Amusing Ourselves to Death
Neil Postman's "Amusing Ourselves to Death" contrasts Orwell's oppressive regime with Huxley's distraction-driven society, arguing that modern culture's focus on entertainment undermines critical thought and meaningful discourse.
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Neil Postman's book "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business" contrasts the dystopian visions of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley. While Orwell's "1984" warns of an oppressive regime that restricts information, Huxley's "Brave New World" suggests a society that willingly sacrifices autonomy for pleasure and distraction. Postman argues that Huxley's perspective is more relevant today, as society becomes increasingly absorbed in entertainment and superficiality, leading to a culture of passivity and triviality. He highlights the dangers of an overabundance of information that can drown out meaningful discourse, resulting in a populace more interested in distractions than critical thought. The foreword emphasizes that while Orwell feared oppression through pain, Huxley feared control through pleasure, suggesting that the latter may be a more insidious threat. Ultimately, Postman calls for awareness of these dynamics, urging readers to reflect on their consumption of media and the implications for public discourse and democracy.
- Postman contrasts Orwell's and Huxley's dystopian visions regarding societal control.
- He argues that Huxley's view of distraction and superficiality is more applicable to modern society.
- The book warns against the dangers of excessive information leading to passivity.
- Postman emphasizes the need for critical engagement with media to preserve meaningful discourse.
- The foreword serves as a call to reflect on the implications of entertainment on autonomy and democracy.
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- Many commenters praise the book for its insights into media's impact on society, noting its relevance to contemporary issues like social media.
- There is a debate about the effectiveness of different media forms, with some arguing that not all media is detrimental to society.
- Several participants draw comparisons between Postman's ideas and those of Orwell and Huxley, discussing the implications of entertainment-driven culture versus oppressive regimes.
- Some commenters express skepticism about the current state of society, suggesting that we are already experiencing the consequences of distraction and superficial engagement.
- Others highlight the irony of using modern media formats, like comics and TikTok, to convey messages about the dangers of entertainment culture.
40 commentsIn the book, Postman analyzes how media affects humans and society. He basically gives a framework for predicting and understanding the effects of different types of media. The book was written before social media, so the examples are books, newspapers, tv, radio, etc. But so much of social media seems obvious once you read his analysis.
Every time I see the typical discussion (person A: social media makes people dumb; person B: Plato said books make people dumb) I think that the discussion could use some Postman - not all media affects us in the same way - some media encourages behaviors that are good for society, and some media encourages behaviors that are bad for society.
HN discussion from 2010: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1554733
Wikipedia entry for the book: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amusing_Ourselves_to_Death
Independent bookstores have been consistently growing since 2009: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/centers/mrcbg/programs/growthpol...
The book industry is expanding with particularly strong growth in e-books and audiobooks: https://worldmetrics.org/book-industry-statistics/
Educational attainment is generally increasing as time goes on in the US: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Educational_attainment_in_the_...
Voter turnout has increased over time in the United States: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voter_turnout_in_United_States...
If anything I think that the general population is becoming more aware and educated.
A more diversified leisure industry with more options than the days of having three channels on television is not the same as drowning in amusement, or the average person spending more time on amusement than on “serious” and “thoughtful” activities. Instead, it means that the individual has more options for forms of amusement they enjoy.
A game of chess does not add a single new fact to the mind; it does not excite a single beautiful thought; nor does it serve a single purpose for polishing and improving the nobler faculties.
Scientific American, July, 1858
[0]: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/19th-century-conce...
Talking about a dystopian future is a convenient way to assuade our sense of dissonance that the present is most certainly not that.
Case in point, nobody wants to rid the Earth of insects, fill the oceans with plastic or plough microplastics into every orifice, but we are all complicit and can't seem to gather ourselves to fix it.
So many things changed since he died but his ideas hold up pretty good.
Sources that are not in the prescribed 'news cycle' like AntiWar.com, FEE, The Institute For Justice, MintPressNews are not on the self-licking-icecream-cone list.
Aldous Huxley to George Orwell: My Hellish Vision of the Future is Better Than Yours (1949) - https://www.openculture.com/2018/08/aldous-huxley-george-orw...
The book talks a lot about Marshall McLuhan's quote "the medium is the message" and about how discourse has turned more and more into entertainment. Nixon lost to Kennedy because he was more attractive on television, and people are judged by how they look or behave as opposed to what they say.
More than anything, this book really made me appreciate written discourse.
Most of us will read this and continue living our life exactly the same way as before
…wake upWas there any follow up, I didn't see one on the wiki.
It seems like we are accelerating to this.
Even the changes between 2005 and 2024. Near 20 years, we've leaned into the Huxley vision. Really leaned into it.
This is all getting really scary. I feel like we should do something. We should really band together and change course. I volunteer to go out and do something, except of course, I'm a bit distracted at the moment, so maybe can we put off the change for another week? I really need to see the end of this season of "Industry". Then we can do something, I'm sure I'll have some free time next week to get right on this.
It's been so long I've forgotten some of the details.
Though, to my surprise, I remember while reading Brave New World, finding myself agreeing with a lot of the practices of that society.
A gram of soma, less aversion / denial of death, more liberal sexual norms.
> dated ... commentary on the evils of tv (zetsurin)
Hmm... I suppose both of these could be accurate.
They'd be boozing (more than they already are) if there wasn't such variety of cheap and available entertainment, the author doesn't seem to realize?
It's not what stupid people do in their free time - it's what capable and smart people value and pursue that makes all the difference.
Nietzsche laid this out quite beautifully in Thus Spoke Zarathustra. Huxley and Orwell are kindergarten philosophy by comparison.
Sounds like I need this book added to my reading list. I've not been able to get through Brave New World, but I might give it another try also.
1984 looked scary, but BNW was hopeless. It exerced a much better control. The world of 1984 collapsed down itself.
Information is exploding and global available Attention doesn't grow. People who pay attention to one thing, can't use the same time to pay attention to something else.
So govts and corps fight over this common pool of Attention using the Media (TV/Movies/Radio/Social/News/Sports/Gaming etc etc), just like they fought over land and oil and other natural resources. Media is literally used like front line troops of colonial empires in Attention capture wars.
But no one wins as long as Global Human Attention isn't given purpose. We await someone or some group to articulate that vision. Until then people working in Attention Capture fields will keep amusing us to death.
We're all dying fast. Medical industry can't stop it either, they don't know how. Nobody does.
Yet nobody seems to notice. Nobody seems to care.
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