What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that 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.
Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to...
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In Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death," he contrasts the fears of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley regarding the future of society and information. Orwell warned against authoritarian regimes that would restrict access to knowledge by banning books, thus controlling thought and truth. His concern was rooted in the dangers of censorship and the suppression of dissent. In contrast, Huxley envisioned a world in which the abundance of information would lead to widespread apathy, where people would lose interest in meaningful engagement with literature or ideas, rendering the act of censorship irrelevant.

Postman highlights that Orwell's nightmare of truth being concealed is matched by Huxley's fear of drowning in triviality. With an overwhelming amount of content available, individuals may become desensitized and disengaged, unable to discern meaningful truths from superficial distractions. Therefore, the juxtaposition of these two perspectives reveals a critical examination of contemporary culture, underscoring the importance of both access to information and the cultivation of genuine interest in intellectual pursuits.

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Amusing Ourselves to...
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Other quotes in Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Think of Richard Nixon or Jimmy Carter or Billy Graham, or even Albert Einstein, and what will come to your mind is an image, a picture of face, {in Einstein's case, a photograph of a face}. Of words, nothing will come to mind. This is the difference between thinking in a word-centered culture and thinking in an image-centered culture.
Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to...
Think of Richard Nixon or Jimmy Carter or Billy Graham, or even Albert Einstein, and what will come to your mind is an image, a picture of face, {in Einstein's case, a photograph of a face}. Of words, nothing will come to mind. This is the difference between thinking in a word-centered culture and thinking in an image-centered culture.
What I suggest here as a solution is what Aldous Huxley suggested, as well. And I can do no better than he. He believed with H. G. Wells that we are in a race between education and disaster, and he wrote continuously about the necessity of our understanding the politics and epistemology of media. For in the end, he was trying to tell us that what afflicted the people in Brave New World was not that they were laughing instead of thinking, but that they did not know what they were laughing about and why they had stopped thinking.
Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to...
What I suggest here as a solution is what Aldous Huxley suggested, as well. And I can do no better than he. He believed with H. G. Wells that we are in a race between education and disaster, and he wrote continuously about the necessity of our understanding the politics and epistemology of media. For in the end, he was trying to tell us that what afflicted the people in Brave New World was not that they were laughing instead of thinking, but that they did not know what they were laughing about and why they had stopped thinking.
Controlling your body is, however, only a minimal requirement. You must also have learned to pay no attention to the shapes of the letters on the page. You must see through them, so to speak, so that you can go directly to the meanings of the words they form. If you are preoccupied with the shapes of the letters, you will be an intolerably inefficient reader, likely to be thought stupid.
Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to...
Controlling your body is, however, only a minimal requirement. You must also have learned to pay no attention to the shapes of the letters on the page. You must see through them, so to speak, so that you can go directly to the meanings of the words they form. If you are preoccupied with the shapes of the letters, you will be an intolerably inefficient reader, likely to be thought stupid.
Although the general character of print-intelligence would be known to anyone who would be reading this book, you may arrive at a reasonably detailed definition of it by simply considering what is demanded of you as you read this book. You are required, first of all, to remain more or less immobile for a fairly long time. If you cannot do this {with this or any other book}, our culture may label you as anything from hyperkinetic to undisciplined; in any case, as suffering from some sort of intellectual deficiency.
Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to...
Although the general character of print-intelligence would be known to anyone who would be reading this book, you may arrive at a reasonably detailed definition of it by simply considering what is demanded of you as you read this book. You are required, first of all, to remain more or less immobile for a fairly long time. If you cannot do this {with this or any other book}, our culture may label you as anything from hyperkinetic to undisciplined; in any case, as suffering from some sort of intellectual deficiency.
But most of our daily news is inert, consisting of information that gives us something to talk about but cannot lead to any meaningful action.
Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to...
But most of our daily news is inert, consisting of information that gives us something to talk about but cannot lead to any meaningful action.
That is why a good reader does not cheer an apt sentence or pause to applaud even an inspired paragraph. Analytic thought is too busy for that, and too detached.
Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to...
That is why a good reader does not cheer an apt sentence or pause to applaud even an inspired paragraph. Analytic thought is too busy for that, and too detached.
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All the things you can talk about in anyone's work are the things that are least important.
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Explore the rugged edge of thought. Like grating a carrot, give the paper the colorful coleslaw of your consciousness.
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Explore the rugged edge of thought. Like grating a carrot, give the paper the colorful coleslaw of your consciousness.
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