j***@hotmail.com
2006-08-28 02:31:09 UTC
In Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (in many ways, a more prescient book
than Orwell's 1984), we see a society whose members have been
conditioned to demand constant stimulation, constant gratification,
constant entertainment. The drug soma is consumed by all to achieve
this supreme end, and children are sexualized, humans are commodified,
etc.
Friends, the Brave New World is upon us. Television ranks among its
supreme soma (see Neil Postman's great book, Amusing Ourselves to
Death). Life is cheap. Yes, human life itself has been consumerized on
the altar of "choice" and convenience - nothing must interfere with our
gratification. Religion is eroding through conformity with the
Zeitgeist's dictatorship of relativism. A regard for ultimate truth is
now seen as quaint, for there is no regard for transcendence in the
Brave New World - only utility (thus truth claims are now analyzed in
terms of "talking points" in the political realm). A herd of
"individuals" cover themselves with tattoos, shamelessly embracing
inauthenticity in the name of authenticity. Shamelessness is now a
virtue ("O shame, where is thy blush?" - Shakespeare).
Today, silence is intolerable for most. Constant stimulation is
required in the form of entertainment. Entertainment capacity is now
the supreme measure of value, for the vacuum that the dictatorship of
relativism has wrought must be filled, and filled most comfortably.
Education now must be presented as a form of entertainment. Many
students will no longer study without some form of extracurricular
stimulation in the form of Ipods etc. Our gyms, our banks, our cars are
now equipped with television screens. All must be entertaining and
customized: education, politics, religion (visit a megachurch). What
little truth remains is consumerized and relativized in the spirit of
syncretism: I'll take what "works for me" - a little here, a bit there,
forget that. Oprahism reigns supreme. Disposable truth, just like the
disposable garments in Huxley's Brave New World. The L.A. Times, of
course, has now consumerized and relativized what it formerly called
the Religion section; it's now the "Beliefs" section. What is
essentially human is now being transformed into the pathological under
the banner of medicalism - thus unhappiness is now called "depression."
This list could continue ad nauseum....
But I want to focus on just one aspect of all this. Are you willing to
drive without music or talk radio constantly playing? To study without
noise? Do you have a large DVD collection but few books that address
the highest things, e.g., Plato or Shakespeare? Is this laughable to
you? Do you have a television in your car? More examples could be
provided. In other words, are you willing to give your mind the space
to think of the highest things?
Has silence become intolerable for you?
than Orwell's 1984), we see a society whose members have been
conditioned to demand constant stimulation, constant gratification,
constant entertainment. The drug soma is consumed by all to achieve
this supreme end, and children are sexualized, humans are commodified,
etc.
Friends, the Brave New World is upon us. Television ranks among its
supreme soma (see Neil Postman's great book, Amusing Ourselves to
Death). Life is cheap. Yes, human life itself has been consumerized on
the altar of "choice" and convenience - nothing must interfere with our
gratification. Religion is eroding through conformity with the
Zeitgeist's dictatorship of relativism. A regard for ultimate truth is
now seen as quaint, for there is no regard for transcendence in the
Brave New World - only utility (thus truth claims are now analyzed in
terms of "talking points" in the political realm). A herd of
"individuals" cover themselves with tattoos, shamelessly embracing
inauthenticity in the name of authenticity. Shamelessness is now a
virtue ("O shame, where is thy blush?" - Shakespeare).
Today, silence is intolerable for most. Constant stimulation is
required in the form of entertainment. Entertainment capacity is now
the supreme measure of value, for the vacuum that the dictatorship of
relativism has wrought must be filled, and filled most comfortably.
Education now must be presented as a form of entertainment. Many
students will no longer study without some form of extracurricular
stimulation in the form of Ipods etc. Our gyms, our banks, our cars are
now equipped with television screens. All must be entertaining and
customized: education, politics, religion (visit a megachurch). What
little truth remains is consumerized and relativized in the spirit of
syncretism: I'll take what "works for me" - a little here, a bit there,
forget that. Oprahism reigns supreme. Disposable truth, just like the
disposable garments in Huxley's Brave New World. The L.A. Times, of
course, has now consumerized and relativized what it formerly called
the Religion section; it's now the "Beliefs" section. What is
essentially human is now being transformed into the pathological under
the banner of medicalism - thus unhappiness is now called "depression."
This list could continue ad nauseum....
But I want to focus on just one aspect of all this. Are you willing to
drive without music or talk radio constantly playing? To study without
noise? Do you have a large DVD collection but few books that address
the highest things, e.g., Plato or Shakespeare? Is this laughable to
you? Do you have a television in your car? More examples could be
provided. In other words, are you willing to give your mind the space
to think of the highest things?
Has silence become intolerable for you?