Amusing ourselves to death
娱乐至死

This is perhaps one of the most striking passages I have read for a while. It describes the modern world with startling accuracy. In our fear of an increasingly authoritarian rule, we have allowed a far more dangerous vision to come true: heedlessness
这也许是我一段时间以来读过的最引人注目的段落之一。它以惊人的准确性描述了现代世界。由于我们对日益专制统治的恐惧，我们让一个更危险的愿景成真了：疏忽

Below is the foreward of Neil Postman’s book “Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business“, accompanied by a comic illustration of the two ideas. It gives a concise comparison of the two authors views and what they foresaw society will become. But perhaps the remarkable part of this whole story passage lies beyond its lines with us:
以下是尼尔·波兹曼的书《娱乐至死：娱乐时代的公共话语》的前言，并附有两种观点的漫画插图。它简明地比较了两位作者的观点以及他们对社会未来的预见。但也许这整个故事段落中最引人注目的部分在于它的字里行间：

Most of us will read this and continue living our life exactly the same way as before
我们大多数人会读完这段文字，然后继续像以前一样生活

…wake up ……醒来

————————————————————–

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.
我们一直在关注 1984 年。当那一年到来而预言没有实现时，深思熟虑的美国人轻声赞美自己。自由民主的根基依然稳固。不管恐怖发生在其他地方，至少我们没有被奥威尔式的噩梦拜访。

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.
但是我们忘记了，在奥威尔的黑暗愿景旁边，还有另一个——稍微年长一点，稍微不那么出名，但同样令人毛骨悚然：阿道司·赫胥黎的《美丽新世界》。与受过教育的人们中的普遍看法相反，赫胥黎和奥威尔并没有预言同样的事情。奥威尔警告我们，我们将被外部强加的压迫所征服。但在赫胥黎的愿景中，不需要老大哥来剥夺人们的自主权、成熟和历史。在他看来，人们会爱上他们的压迫，崇拜那些剥夺他们思考能力的技术。

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.
奥威尔害怕的是那些会禁止书籍的人。赫胥黎害怕的是没有理由禁止书籍，因为没有人想读书。奥威尔害怕那些会剥夺我们信息的人。赫胥黎害怕那些会给我们太多信息的人，以至于我们会被动和自私。奥威尔害怕真相会被隐藏。赫胥黎害怕真相会被淹没在无关紧要的海洋中。奥威尔害怕我们会成为被俘虏的文化。赫胥黎害怕我们会成为琐碎的文化，沉迷于某种等同于感官电影、狂欢聚会和离心球的东西。正如赫胥黎在《重访美丽新世界》中所说，那些时刻警惕反对暴政的公民自由主义者和理性主义者“没有考虑到人类几乎无限的分心欲望”。在《1984》中，赫胥黎补充道，人们通过施加痛苦来控制。在《美丽新世界》中，人们通过施加快乐来控制。简而言之，奥威尔害怕我们讨厌的东西会毁了我们。赫胥黎害怕我们爱的东西会毁了我们。

This book is about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right
这本书讨论了赫胥黎而不是奥威尔是对的可能性

[Neil Postman – Amusing ourselves to death]
[尼尔·波兹曼——娱乐至死]

[The comic is Stuart McMillen’s interpretation of media theorist Niel Postman’s book Amusing Ourselves to Death (1985), subtitled “Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business”]
[这部漫画是斯图尔特·麦克米伦对媒体理论家尼尔·波兹曼 1985 年出版的《娱乐至死》一书的解读，副标题为“娱乐时代的公共话语”]