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The Author of Brave New World, a dystopian novel about the demise of culture. Huxley’s book imagines a future world where the things we love destroy us: our desire to be entertained, to be shallowly happy, results in the virtual elimination of thought itself. Postman’s book suggests that Huxley’s account will be proven right if we are not more mindful of how we interact with media.
Aldous Huxley Quotes in Amusing Ourselves to Death
The Amusing Ourselves to Death quotes below are all either spoken by Aldous Huxley or refer to Aldous Huxley. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Foreword Quotes
This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.
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Postman has summarized the plots of two famous dystopian novels: Aldous Huxley's Brave New Worldand George Orwell's 1984. Both novels depict a totalitarian government which, through carefully constructed technologies of control, have repressed the populations over which they rule such that political dissent is impossible. However, these methods of control differ vastly––in Orwell's novel, surveillance technologies, economic scarcity, and strict censorship mean that there are no opportunities to think, watch, read, or say anything that opposes the hate-filled, ultranationalistic government agenda. Huxley, meanwhile, depicts a society in which citizens have endless opportunity for entertainment, including drugs, travel, sex, or "feelies," Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non invent
Chapter 6 Quotes
Had Irving Berlin changed one word in the title of his celebrated song [There’s No Business like Show Business], he would have been as prophetic, albeit more terse, as Aldous Huxley. He need only have written, There's No Business But Show Business.
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Postman has emphasized both television's uniqueness among other forms of media and its unparalleled influence on culture. Even thoughts, behaviors, and modes of communication that do not immediately appear related to television are often deeply affected by its influence. In this passage, Postman wryly comments that Irving Berlin's famous song "There's No Business Like Show Business," written in 1946, would have been "prophetic" if the title had been altered to "There's No Business But Show Business." The second title highlights the entertainment industry's exceptional status within late 20th-century American culture, as well as the particular power of "show business" to Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dol
Chapter 11 Quotes
Brave New World was not that they were laughing instead of thinking, but that they did not know what they were laughing about and why they had stopped thinking.
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In the book's conclusion, Postman emphasizes that television seems nonthreatening and even highly appealing––yet this belies the enormous danger it poses to society. However, Postman does not suggest that television be "shut down" (indeed, this would be rather too Orwellian a conclusion!). Instead, Postman argues that it will help if people are better informed about the way in which television works, and are thus able to view television culture and its impact on society with a critical eye. In this passage, he explains that the fact that the characters in Brave New World were always entertained was not the real Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corru
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Aldous Huxley Character Timeline in Amusing Ourselves to Death
The timeline below shows where the character Aldous Huxley appears in Amusing Ourselves to Death. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Foreword
...begins his book by summarizing George Orwell’s 1949 dystopian novel 1984, as well as Aldous Huxley’s (also dystopian) 1932 novel Brave New World. Postman points out that these authors, though they...
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Chapter 1: The Medium is the Metaphor
...the form of the media that presents it. Postman believes that McLuhan, like Orwell and Huxley, “spoke in the tradition of prophecy.” Postman was once a student of McLuhan, and he...
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Chapter 6: The Age of Show Business
...Business like Show Business], he would have been as prophetic, albeit more terse, as Aldous Huxley. He need only have written, There's No Business But Show Business.”
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Chapter 7: Now…This
...would have been stymied by this situation; there is nothing ‘Orwellian’ about it,” Postman says. Huxley, on the other hand, would not be surprised in the least at the current state...
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Chapter 11: The Huxleyan Warning
...may be shriveled,” Postman says. “In the first—the Orwellian—culture becomes a prison. In the second—the Huxleyan—culture becomes a burlesque.” For Orwell, the danger comes from people full of hatred and resentment,...
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