The Future is Now?

I've recently been re-reading two books that were highly influential on my worldview as a high school student: 1984 and Brave New World. For the last forty years or so, 1984 has become something of a cliche. Many of its terms have ingrained themselves in our lexicon: Big Brother, doublespeak the Golden Country. Mere mention of the book in the socio-political circles produces a nudge and a wink saying, "Well, we know how THAT story turned out: suppression of free thought, re-writing of history, beatings and torture. They won't pull us into that type of society. We can't be fooled." All of our attention, then, is on preventing us from succumbing to an abusive, totalitarian state. A noble quest, yes; but, I fear, a red herring.

The society depicted in Brave New World is much more subtly evil, and much more similar to our present state. Instead of being controlled with ever-present pain, the citizens are controlled with too-abundant pleasure. They accept whatever is told them as long as they get their drugs, sex and entertainment. Sound familiar? We as a people have willingly and freely embraced this type of feudal arrangement, expecting the state to supply all our needs without our involvement or even our knowledge, as long as our cable service isn't interrupted.

As Christian men, how do we fight this mindset in our country? our community? our church? our own homes? I'll post ideas as they come to me, but I'd like to hear your comments as well.