Mind Muscle Vs. Mind Mush

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Let us see what Hitler thought of the masses he moved and how he did the moving. The first principle from which he started was a value judgment: the masses are utterly contemptible. They are incapable of abstract thinking and uninterested in any fact outside the circle of their immediate experience. Their behavior is determined, not by knowledge and reason, but by feelings and unconscious drives. (Huxley, 1958, p.3)

If Hitler looked at mankind today with his opinion be the same? Would he succeed at moving the masses to the deplorable deeds as he once succeeded in doing? The instinctive answer would be no, of course not; but, there exist today a constant bombardment of information, distractions, demands, and influences attacking us at the same time there still exist the same emotions and motivations that moved the masses of Hitler’s era. In the face of this barrage, how can mankind possibly keep its mind muscle when society is being pushed to mind mush? Armed with the proper intellectual tools, mankind’s mind muscle will remain strong.

For about a century now, literature and films like The Hunger Games, Harry Potter series, Logan’s Run, Terminator, I Robot, and others include control of the masses or the rise of artificial intelligence. In his article, Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman (1984) describes the differences between the prophetic visions of George Orwell’s, 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s, Brave New World. Orwell’s books, Postman explains, tell of “externally imposed oppression. But in Huxley's vision, no Big Brother or Ministry of Truth is required to deprive people of their autonomy, maturity, and history. As Huxley saw it, people will come to love their oppression, to adore the technologies that undo their capacities...

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... Papworth & R. Seamons (Eds.), The way of wisdom (pp.). Rexburg, ID: BYU-Idaho. Retrieved May 7, 2012 from http://ilearn.byui.edu

Morowitz, H. J. (2010). Drinking hemlock and other nutritional matters. W. Brugger, D. Hammond, M. K. Hartvigsen, A. Papworth & R. Seamons (Eds.), The way of wisdom (pp.). Rexburg, ID: BYU-Idaho. Retrieved May 7, 2012 from http://ilearn.byui.edu

Pinker, S. (2010). Mind over mass media. W. Brugger, D. Hammond, M. K. Hartvigsen, A. Papworth & R. Seamons (Eds.), The way of wisdom (pp.). Rexburg, ID: BYU-Idaho. Retrieved May 7, 2012 from http://ilearn.byui.edu

Postman, N. (2010). Amusing ourselves to death. W. Brugger, D. Hammond, M. K. Hartvigsen, A. Papworth & R. Seamons (Eds.), The way of wisdom (pp.). Rexburg, ID: BYU-Idaho. Retrieved May 7, 2012 from http://ilearn.byui.edu

Singh, T. (Director). (2012). Mirror mirror [Motion Picture].

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