Thursday, March 24, 2016
The Huxleyan Warning
In Neil Postman's "The Huxleyan Warning", he clearly spells out the negative effects that television has on our culture, turning it into what he calls a "population distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments…" I agree with Postman's argument to an extent. He believes that television in every form is bad, and it would only be useful if it became worse. If everything on television became a serious topic or discussion, it would no longer truly be entertainment. I do think that our culture has fixated on this entertainment too much, but I think that a little distraction here and there isn't a bad thing. Not everything has to mean something or have some sort of important message, and I think Postman fails to acknowledge this in his writing. I do agree with his questioning of who would stop a culture being overtaken by entertainment. He says, "Who is prepared to take arms against a sea of amusements? To whom do we complain, and when, and in what tone of voice, when serious discourse dissolves into giggles? What is the antidote to a culture's being drained by laughter?" I think he makes a very good point. Just like in Brave New World, no one would complain about it because they are constantly happy, constantly being satisfied by their every need. Instant gratification at its finest. If this was to ever happen to our culture, would we be noble enough to rise up against it? These are the important points Postman makes that I do agree with.
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Ashley,
ReplyDeleteYou make some excellent points here. You said, "Not everything has to mean something or have some sort of important message, and I think Postman fails to acknowledge this in his writing," and I believe that Postman surely does fail to acknowledge this point. Distraction has a purpose, in other words, but that purpose shouldn't be the central focus of a culture. This is exactly what Postman is arguing, but you're correct to point out his omission.
You pose an interesting question: "If this was to ever happen to our culture, would we be noble enough to rise up against it?" To answer you, I truly don't know. Nobility and virtue are seemingly difficult to come by in our culture, and I hope that this changes. Hope isn't enough, however; we have to act. I believe the first step is educating everyone (big surprise there) so that they understand the impact and effects of their focus on distractions. I think we can go one step farther and say that our culture is focused primarily on digital distractions specifically. One of the best things that we can do as a society is be aware of the culture that we're producing so that we can amend or change it as needed. The problem with digital distractions is how engrossing they are. Those distractions launch a war against awareness itself. It's difficult, then, to fight something if you don't know it exists. This is why the Deltas in the hospital were railing against John as he threw their soma out the window; they were so distracted, they didn't even know they were a prisoner to their distractions.
Excellent post!