Bhairava Sivam
A Review of a Comic about a Book about 2 Books about 2 Systems
Amusing Ourselves to Death,
A comic by Stuart McMillen, which was
Describing a book by Neil Postman, which was
A critique of dystopia by
Aldous Huxley (which was a critique of surplus capitalism); and
George Orwell (which was a critique of totalitarianism)
In 2009, Stuart McMillen, a young comic artist located in Canberra read a copy of Neil Postman’s Amusing Ourselves to Death and decided to draw a simple but artistically provoking comic strip about the premise discussed in the introduction of the book.
According to his website, Stuart McMillen is a crowdfunded cartoonist who draws long-form comics about social issues involving science, ecology, sustainability, psychology and economics.
The purpose of this review is to shed light on 2 things; on the creative long-drawn comics of Stuart McMillen, and the argument put forward by Postman, in his comparison between Huxley and Orwell.
Firstly, the comic itself is not available on McMillen’s website because he wrote to Postman’s estate to check if he could publish his comic (which incidentally would promote the book and whet readers appetites for the discussion in the book) but they politely refused, so he amicably took it down, but not before it had already gotten viral on reddit and other content sharing social media. (What a gentleman, right?)
Do check out his website when you can. In the spirit of asking for consent, I did so too and got his blessing to write this article and feature his link here:
http://www.stuartmcmillen.com/blog/amusing-ourselves-to-death/
I would implore dear Readers to search the internet for the comic and read it through, for it is both thought provoking and self-explanatory (though, you may enjoy it much, much more, if you have read either, if not both books!).
The comic very harmoniously illustrates the contrast between Huxley’s and Orwell’s ideas of dystopia.
“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.” (Postman, 1985)
In 1984, Orwell prophesized that we would live in a captive culture, where the government would use fear (and what we hate) to control us. Books and knowledge are burnt and censored to keep us away from truth and ideas (of dissent, ultimately).
Huxley challenged this idea in his parody of H.G. Wells many utopian novels about a hopeful future, such as Men like Gods. Huxley premised that the use of pleasure through the administration of a drug called ‘Soma’ and a culture of never ending consumption, would be much more effective means to control us. Books and knowledge would not need to be censored or mutilated, because there would be no interest in reading anyway (the novel reveals the population is conditioned to despise books or nature as part of their school syllabus, where they learn to worship Henry Ford).
These ideas are pitted against each other in a visual, imaginable and easy to contrast comic, that ought to be translated into every major language and distributed around the world, simply because of how familiar the premises are becoming (as time goes by), especially on the points compared by Postman, over 3 decades ago.
Postman’s book by the same title is no less provocative and alarming. The very first chapter is titled, “the medium is the metaphor” — where Postman asserts how oral, literate, and televisual cultures radically differ in the processing and prioritisation of information. The meaning of the title itself is not fully presented to the reader, as much as it is presented in comparing the media… and the relationship of the 2 becomes clearer as you read through (one of the benefits of realisation through reading ideas, as opposed to being shown a televised communique with models and symbols).
disinformation—misplaced, irrelevant, fragmented or superficial information that creates the illusion of knowing something but which in fact leads one away from knowing
Postman goes on to argue that “form excludes the content”, wherein rational argument, (intrinsic to print typography) is militated against by the medium of television for this very reason (rationality). Owing to this shortcoming, issues like economics, politics and religion are diluted, and tabloid “news of the day” becomes a packaged commodity, to give us the perception of news and being kept “informed”.
Postman thus also mentions Ronald Reagan, and comments upon Reagan’s capabilities and effectiveness as an “entertainer”, in line with this method of processing information and advertising. Simple but memorable taglines, witty expressions and poignant demeanour all played into this diluted culture of quick and immediate pleasure (think: Soma). A culture which, has returned to haunt the world, in the new “cold war”, where Reagan is succeeded by the most entertaining, poignant and oft ridiculed (yet mandated) Donald Trump.
It comes as no surprise that voting sways in the direction of the unabashed and the more popular social media figure, if one were to study Postman’s book closely in the age of instant gratification news/opinion through apps like Twitter (think: Soma). Trump’s daily dose of dark, hopeless comedy through his sexist, racist, ignorant and childish remarks seem to entertain over 50 million Twits, and he’s not the only threat to democracy and liberty with a huge following (and electoral success), Narendra Modi has more than 40 million followers in a country where his Hindu nationalist party enjoys a dangerously rapid growing majority.
The above mentioned reminds me of the wise and awakening words of one of my favourite Youtubers (political analyst) Jonathan Pie, who had this to say right after the 2016 presidential elections, after explaining that Trump’s victory was the failure of the left to discourse, “…our argument isn’t won by hurling labels and insults…when will we learn that the key is discussion? If you aren’t willing to discuss then you are creating the conditions in which Donald trump and people like him can thrive!”
This is the part where Comrade Lenin (and anyone pragmatic) would ask (after all my incessant tin-hat rantings about conspiracies to dilute and dumb geniuses like me down), ‘What is to be done’:
We need to bring back discourse.
We need to bring back the culture of reading.
We need to put down our phones and pick up our feet.
We need to stop looking up (for a saviour) and start looking down (at the ground work).
The guy who just got pardoned from his prison sentence or the guy on the good behaviour bond isn’t going to topple the government because of 1 press conference or a single tweet. Sharing/liking the news article about the activist being investigated for peaceful assembly, the nationalist article about sending foreign cooks packing or the articles about the whereabouts of the toilet-towel man isn’t improving how people (selectively) view justice or law enforcement in the country.
We need to take to the streets and flex our muscles (read: liberties) like we used to when we (Malaysia) were younger. We need to engage with our neighbours and find out why they think the Chinese are here to rob us, and if the answer does not lie with the one neighbour you have who flies the keris flag outside his house, then pick up your feet and research, or read a book (‘Red Star over Malaya’ would be a good place to start). Read the actual book, not a synopsis on snapchat or Wikipedia.
If that bores you then I beseech you, please read the news, and not just the headlines. Read every sentence and wonder what details are missing or which events have been “diluted”. Get furious and feel insulted when these articles or facts have been excluded or oversimplified to suit your simple mind. Bang your fist on the table or raise it high in the sky. Sit in a group in a coffee shop and argue about the news for hours, debate better ideas to solve these problems people in suits and six-figure salaries “need to study further”, and then articulate your ideas and disagreements based on rational facts not labels, colours or manners.
And one last thing, whenever, wherever and however you can, always write, write and write…
1. Images © Stuart McMillen, 19 Jun 2010.