
