Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. - Matthew 24:42
Orwell or Huxley?
Below are two quotes from Neil Postman's book: Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What 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...
In 1984, Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In 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...
What Huxley teaches is that in the age of advanced technology, spiritual devastation is more likely to come from an enemy with a smiling face than from one whose countenance exudes suspicion and hate. In the Huxleyan prophecy, Big Brother does not watch us, by his choice. We watch him, by ours. There is no need for wardens or gates or Ministries of Truth. When a population becomes distracted by trivia, when cultural life is redefined as a perpetual round of entertainments, when serious public conversation becomes a form of baby-talk, when, in short, a people become an audience and their public business a vaudeville act, then a nation finds itself at risk; a culture-death is a clear possibility.”
― Neil Postman,Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business
Which of these worlds seems like the one that we live in now? A world where books are banned or one where nobody reads them? Neil Postman makes a compelling case that it's Huxley's fear, not Orwell's, that has materialized.
Postman works in his book to explain how different mediums have different limitations on how they transfer information: "What kinds of conversations does it permit? What are the intellectual tendencies it encourages? What sort of culture does it produce?" And later he says, “But what I am claiming here is not that television is entertaining but that it has made entertainment itself the natural format for the representation of all experience." When describing the difference of what reading does the brain, he comments:
The reader must come armed, in a serious state of intellectual readiness. This is not easy because he comes to the text alone. In reading, one's responses are isolated, one's intellect is thrown back on its own resources. To be confronted by the cold abstractions of printed sentences is to look upon language bare, without the assistance of either beauty or community. Thus, reading is by its nature a serious business. It is also, of course, an essentially rational activity.
The black boxes in our hands and on our mantles are far more devious than we care to realize. They strive to keep us staring and scrolling until we've forgotten how to think. The addictive nature of this financially motivated manipulative machine does not hesitate to steal away the consciousness of its victims. It doesn't think twice when it numbs our brains, transforming us into apathetic, depressed zombies. All that matters is that we keep binging until our few precious moments of free time are lost to a meaningless void.
We need to stay awake in this world of entertainment. I'm worried by how many live the entertained life. I'm worried by the lack of interest in reading books. The consequences of catechizing ourselves with worldly content are detrimental. The dual for our time has taken on a new form in our current digital Babylon. This war for truth has been escalated by more powerful artillery.
Take a moment to reflect on the amount of time you spend in a week watching a show, gaming, scrolling your phone, listening to podcasts, or watching YouTube. Now take a moment to reflect on how much time you spend in the Word, in prayer, or in mediation. If this war is a war on your time, who is winning? Time is our most valuable resource. Like money, our stewardship of it matters immensely for our lives. Yet, we tend to view it so differently. We tend to feel much more comfortable discarding our time in unfruitful ways than we do our money.
Be careful with time. Be careful with entertainment. Stay awake.
One of the great uses of Twitter and Facebook will be to prove at the Last Day that prayerlessness was not from lack of time.
- John Piper