Huxley vs. Orwell: Infinite Distraction Or Government Oppression

It's most definitely both.<p>I've been really intrigued by this topic as of late because it's an easily noticed problem. The general public (that's a fun term, aye) are becoming equally insatiable as they are stupid.<p>There's an excellent film called Idiocracy that came out a few years back. It's meant to be a farce but makes a really great point about where we might end up in the future. Here's a clip of one of my favorite scenes: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW-4LU79qbU" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wW-4LU79qbU</a><p>It's funny, but it's also sad. At this point, I don't see much of a reversal taking place. If you're an intelligent person, be thankful and try to help those around you who are less aware of Spaceship Earth.<p>Edit: I misspoke. I thought about it and "I don't see much of a reversal taking place" isn't true. The one thing that can reverse all of this is parents. If you have children, take the time to educate them and make them aware of their existence. Explain how systems work and the benefits/problems with them. Don't use scare tactics, just talk to them. More likely than not, they'll grow up with a head on their shoulders.

Why are techies as a group so apocalyptic? I think the world 100 years from now will be a fairer, more just, more humane place than it is now. 100 years ago, women still couldn't vote in the US and the country was legally segregated instead of just segregated in practice. 100 years ago, child labor was at its peak in the US, food safety was non-existstant, charlatans ran rampant in the practice of medicine, and cities were thick with the pollution of the industrial revolution. We live in a better world today than has ever existed for the greatest number of people. Why should we believe that it will be society, that has improved itself so, that will be its own undoing?

The one piece of science fiction that really struck me in this way is the 1960's BBC television play <i>The Year of the Sex Olympics</i>. It manages to predict the onset and results of reality TV with startling accuracy. Highly recommended, if you can find a copy.

Does it even matter that a portion of the time once stolen away by grinding toil in the fields (for the benefit of kings) is now stolen away by inane cable television (for the benefit of CEOs)? Heart disease is a kinder killer than starvation, drought and cold.<p>It's easy to forget that things are better now than they have ever been before. Don't stop believing!

Planet Earth is a big place, and its inhabitants managed to reach both of those destinies at the same time. There are places where people live like Orwell predicted, and then there is this so called "First World", which looks exactly like Huxley's vision portrayed by this comic.<p>The real question is: how do we fix both of those states?

I don't think it's one or the other. I think it's a little bit of both. The less people care about what's going on in politics and about defending their rights, the more oppressive and invasive the Governments become.

I had the enormous privilege of having a teacher who assigned both <i>The End of Education</i> and <i>Amusing Ourselves To Death</i> by Neil Postman my junior year of high school. I can't recommend them enough; reading them was one of the formative political experiences of my life.<p>We live in dangerous times; civic engagement and an educated, vibrant population is more important than ever. But our political and cultural discourse has fallen to its lowest point in as long as anyone can remember. If I were not already politically engaged, I might become so if I watched Edward Murrow at night -- but watching CNN these days seems to be no different from watching the Jersey Shore.

My vote is for infinite distraction. Government is taking advantage of this right now. They can already do basically whatever they want without that much blowback.

The comic paints a picture from a very specific viewpoint, as if Huxley's were the rational, correct one and Orwell's came from a delusional fantasy land. Both men lived very different lives and they were responding to what they saw.<p>Huxley came from a family distinguished in science and rational thought, so he had something to live up to. He was intellectually gifted, but was a poor authoritarian who was barred from military service due to poor eyesight.<p>Orwell came from the gentry, was told that he was clever at a young age and when given the chance to see authority and violence he jumped at it. Both noticed just how broken the worlds they had stepped into were.<p>Huxley was never shot in the throat or saw the Soviets pervert his ideals in Spain or endure a slow death by TB. Orwell had little interest in examining the gullible, impatient, "zippy" world of the US that Sinclair Lewis and Co were responding to, so he missed out on a taste of what the future would hold for those with peacetime and plenty.

I very much enjoyed the book.. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death</a>

Neither will destroy us IMHO. Too many emo-burgers being slung lately. It's not the end of the world when things go wrong. In fact, it's business as usual.

And they're both happening. Great.

At the top of the page, there are logos for other blogs that if you mouseover them, they pop down with inane headlines for things that don't matter. There are three pictures linking to inane political cartoons above the article. Above and to the left there is a "recent comments" widget and links to Facebook and StumbleUpon, plus a couple of Flash banner advertisements to round it out.<p>Below the comic there is a row of social networking widgets, plus a block of linkspam along the lines of "The Hilarious College Liberal Meme", "10 Things Much Worse Than Same-Sex Marriage (But Are Totally Legal)", "Nine Hilariously Awkward Facebook Interactions", "50 Ridiculously Athlete Photos", and "Atom Bomb Detonation May Have Alerted Aliens that We're Trouble". After a long block of comments, there's more linkspam, including "19 Celebrity Drunk Pictures (Bet They Regret These!)". At the bottom of the page, <i>even more linkspam</i>, from "We know who’s the boss. (That damn cat)." and "Sheep Poop Bookmark" to "Cats Hate Wallpaper!" and "The Best Of The Overly Attached Girlfriend". At the very bottom, you can sign up for emails from this website, and there's another Twitter and Facebook widget for good measure.<p>Sometimes you have to step back a little before the message really sinks in.

1984 is seemingly the only book everyone has read.<p>It is really frustrating to see people simplify all economics, (evidence-based) social psychology and proper appraisal of philosophy applied to historical perspectives only to reduce our future to these bizarre extremes. The only reason people even give 1984 its credibility post Cold-War is that its two chief components, the television and surveillance camera became a reality. This is not to trivialise the presence of surveillance, but honestly, I'm amazed anyone can read it past the hysterical Room 101 bit. BWN is basically just 1984 told from the bourgeoisie perspective, the specifics are different but both themes are two sides of the same coin.<p>tl;dr 1984 is the print version of those crackpot websites that are all made in Frontpage, where every other word is formatted differently and there's a maddening tree of stream of consciousness ramblings, some of which lead to nowhere. The whole hoary debate can be summarised as basically one legible paragraph of that.

It's too Kazinskian a perspective that these are the only choices we have...

False dichotomies.

For the record.. Huxley was Orwell's teacher at some point.

As several other comments here have pointed out, it's possible for neither bad outcome to happen. Human beings always have frailties and make mistakes, and even take advantage of one another, but the long-term trend line in human society suggests the worries in the submitted article are overblown. By coincidence, the Why Evolution Is True website today has a post that responds to worries like this with actual research by careful scientists who know human nature well.<p><a href="http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/things-are-getting-better/" rel="nofollow">http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2012/10/03/things-ar...</a><p>The Hans Rosling video linked to from that post is familiar to some participants on Hacker News; if you haven't seen it yet, it is well worth a look.

Looks like the site is having load issues.. <a href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:r-Sz2Hqe5GsJ:www.prosebeforehos.com/image-of-the-day/08/24/huxley-vs-orwell-infinite-distraction-or-government-oppression/+&#38;cd=1&#38;hl=en&#38;ct=clnk&#38;gl=in" rel="nofollow">http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:r-Sz2Hq...</a>

Both at the same time.

Okay, am I the only one who saw Brave New World as a utopia? Everyone's <i>completely frigging happy</i>!

Neither, this is a false dilemma. Humanity, as any form of life, always balances the equation when one side gets too prominent.

asteroid

Both. So what can we do?<p>Resisting oppression calls for courage. If you merely complain or protest you may be tracked down and threatened. If you go beyond that to active resistance you definitely run the risk of being labelled a criminal or terrorist and put in a cage.<p>Resisting distraction is a whole lot easier. It just requires self-discipline, and a willingness to say no the the bait. Don't use a bank, credit card, television, or unfree software. Don't buy industrially processed or GMO food. Opt out.<p>Yes, it involves sacrifice, and other people will mock you, but if you are short on bravery, what else can you do?<p>EDIT: Forgot this: Do not vote.

Is somewhat odd and amusing that the copyright holders of the text (not the author, as he died in 2003) requested that this comic be taken down from the site that originally posted it. - <a href="http://www.recombinantrecords.net/docs/2009-05-Amusing-Ourselves-to-Death.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.recombinantrecords.net/docs/2009-05-Amusing-Ourse...</a><p>[edit] I just read that the artist actually contacted the estate of Neil Postman to check if they had any problem with it, just in case they ever sued, and then removed it on their instruction. - <a href="http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/blog/cartoon-blog/amusing-ourselves-to-death/" rel="nofollow">http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/blog/cartoon-blog/amusing-ours...</a>