tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7180592942896724433.post812353027998682265..comments2023-12-13T05:02:37.426-05:00Comments on Pushed to the Left and Loving It: Keeping Canadians Passive With Bread and CircusesEmily Deehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08354341672810615468noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7180592942896724433.post-90954954439497930682011-03-21T18:06:52.311-04:002011-03-21T18:06:52.311-04:00I agree.I agree.Emily Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08354341672810615468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7180592942896724433.post-37647994556717688262011-03-21T17:54:25.576-04:002011-03-21T17:54:25.576-04:00We need to teach Civics in Elementary & Second...We need to teach Civics in Elementary & Secondary Schools.<br />Teach Rights & Responsibilities - how Parliament is supposed to function,the role of citizens,how to write a petition,how to appear before a Parliamentary Committee etc.Normahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15705698590160634876noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7180592942896724433.post-81126201791779515732011-03-20T16:26:23.577-04:002011-03-20T16:26:23.577-04:00I have Huxley's book. I haven't read it i...I have Huxley's book. I haven't read it in a while, but I may do that tonight. Thanks Nadine.Emily Deehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08354341672810615468noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7180592942896724433.post-23902481286727876642011-03-20T14:47:54.447-04:002011-03-20T14:47:54.447-04:00Orwell warns we will be overcome by an externally ...Orwell warns we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity and history. <br /><br />As he saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities to think.<br /><br />Huxley v. Orwell: comic strip where you can actually read everything<br />http://www.nvnews.net/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=135828<br /><br />♥<br />Huxley v. Orwell: comic strip put to cool music ala video<br />http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I3fAHE6IQxY&feature=player_embedded#at=64<br /><br /><br /><br />Foreward to Neil Postman's 1985 book, Amusing Ourselves to Death.<br /><br />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 Orwellian nightmares.<br /><br />But we had forgotten that alongside Orwell's dark vision, there was another - slightly older, slightly less well known, equally chilling: Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Contrary to common belief even among the educated, Huxley and Orwell did not prophesy the same thing. Orwell warns that we will be overcome by an externally imposed oppression. But 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 capacities to think.<br /><br />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.<br /><br />This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.<br /><br />-- Neil Postman<br />Foreward to the book, Amusing Ourselves to Death<br /><br /><br />…………………………………………………….<br /><br /><br />No one cares.<br /><br />Three simple words that encompass the smug, assuming and proudly non-contrite response of Conservatives to a string of recently revealed abuses of power, the public purse and Parliament. Three simple words that are repeated by observers, media and analysts as though that justifies an end to the conversation. Three simple words that seem to pose an impenetrable shield between this government and the voter backlash that Opposition politicians keep praying will arise.<br /><br />Four senior counsellors to the prime minister — including two Senators — charged with offenses so serious they could go to prison? No one cares.<br /><br />The apparent manufacture of invoices to propel their illegal scheme forward? No one cares.<br /><br />Scott Reid Scott Reid is a former senior adviser and director of communications to Prime Minister Paul Martin who appears regularly in Point of Order on CBC's Power & Politics with Evan Solomon.<br />A minister plainly lying to the House of Commons? No one cares.<br /><br />Not one but two rulings that suggest contempt of Parliament in a single day — for a total of three such rulings this year, a mark unmatched in history? No one cares.<br /><br />http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/03/16/pol-vp-scott-reid.htmlNadine Lumleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05591663475427502169noreply@blogger.com