Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Pleasure, Truth, and Happiness

1. Pleasure to a five-year old is candy. Pleasure to a 10 year old is television. To a teenager it's both. Pleasure to the characters in Brave New World is soma holidays, the newest clothes, and having each other.

2. Truth. According to Neil Postman, the definition of truth has been altered by the media. We have our own definitions of truth; different ways to look at it.

3. The people that live in the New World are happy when they take soma. Some of the people in this world are happy when they get what they want.

The meaning of words are changing. Neil Postman seems to blame the media, and George Orwell seems to blame politics. Aldous Huxley gives an example of what the world might be like if they were both right.

2 comments:

  1. I don't believe meaning of words are changing, it's just who uses the word and how they use it. It's all a matter of self-opinion.

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  2. "Blame" is a loaded word. I'd rethink this statement...Postman is offering more than a media critique, and Orwell is not "blaming" politics, although he does use the word in his essay title.

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