Category: huxley
Quotes of Category: huxley
  1. Neil Postman _ Amusing Ourselves to Death:

    We were keeping our eye on 1984. When the year came and the prophecy didn't, thoughtful Americans sang softly in praise of themselves. The roots of liberal democracy had held. Wherever else the terror had happened, we, at least, had not been visited by nightmares.But we had forgotten that alongside 's dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: 's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, and did not prophesy the same thing. warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in '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 capacities to think.What feared were those who would ban books. What feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. feared those who would deprive us of information. feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. feared that the truth would be concealed from us. feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. feared we would become a captive culture. feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "." In 1984, added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, feared that what we fear will ruin us. feared that what we desire will ruin us.This book is about the possibility that , not , was right.
    book-quotefearhuxleyorwell
  2. John Dos Passos _ The 42nd Parallel

    was born in a brick farmhouse in Lancaster Mass,he walked through the woods one wintercrunching through the shinycrusted snowstumbling into a little dell where a warm spring wasand found the grass green and weeds sproutingand skunk cabbage pushing up a potent thumb,He went home and sat by the stove and read Struggle for Existence Origin of Species NaturalSelection that wasn't what they taught in church,so ceased to believe moved to Lunenburg,found a seedball in a potato plantsowed the seed and cashed in on 's Natural Selectionon and with the Burbank potato.Young man go west; went to Santa Rosafull of his dream of green grass in winter ever-blooming flowers ever-bearing berries; could cash in on Natural Selection carried his apocalyptic dream of green grass in winterand seedless berries and stoneless plums and thornless roses brambles cactus-winters were bleak in that bleakbrick farmhouse in bleak Massachusetts-out to sunny Santa Rosa;and he was a sunny old manwhere roses bloomed all yeareverblooming everbearinghybrids.America was hybridAmerica could cash in on Natural Selection.He was an infidel he believed in and NaturalSelection and the influence of the mighty deadand a good firm shipper's fruitsuitable for canning.He was one of the grand old men until the churchesand the congregationsgot wind that he was an infidel and believedin . had never a thought of evil,selected improved hybrids for Americathose sunny years in Santa Rosa.But he brushed down a wasp's nest that time;he wouldn't give up and Natural Selectionand they stung him and he diedpuzzled.They buried him under a cedartree.His favorite photographwas of a little totstanding beside a bed of hybrideverblooming double Shasta daisieswith never a thought of evilAnd Mount Shastain the background, used to be a volcanobut they don't have volcanosany more.
    book-quotecharles-darwindarwinherbert-spencer