Not that the church was inherently irrelevant, but that Christians were failing to show in concrete ways and to tell in cogent understandable terms how the person of Christ is relevant to all of life in the twentieth century. There are two ways by which the spirit of a culture may be shriveled. What Huxley teaches is that in the age of advanced technology, spiritual devastation is more likely to come from an enemy with a smiling face than from one whose countenance exudes suspicion and hate. In the Huxleyan prophecy, Big Brother does not watch us, by his choice. We watch him, by ours.
Most American children begin watching television before they can even talk.
One of the reasons for the unparalleled potency of the media in shaping attitudes and values arises from the absence of countervailing forces. Top of Page You can put your TV in the closet, avoid movies altogether, and use earplugs to spare your ears from the sounds of rap or heavy metal, but these forms of entertainment will still change your life through their influence on everyone else in this society. In short, the popular culture is now as unavoidable as any airborne pollutant. To say that if you don't like it you should just tune it out makes as much sense as saying that if you don't like the smog, stop breathing. In his book A World Without Heroes, Dr. George Roche describes the process through which the spiritual emptiness of contemporary culture has undermined the West's artistic traditions.