This webpage originally contained a comic adaptation of part of the foreword to Neil Postman's book Amusing Ourselves to Death. This comic was respectfully removed in March 2012 due to the wishes of the copyright holders of the text.
Update, March 2012 : I wrote a reflective blog post about my Amusing Ourselves to Death comic: including the massive response that it got, as well as my decision to remove the comic from my website.
Do yourself a favour and read Neil Postman's words in full. Purchase a copy of Amusing Ourselves to Death new/used (aff).
Other links which may be of interest to readers who were pointed here:
Back to post / website. View/add comments for this article.Amusing Ourselves to Death by Stuart McMillen. Aldous Huxley vs. George Orwell. 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. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. 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. All words by "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business" by Neil Postman...a book about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell was right.