Amusing Ourselves to Death: Huxley vs Orwell
Originally posted on RecombinantRecords.net
32 thoughts about Amusing Ourselves to Death: Huxley vs Orwell
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Alex Eastman said on 03.22.2011
Wow, great post :)
Paul Laskey said on 03.22.2011
i agree with this post! i have never read brave new world, but this sparks interest. i read 1984 and at the time thought it was a great foreshadowing of our culture, but this really shows that there is more truth in huxley’s argument.
Simon said on 03.22.2011
Amazing post!
Zachary said on 03.22.2011
really good
Venita Lynn said on 03.22.2011
This makes me uncomfortable. LOL Hmmm I think I will go for a walk tomorrow… and the day after.
Egle Makaraite said on 03.23.2011
This is beyond amazing.
Jessica Agee said on 03.24.2011
I’ve never read either of those books, but now I feel inspired to. I fear we are on both paths of disaster in the American society, and I’m sure others as well. I think we already well on our way. I wonder if Huxley was the inspiration to “Idiocracy”? Haha that’s what it reminds me of.
Simone said on 03.27.2011
I read those Huxley excerpts in Chris Hedges’ “Empire of Illusion”. It’s also a great, illuminating book. I would recommend it. It’s simultaneously terrifying and inspiring.
Grogan said on 03.27.2011
I love this, Its great to ponder where were all heading, but its so much more fun to write a comic.
Kiesha Jean said on 03.27.2011
fuck me that’s GREAT!
Simon said on 03.28.2011
Haha, I love this comment. I stumbled upon it about 2 years ago and emailed it to my English teacher who once assigned us “Amusing Ourselves to Death”.
For those of you who haven’t read it, I sincerely suggest that you do. Building a “Bridge to the 18th Century”, also by Postman, also discusses the deterioration of modern Western culture, in areas outside of mass media.
Another line, at the end of “Amusing Ourselves to Death” can be used to succinctly sum up the whole comic;
“For in the end, he [Huxely] 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.”
Leong Shujian said on 03.30.2011
YES! A gifted and perceptive present-day graphic analysis of Huxley’s and Orwell’s gifted and perceptive verbal predictions so many years ago of what life would be like in the future.
I don’t think it’s a question of one versus the other. These cartoons illustrate how remarkably accurate some of the predictions were in both novels, and how so-called civilization has continuously failed to channel advances in technology for the public good rather than simply watch them gradually destroy human freedoms and rights.
Congratulations to High Existence and a few other websites for helping to spread general awareness of how life can be improved.
Lindsay said on 04.01.2011
Great post! I’ve read both books. And I think that both are accurate, in their own way. If we don’t give into our ‘infinite appetite for distraction’ then we will certainly end up realizing that Orwell’s “Captive Culture” is indeed what we have become. In short, we are captivated by distraction.
Brilliant comparison.
Seth said on 04.02.2011
“Big Brother isn’t watching. He’s singing and dancing. He’s pulling rabbits out of a hat. Big Brother’s busy holding your attention every moment you’re awake. He’s making sure you’re always distracted. He’s making sure you’re fully absorbed.”
— Chuck Palahniuk (Lullaby)
Patrick Jones said on 04.03.2011
The scary/ sad thing is that they are both right. Choose your poison.
Chris said on 04.04.2011
I would say that undemocratic regimes are more 1984 and democratic regimes are more Brave New World.
Roland said on 04.04.2011
I have to agree with Patrick, to some extent. Mostly, in today’s society I see subjects pertaining to Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.
But for instance the banning books, as shown in the first cartoon on George Orwell’s “1984″: We have a right wing politician in the Netherlands who is extremely opposed to Muslims. He is saying we shouldn’t be living in a world with Muslim (extremism) and all that, and tries to trash the Quran and it’s teaching everywhere he can get his foot on solid ground. In my opinion that is someone who is scary, and a danger to society.
Natalie K said on 04.04.2011
Some people who’ve read Brave New World think that it’s not a dystopia at all. It certainly contains some utopia elements.
How many people would make the sacrifice of art for (refined) happiness?
Greg said on 04.16.2011
Another good book which was actually cited in the afterward of Brave New World is Life in the Crystal Palace by Alan Harrington. It talks about the absurdity of working at a job you don’t like in order to pay for these pleasures and amusements.
Kels said on 08.08.2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLJWWLFtX7c&sns=fb
Laura said on 10.13.2011
Sounds to me like they’re both right.
Kill your TV!
Moncler Jassen said on 07.01.2012
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EtherKnight said on 11.30.2012
Wonders if anyone else spotted the irony of this post having a +1/like box next to it.
frosted_keyboard said on 12.05.2012
Potent & inspiring…I fapped.
fastpoose said on 02.02.2013
A shallow piece… Orwell hasn’t written just one book as most know. Just ask the people of North Korea if Orwell was wrong…
devildogtrip said on 03.25.2013
Totalitarianism has been enslaving people since dirt was new. Self-enslavement is only a problem for societies that have reached the top of Maslow’s hierarchy. We have seen the enemy and he is us.
rezzrovv said on 03.24.2013
This reminds me of those obnoxious bumber-stickers, “Critical Thinking, The Other National Deficiet”. Psuedo intellectuals have been whining about the intellectual decay of society since before the Romans.
devildogtrip said on 03.25.2013
OK. And how have things been working out for “society” since then?
SirBill said on 03.24.2013
Why cannot both be equally right? Although this makes many good points to elevate the level of concern that Brave New World is fairly prophetic, it does not discount the many good examples we have of an intrusive Orwellian government also in the rise.
Indeed, if you think about it the Orwell side is the danger from government, the Huxley side is the danger from capitalism…
But here’s a question I would posit to see how badly off we really are. Do you see this as a problem in your own world, or a problem you imagine for society in general? I ask because I most people I know strike a reasonable balance between electronic distraction and more healthy things like exercise, reading, doing things outdoors, etc. It’s very easy to image all sorts of people we do not personally know having issues that we are concerned about, while the real problem occurs at a lower rate than we imagine.
robocat said on 03.24.2013
The vast majority of the population in 1984 are the proles, but Orwell doesn’t focus upon them. Most of the panels drawn for Huxley could just as easily refer to the proles.
devildogtrip said on 03.25.2013
Boom! Excellent, excellent, excellent. Now, gimme my soma.
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