Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business

Neil Postman begins Amusing Ourselves to Death with a brief Foreword that compares Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World (1932) to George Orwell’s 1984 (1949). The latter had been in the news as Postman was writing (as Amusing Ourselves to Death was published in 1985), and he notes that Americans had congratulated themselves on Orwell’s dire warnings not coming to pass. However, Huxley’s Brave New World presents a different vision of dystopia: Instead of being cruelly imposed from above, the ruin of society will be welcomed by the masses themselves. Postman writes that “Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us” (xx). It is Huxley’s vision that is the focus of this book.

Postman states his thesis in this first chapter, that during the latter half of the 20th century, the Age of Television replaced the Age of Typography. This is his way of saying that style has replaced substance. Postman gives many examples of people whose professions indicate a certain gravitas that now radiate entertainment above all—such as newscasters, politicians, and theologians. At the time of the book’s writing, Postman notes that the president of the United States was former actor Ronald Reagan.