Amusing Ourselves To Death

Amusing Ourselves To Death


  • Leave A Comment

    Subscribe
    Notify of
    12 Comments
    Inline Feedbacks
    View all comments
    Lamb

    Both are right.

    JamesTuskGeorge

    Absolutely correct, however:

    Huxley was primarily writing about the Consumerism (in Brave New World), while Orwell was writing about Totalitarianism (in 1984). If he had been born in North Korea Neil Postman (if in my alternate universe he had the education and courage to do so) would have written a book about “the certainty that Orwell was right and Huxley was wrong”.

    Neil Postman is as myopic as he is arrogant in seeing the USA as the centre of the world, about which all must obviously have written, and from which there is no alternative. The world, in his view, has no more choice than to follow the path the US choses, than water has of flowing uphill.

    In reality this is not the case. Both Brave new World and 1894 were written for Europe, one warning against cultural/political trends in Russia, the other warning us about cultural/political trends in the USA.

    natedog

    Cool Story, Bro

    JamesTuskGeorge

    I should note that I agree with Neil Postman about the fetid waste the USA is, and can’t wait for it to sink beneath the weight of its own bullshit.

    RSIxidor

    This was very entertaining.

    asymon

    yes, I love it!

    (is it wrong?)

    The Matrix: Rebooted

    Reboot pet peeve #1042:
    Neil Postman isn’t warning about entertainment for entertainment’s sake, like video games, twitter, beanie babies. He’s complaining about the important stuff being turned into entertainment to the point where we can no longer distinguish between what’s important and what’s not. In other words, World of Warcraft: OK. Celebrity “news”: bad.

    Brushaway

    An important distinction, but entertainment for entertainments sake is available in such abundance that escapism is a real problem as well. Even though it does not distort one’s view of what is real and important as much as unimportant news, entertainment like World of Warcraft that is in itself able to occupy all one’s time and attention slowly gains false worth. Even though you might be able to see the difference when you, say, go AFK to take a shit for ten minutes, you’ll still hobble right back into that chair to chase the pretty colours.

    been a while since i read Brave New World, i think reading it twice wont hurt.

    Demon
    nyoki

    Nice link, thanx.

    Acriticalgent

    If they can make machines to save us labor
    Someday they’ll do our hearts the very same favor
    The wails of ruined lives brought to a halt
    By the serene hum of computers in air-conditioned vaults

    DMYTRIW WDS

    As long as I was an Alpha I’d love to live in A Brave New World. Getting high on super ativan, having high slaves that don’t mind working, mandated fuckfests, and helicopter cars would be awesome.

  • here's some related content from the store: