The Highest Stage of Human Awareness

I posted
here
an absolutely brilliant and terrifying political cartoon. It’s about the way
in which America (the West?) will fall.

Will it be due to direct government prohibition of everything we enjoy
(Orwell), or will it be due to the population becoming so overwhelmingly
stupid that they cease to even think about anything worthwhile, like
history, literature, politics, humanism, etc.? That’s Huxley’s take.

Those are the two choices that the cartoon put forward, and I believe it to
be a false dichotomy. I don’t think it’s one or the other, but rather both.
One leads to the other; namely, Huxley’s world of idiots allows the
government to become oppressive. I have examples.

If you’re stupid and watch Fox News (I repeat myself) you are probably not
studying history or literature. If you haven’t read a book since high
school, you’re probably deeply frightened by terrorism, which,
internationally, kills about the same number of people as bee stings and
bathtub drownings. 1

To sum, fools are easily frightened, and fear is the easiest and most
efficient way to control people. In other news,
a prominent Saudi billionaire owns part of Fox News’ parent
company. Probably a coincidence.

We’re proper-fucked, and I don’t know how to make things right. Suggestions
welcomed. These seem to be our choices:

1. Get right with God.

2. Nuke ourselves from orbit.

3. Hope the young will fix it.

4. Embrace technology, wait for the singularity, and welcome our robot
   overlords.

5. Embrace sanity by ignoring history, literature, and news. Play video
   games and watch reality TV. Hope for the best.

Hmm, option 5 is looking better all the time. ::

Notes

1 According to John Mueller’s book.