![]() For the first time, he proposes the book's primary thesis – that in the current climate, "all public discourse increasingly takes the form of entertainment," which has put us in a position where we are "slowly amusing ourselves to death" (3-4). He suggests that American culture is at present (the book was written in 1985) best symbolized by Las Vegas, which is "entirely devoted to the idea of entertainment" (3). Chicago had its turn during the days of industrial expansion. Later, New York became the primary symbol because of its reputation as melting pot. At one point, Boston was central for its revolutionary significance. Postman suggests that different American cities have served as the primary metaphor for the U.S. Part IĪt the beginning of Chapter 1, Postman traces out the main shape of the argument he will present in his book. ![]() Simply put, Orwell worried that information and truth would be suppressed, whereas Huxley worried the truth would become irrelevant in the face of "distractions." Postman offers that his book is "about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right" (xx). Where Orwell warned that an "externally imposed oppression" was imminent, Huxley feared that society would collapse under the oppression of "technologies that undo capacities to think," and which we would celebrate rather than fear (xix). However, he then reminds us how Aldous Huxley had suggested an utterly distinct type of dystopia from Orwell's. Postman begins by recalling how the year 1984 brought no collapse of "liberal democracy," despite the warning perpetuated by George Orwell's novel 1984 (xix).
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