“Amusing Ourselves To Death” is a very cool infographic showing a comparison between Aldous Huxley’s view of the future from “Brave New World” and George Orwell’s fears or vision expressed in “Nineteen-Eighty-Four”. Enjoy!
I read “Brave New World” when I was a teenager. It looks like it’s time to read it again.
Which one do you like better: “Brave New World” or “Nineteen Eighty-Four”?
You can vote for your favorite book on Deep Spirits.
Clever, but you say this is a Orwel vs Huxley, but It’s rather one sided …
I agree that Orwell’s and Huxley’s books do reflect a lot of society today, but the examples given do not really do justice to the messages in their novels. I.e. the authors were concerned with manipulation in society- this manipulation goes deeper than what is visible to our eye- it does not only occur through television programs, celebrity magazines and ridiculous ideals that people try to chase, but it is in our own political systems. Even very educated people are constantly being manipulated by those in the system itself. Newspapers don’t write that all is well; they do talk about the corruption that goes on but what they reveal is only what is evident on the surface. The real corruption lies underneath what is shown.
I read Neil Postman’s book for a writing class last semester. Now I’m going to share this tidbit on my facebook and other social networking sites and get back to updating my blog and catch up on a few more episodes on Hulu…
I read Neil Postman’s book for a writing class last semester. Now I’m going to share this tidbit on my facebook and other social networking sites and get back to updating my blog and catch up on a few more episodes on Hulu…
Good argument.
I feel both Authors are correct. Although I like Orwell as an author , and really havn’t read any Huxley, I can relate to both through the illustrations. They both had great forsight. One thing I can say as a novice forecaster, is sometimes you have to back into something to get it somewhat correct, all the information isnt always given to you . But I do follow Hegelian dialectic and that is what the powers that be use on the masses. I can agree with both takes and I believe they go hand in hand, I believe both ideas have come together into a sythesis if you will. Just as I believe socialism will continue to run rampant in the country, I believe it will be a synthesis of Communism & Corporate Facsism, two forms of Socialism, yet both two different extremes nevertheless.
He still did a great job. It’s just too bad people have been blinded in an Orwellian style, to the actual happenings in many parts of our world today. The ‘sea of irrelevance’ the artist spoke of is real, it isn’t a matter of happenstance it exists as just another mechanism of control.
The same Truths Orwell feared being hidden and taken away from human existence, are the same Truths ignored and unrealized by the populace in Huxley’s opposing dystopia(but still a dystopia). Experiencing existence as a whole and realizing our own individual human potential, remains the main undiscovered and lacking feature in both versions of our future selves created by these two philosophers.
I was confused by the artist’s obvious bias through-out the piece, towards Huxley. In every situation he used to appeal the audience to an idea from “Brave New World”(as a viable experience happening in ‘our’ world today); he portrays an equally viable circumstance/reality that is happening today (from “1984″). Although it seemed natural for him to conclude with blatant appraise for Huxley over Orwell, through that many comparative examples I had hoped that anyone and everyone could see both are happening simultaneously in ‘OUR’ reality, that we have collectively created.
I think this author missed the point of 1984, which wasn’t that hate will ruin us, but that government will blind us to that which makes us human. Big brother didn’t ban books in 1984 because they hated books, they banned them because they contained the truth about the world around them. In places where Orwell’s vision hasn’t yet been realized, we have the choice to choose love, indulgence, greed, etc. In a modern-day 1984 society, they can choose nothing.
**first
That’s because you live in a fist world country. Try the third, fourth and rest of the underworlds. Its pretty clear Orwell won down here!
Excelent analysis. Congratulations!
Agree with the opinion that both were right. We in the developed world (at least) are infused with a desire for particulars and infantile impulse control.
“Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.”
[Lao-tzu, ca 6th Cent. BCE]
Personally I think nowadays we can apply both books, or is not true that London has surveillance all around? It is also true that we spend like 8 hours on the telly…
One comppliments the other, we fail to see that which causes terror and hate around us, because there is entertainment and over exposure to divert us
Huxley is right in our part of the world, where there is freedom, and we choose to use that freedom to fulfill our own tiny pleasures, and as we can see freedom in the areas of press has evolved into the monster of biased news which cannot be challenged and forces those who only listen to a narrative that suits them, are fed anything such news organizations want them to believe. In places like North Korea, i think Orwell’s version is VERY VERY right. The genius of these two men shine in their ability to forsee what possibilities could be if, one there was complete freedom, and two if there was an absolute lack of freedom.
well put i agree
Both books being the masterpieces they are, inevitably will lead into one another if implicated in the world we live because if you give the world the ability to receive too much information then we will scream for less, and if we end up in the dystopian type oppression we would revolt and the catch 22 would ensue. Neither would happen in the near future, but both are perfectly possible, just pick your oppression wisely.
But this is just my opinion.
Orwell’s scenario is still more scary than Huxley’s. Even though Huxley’s scenario appears to be where we may be heading, it only works because statistically a large majority of people will succumb to its temptations. However, in Huxley’s world (and in our present society) a single individual can still choose to rise above all that. I can study art and literature, science and philosophy. I can ask questions. I can make the choice between turning on the boob-tube, or reading Shakespeare or Mark Twain. The majority of people might choose the boob-tube, but there ARE people who choose the other.
In Orwell’s scenario, there is no individual choice. Books you read, the shows you watch, are all controlled.
I’d rather be able to at least attempt to navigate the vast sea of information and stimulation of Huxley’s world, than be hemmed in by the rules and limitations of Orwell’s.
both of these are very real very scary possibilities …. yet both are happening at the same time… we’re being controlled by a mixture of these not so far away futures
Amusing ourselves to Death by Neil Postman is one of the most important books of the last 40 years. Read it and learn.
I must agre with Fr. Don Kill, [coincidentally my brother], but my fear is not for myself or most of our generation.
My fear in for my children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
What kind of future are we making for them??
Quite and interesting comparison. In today’s world the radical left seeking total pleasure and the radical right seeking total control are active and fulfilling both predictions.
Really nice comic, but to one correction.. We are controled by both ^^;;;; And Both of their fears are destroying us..
Sadly both of their fears are now realities…
The fact that even in supposed “democratic” Countries like my own, people are passing laws and bills behind the publics back. We know very little about what has been going on close to us, that affects us and our very lives. Lets take the censorship on the BP oil spill, or the censorship on what happened at the G20′s…
The Rich control our world, but we are too busy enjoying ourselves to really care or notice ^^;;
I’m sorry, I just don’t feel oppressed by either the gov or the mindless media. I sometimes wonder if these books and those who fear such things are just describing themselves. My mind is free, no one is kicking down my door, no one is interfering with my business, I go where and when I want to go, so long as I can pay for it. I don’t have a problem with this. I’m sorry, I really just don’t feel it – I think both of these books are extreme hyperbole and cannot be applied to the current reality we live in except by a very stretch metaphor.
And Capri, seriously, do you not realize that half the state of Oregon is stoned half the time? People here think that the criminalization of pot was a conspiracy to keep pot-smoking liberals politically inert by making them felons. They believe legalization would allow pot smokers to become MORE, not less involved. Go figure…
@Capri- have you ever smoked marijuana, or known people who do? First, it has a different affect on every one. Second, people who smoke are not less aware because they smoke. People are less aware because they allow themselves to be less aware. I know plenty of brilliant, active members of society that smoke, a lot.
That is great. It is possible that both of these predictions have come true to some extent. How many generations will it take to turn this thing around if we do a 180º this decade? Not that that is going to happen, but what if?
…fear…fare…costs …life…or…death…so why the big deal…we either live or die…or live then die…or die to live…or fear to live and die…now that is death…so live with fear …then die content…
Maybe it isnt the fact that they are both wrong, but both right in their own regards. Each country is different, and what it really comes down to is the living standard of each individaul. Their could me hundreds of thousands of individual cases to prove each point. Then there are hundreds of thousands more that say the oppisite.
Huxley’s book is much more applicable in the real world. There is no evil wizard behind a curtain, and people CAN be selfless heroes. They simply don’t.
It’s sort of take your pick, although I see much of a Brave New World being promised.
“Religion is the opiate of the people.” -KM-
After reading your excellent comparison/contrast I thought, “maybe opiates are the opiates of the people”-could the current move to legalize pot be an accepted method of keeping people from being politically aware and active?
I really enjoyed reading this. It compares two books I’ve enjoyed and introduces me to “Amusing Ourselves to Death” which I now must read. Thanks. It was clear by the end that the Postman thinks Huxley has more correctly imagined our future. But what’s not clear to me is that these visions are oppositional. There is more and more of 1984 becoming true every day. If the point is that the cultural forces are more compelling than those of the state than I would say reality is more akin to “the ship of state” riding the current in the river of our times ( please excuse the mixed metaphors). I think we are living in a world that takes BOTH books to describe, please through in Brazil and the Matrix for color.
Here I am ranting on the internet, so Huxley was right? But my message is passing through networking equipment that our government now has monitoring software on and there are departments of security agents using computer algorithms that neither of these two writers could have imagined were possible searching for dissent that threatens the state, building files and databases on all of the net who dare speak out. Just because most of society has become docile doesn’t mean the state will give up its quest for total control. Huxley and Orwell are both correct.
It’s important to remember that Orwell and Huxley were not attempting to predict the future, but were commenting on some of the dangers that societies face. Orwell was more targeting the dangers of a corrupted communist society, whereas Huxley was describing a twisted capitalist society. So in this respect Huxley’s book is more relevant to our society. But Orwell does a better job at addressing the ever-propagated fear in society. Huxley’s dystopia imagines a world almost without true fear, which I think is a far cry from today’s reality. Overall, I like 1984 better than Brave New World.
This is very powerful, and very thought provoking. My grandkids take a DSi for the drive from their house to ours, 1.5 miles.
The Truth will set you free!
I take time to read both works every other year as a refresher…
I read ‘Brave New World’ when I was 13 years old. This was back in 1982. I have also attempted to read ’1984′ but I was unable to complete it as it was too bleak.
I found that both books are good though and when 1984 did come around felt that ‘Brave New World’ related far more to what I was experiencing than ’1984′.
Reading ‘Brave New World’ was a life changing experience for me. The sleep conditioning that is described in ‘Brave New World’ always reminded me of the advertisements that I saw on TV. I was always weary of what was being broadcast across TV and questioned information that I was receiving.
I do think that ‘Brave New World’ can be a little cynical however. Applying the notions of ‘Brave New World’ constantly to society has the effect of making me a little too serious.
Another good book is that by Ray Bradbury ‘Fahrenheit 451′also about information control.
bsj2312… you are right, kinda. Those parts of the world that don’t have TV, movies, video games, and teh interwebs aren’t like this at all. So, yeah we are really only talking about North America, Europe, most of Asia, and the nicer parts of Africa and South America. Hardly anyone at all, really.
Comparing the two authors is ridiculous, just as saying one is right over the other. What the originator of this idea doesn’t seem to mention is that neither author was talking specifically about the USA, while the ideas of someone being right seem to be directed at the state of affairs in the USA. I don’t even have to look it up to know that Neil Postman is an American. The ideas shown here show the egotism that only Americans possess. The rest of the world is not like this.
I’ve read all 3 of the books mentioned, 1984, Brave New World and Amusing Ourselves to Death. Brave New World is the best of the two novels, and Amusing Ourselves to Death is eye-opening.
“Amusing Ourselves to Death” – excellent book. Nice cartoon.
It’s repressive vs ideological state apparatuses
anyone think that perhaps the two could combine and the media and whatnot could end up using us like pawns… ??
the fact that i found this through stumbleupon seems to support it’s message >>.
Very interesting perspective, and so real it’s chilling down my spine.
Thats pretty awesome. I also found this really shocking, yet entertaining video about a diet coke + mentos + microwave experimnet GONE WRONG video on YouTube. The diet coke and mentos and microwave totally explodes and looks like it sends the guy to his death. You can see the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVPZSK77yTw . Tell me if you think it is real or fake.
@ Backo – Actually, Orwell was painting a picture of any oppressive dictatorship, not just Soviets. Keep in mind Orwell fought the fascists in the Spanish Civil War and was well aware of the type of society the National Socialists set up in Germany. Dictatorships can be right or left.
Orwell wasn’t trying to predict the future. Through a futuristic dystopia, he was showing what life was like in Soviet dictatorships at the time he was writing. Huxley was looking to the future. Both of them are pretty darn accurate!
I can see sides both clearly but what is really happening in this world is a mixture of both ideas.Each depends on geographical surrounds for example the first world such as U.S U.K and the rest of the E.U is more towards Huxley and the other parts of the world like African Countries North Korea and Iran where government control is greater and more forceful it depicts Orwell’s vision
there is no in between we live in the dark grey shades of both worlds.