Ecclesiastes 1:14 (KJV)
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.
My daugther, 18, wrote me this email:
I was listening to a speech by Ravi Zacharais:
But here is a nice blog post that summarizes it.
http://melissakranzo.com/2011/12/the-problem-of-pleasure/
About the passivity of our generation…
“What George Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Aldous 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 distraction.” ln 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. ln 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. This is about the possibility that Huxley, and not Orwell, was right.” (George Orwell: author of 1984. Aldous Huxley: author of Brave New World)
- Neil Postman, in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Huxley is correct.
I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and, behold, all [is] vanity and vexation of spirit.
My daugther, 18, wrote me this email:
I was listening to a speech by Ravi Zacharais:
But here is a nice blog post that summarizes it.
http://melissakranzo.com/2011/12/the-problem-of-pleasure/
About the passivity of our generation…
“What George Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Aldous 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 distraction.” ln 1984, Huxley added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. ln 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. This is about the possibility that Huxley, and not Orwell, was right.” (George Orwell: author of 1984. Aldous Huxley: author of Brave New World)
- Neil Postman, in his book Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Huxley is correct.
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