notes
this is a classic, full stop. highly recommended reading. i don’t know where to really begin on this. a few random thoughts.
- it’s the first time i’ve read/seen someone provide a harsh critique of sesame street. i really didn’t see that coming, though, i’d been paying attention quite assiduously to the book up to that point. i should have.
- the arguement here is that huxley was right, and we’d be swimming in amusement or a need for continuous dopamine hits. this has rendered us incrediblyk malleable as a populace and with an incredibly short attention span and poor memory.
- there’s a clear through line here between TV to social media and the problems that we were just beginning to see in the 1980s (when this was written) through to today.
- this was re-released before the release of the iphone/smartphone. it has no awareness of the rot that’s been inflicted on us by social media or having entertainment pumped into our retinas in every spare minute.
- this warrants a re-read every couple of years.