What George Orwell (in 1984) feared were those who would ban books. What Aldous Huxley (in Brave New World) 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 that 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, preoccupied with some equivalent of "feelies", the "orgy porgy", and the "centrifugal bumble-puppy". As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” In 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.
My take: Neil Postman's book Amusing Ourselves to Death takes as its central thesis that the printed word is vastly superior to the televised image, the latter being predominant in our world today. He takes Huxley's Brave New World as the prophecy that is being made incarnate in the modern world today. Has anyone read Brave New World or Chris Hedges or Neil Postman's books???
Amusing Ourselves to Death: 1984 & Brave New World
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