Neil Postman Revisited

"You catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

Photo Credit

In the foreward to his book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman compares George Orwell's 1984 vision of the world with that of Aldous Huxley in Brave New World:

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, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. 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, 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.

~ Neil Postman


What do you think? Will what we love ruin us? Will too much information reduce us to passivity and egoism? What are the implications?

See earlier post

Choosing, Doing & Sharing

I just got back from our Telstar Group 1 session this evening. I've been working with this group of 15 diverse participants for about a year now and couldn't ask for more interesting and friendly humans beings. The title of tonight's session was "Choosing, Doing & Sharing." The agenda essential question: What are the implications of choice and freedom in our society and classrooms?

To kick off the discussion, we watched two contrasting videos. One was the trailer for Pleasantville and the second was Barry Schwartz's The Paradox of Choice talk.

And a great discussion it was! I really believe this is an issue that needs to be brought more into consciousness. With choice increasing at exponential rates according to people such as Ray Kurzweil and other futurists, we need to become more self-aware of the implications. The Pleasantville/Schwartz combo makes a fine springboard for powerful discussion. Give it a try.

How do we deal with making decisions?

Session Agenda

Rhythm

I've been watching a fascinating show on Ovation TV with George Martin called Rhythm of Life.

The idea is that there is rhythm everywhere there is life. Rhythm in everything.

Confession: I've always thought that the arts should be considered the true "basics" of school curriculum instead of reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic.

What do you think - is a sense of rhythm important in children's lives? Is a sense of rhythm important in adult lives?



One obvious change that has taken place in my lifetime is that schedules are not cast in stone to the degree that they were in Pleasantville. The family eating together at a set time every evening is much less common now than a couple of generations ago. We now have cable, VCR's and DVD's and TIVO's that can shift programming times that wasn't possible earlier. The number of choices has expanded at an exponential rate so that the type of common daily experiences that tie together our culture has changed radically . . . and perhaps decreased. How does this effect community and human character?

A couple other questions: Is there a rhythm in digital technology and our online experiences? If there is a rhythm, how is it different?

Rhythm Resources