Fear and Desire

What (George) Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What (Aldous) 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 egotism. 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, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumple-puppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.” In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that our fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that our desire will ruin us.

Neil Postman, foreword to Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985).

The statement above comes from an essay written by James Oroc, "Living in Dangerous Times,"

which appears on the Reality Sandwich blog.  Essay appears here:

http://realitysandwich.com/321306/living-in-dangerous-times/?utm_source=MASTER+LIST&utm_campaign=6e2553e404-Reality_Sandwich_7_31_A_B_Split_7_30_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_321db437f5-6e2553e404-312903013&mc_cid=6e2553e404&mc_eid=d300c72d78