One afternoon after work, a colleague of mine and I sat outside the office and, as we often did, contemplated the world around us. We got onto the topic of Big Brother and seeing Orwell’s ideas creep up in the world around us. It was then that he introduced me to some of the ideas Aldous Huxley wrote about in his book “Brave New World.” I had never before considered the possibility that it may not be through an ever-present, ever stronger government that our subjection comes but through our own selves; becoming complacent through entertainment.

Brave New World, Aldous Huxley

Neil Postman is the author of the book “Conscientious Objections: Stirring Up Trouble about Language, Technology, and Education” which was published by Knopf 1988. Postman Writes about the defeat of intelligence through what he and his colleagues call “Future Shlock,” adapted from his colleagues’ term ‘Future Shock’ which is “a way of describing the social paralysis induced by rapid technological change.” Postman uses the example of Hitler’s Germany before and during the second World War to highlight just one form of the social and intellectual degradation that befalls a society that allows itself to lose its agency. Postman himself writes, “this is what I wish to call to your notice: the frightening displacement of serious, intelligent public discourse in American culture by the imagery and triviality of what may be called show business. I do not see the decline of intelligent discourse in America leading to the barbarisms that flourished in Germany, of course… There are other ways to achieve stupidity, and it appears that, as in so many other things, there is a distinctly American way.” He goes on to explain that this American way is being ruined “not by what we fear and hate but by what we welcome and love.”

Postman himself brings up the differences between Orwell’s future and Huxley’s. He says that in Orwell’s people are controlled by inflicting pain but in Huxley’s they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. I agree with Postman that America’s future is not in totalitarian rule of a dictator but by steady doses of pleasure that lull is into a thought coma. While I agree that this is a more likely fate of our America I think that Postman’s views are a little extreme. Don’t misunderstand me when I say that; Postman’s voice is a clear warning and sometimes loud hellfire, condemnation and disaster is how the people need to hear it – it takes a lot to get through all those layers of desensitization to today’s problems – but his views are just a little overbearing.

Huxley’s future is not secured and while Postman is stuck with his head in a damp barrel, we all can make educated and informed decisions about how we deal with and moderate entertainment. There is danger in entertainment and I stress that straight and true word: moderation. Moderation is the compass to navigate the sea of entertainment in which we find ourselves. Instead of succumbing to the zombification that media can induce, use good judgment and say to yourself, “that’s enough, it’s time to go out.” As Postman himself puts it, “I [do not] make a complaint against entertainment. As an old song has it, life is not a highway strewn with flowers. The sight of a few blossoms here and there may make our journey a trifle more endurable.” It is not that media is inherently bad. No, it has its merits. It is that living through media is the cord that will bind us to the Huxleyan prophecy. Be free from bondage. Moderate yourself and your time. Be your own master and master your own will.

Here’s a link to Neil Postman’s essay: http://169.204.228.86/OurSchools/Hs/staff/jvoigt/APLanguage/Film%20Studies/NeilPostmanFutureShock.pdf