What is on your summer reading list? Have you been looking
forward to reading Stephen King’s new book? Or are you waiting with anticipation
for Harper Lee’s book Go Set a Watchman.
Do you enjoy a mystery? Will you revisit
a favorite classic novel?
I am revisiting one of my favorite non-fiction books, Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse
in the Age of Show Business by Neil Postman. Written in 1985, this book is
a historical narrative that gives sobering warning concerning a media and an entertainment driven society.
I love this book. Neil Postman was a NYU professor, writer, and
founder of the Media Ecology at NYU. Are you asking, what is Media Ecology?
According Postman, he defined the term as “ Media ecology looks into the matter
of how media communication affects human perception, understanding, feeling,
and value, as well as how our interaction with media facilitates or impedes our
chances of survival. The word ecology implies
the study of environment: structures, content and impact on people.”
Looking at the plethora of societal issues, we might feel overwhelmed. If we feel overwhelmed, we might turn on the tv and watch something to get our minds off the hunger, drought, drug addiction, murder, floods, etc. Do we enjoy watching more celebrity news rather than supporting individuals who are on the margins of life. With the number of problems our communities face, I wonder, do we see more volunteers willing to help with programs designed to alleviate problems. Public protests provide public awareness of issues... what happens when the microphones go silent and the television cameras are turned off.
Where is the public/civil discourse? Where is the action?
Where is the public/civil discourse? Where is the action?
Postman's comparisons of Orwell’s 1984 and Huxley’s A Brave New
World is sobering. Both authors addressed the issues of books.
Here is a rather lengthy quote from the book:
"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 that the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive of culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the 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, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear would ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire would ruin us."
"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 that the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive of culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the 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, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear would ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire would ruin us."
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