The challenge of resisting diversions so that we can come to grips with important issues
In the age of ubiquitous video channels and social media, author Neil Postman's words from decades ago ring truer than ever.
Driven to distraction
I’ve been thinking about how easy it has become to avoid complex topics, equally in our lives as in our communities. We are so quickly distracted these days by all kinds of entertainment. I don’t believe it’s a leap to say that decay is sure to set in when we don’t stay informed on key issues and we don’t participate in the exercise of good representative government.
Neil Postman, the media theorist and cultural critic, wrote about this topic with an interesting comparison between the future envisaged by George Orwell in his book, 1984, and that of Aldous Huxley in Brave New World. Postman’s musings are intriguing, because they are so current, even though he was writing 38 years ago. Here’s what he perceived back then:
We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn’t, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by Orwellian nightmares.
But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell’s dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley’s vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.
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.
Book: Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman
We can see these forces at work both in autocratic regimes and in democratic societies: on the one hand, banning and pain, and on the other hand, an abundance of entertainment and distraction causing apathy. As far as the Western world is concerned, an observer could easily conclude that we are not getting clarity on vitally important issues because we are under the influence of the drug of self-amusement.
Recently a Calvin and Hobbes strip by Bill Watterson, shared on a social media platform, ironically, said as much:
Calvin makes a good point. We should recognize the trend and resist being “bored by things that are important to know.” Otherwise we’ll be in trouble. Maybe we should take a refresher course in civics.
Visual media has turned most information into a form of entertainment, stimulating the emotional centres of our brain. Printed media, however, still has the power to engage the intellect. Reading, as Postman points out, keeps our rational skills sharp and is more suited for tackling complex topics. We just have to choose to apply ourselves and keep reading to understand our world.
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[PS. If you’re interested in other thoughts by Aldous Huxley, you may recall this post from early September: “On Doing Things Lightly”]
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A collection of my articles, with an archive and thematic headings, is at the Zanepost web page, here. Thanks for reading.
-Renato Zane