Master, bless.
Today I received my copy of Amusing ourselves to death: public discourse in the age of show business by Neil Postman. I have only just finished reading the "introduction to the 20th anniversary edition" and I am already glad that I ordered this book.
1984 has long been one of my favorite novels, but now I shall definitely be adding Aldous Huxley's Brave New World to my library.
"...in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacity to think. 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 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."
~Neil Postman
The New Year is a time traditionally reserved for resolutions. Often they are not kept, but this is no reason not to try, at the very least.
I can think of a few resolutions I wish to adopt in 2008.
