The premise of Neil Postman's classic societal critique Amusing Ourselves to Death is that Aldous Huxley's dystyopian vision, as put forth in his book Brave New World, better reflects the reality of modern-day America than does George Orwell's nightmare society depicted in his classic 1984.

The validity of this claim will be the subject of a later blog post, but for now click here for an excellent visual depiction of Postman's take on the difference between Orwell's and Huxley's prophecies. It's produced by an artist named Stuart McMillen.

Thanks to Angie from www.WhatNewsShouldBe.org for sending this tidbit along. Maybe Nader and Kucinich should take note? Although those guys are kind of skinny to begin with...

June 4, 2009
Italy: Party Starts a Hunger Strike
By REUTERS

About 150 politicians from Italy's small, liberal Radical party have begun a hunger strike to protest what they say is a lack of television coverage ahead of an election for the European Parliament. The party said on Wednesday that it wanted RAI, the state TV company, to rebalance its coverage. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi controls most of Italy's mainstream television, through his ownership of the private broadcaster Mediaset and his indirect influence over RAI.