>just want entertainment to relax, not fight existing power structures

That's also what existing authoritarian power structures want, to keep people docile with bread and circuses.

I'm trans, I watch LGBT cartoons to relax, namely Steven Universe and She-Ra. Cartoon Network had to censor Steven Universe in several countries, and I doubt She-Ra plays in Saudi Arabia. Cartoons are a sensitive subject abroad, since they're seen as needing to be "kid friendly" (even adult cartoons to some degree), and LGBT content is usually seen as immoral, even if it's just lesbians holding hands. If Netflix and CN had completely folded to foreign political pressure, I'd have no shows to help me relax. Until recently, no queer cartoons existed for exactly this reason.

Not for me - or anybody else - to tell you how to spend your entertainment hours, but I encourage you to read this webcomic and consider your own choices: https://i.imgur.com/2H8gZq5.jpg

Those power structures are responsible for causing widespread misery. Inaction is something you might feel comfortable with, but your children, grandchildren and beyond may judge you for it if you never thought about where the lines should be and acted accordingly.

If many people are substantially harmed by wasting their time and energy on distractions, then those who waste less time will outcompete them. Whether the mechanism is common wisdom analogous to "don't drink alone or before the evening", parents teaching their kids in certain ways, religions that consider much "wasteful" entertainment to be sinful, or genes that contribute to conditions perhaps resembling autism where colorful flashy video registers as annoying or even painful, the problem seems likely to create its own solutions.

One of the premises of "Brave New World" is that all children are raised by the State, and are forcibly (a) oxygen-deprived in the womb to limit their intelligence and (b) subjected throughout childhood to indoctrination and hypnotherapy to make them say "I'm happy and content with my life, and my only desire is to chase consumer goods". I'm not sure why so many people seem to forget this.

Brave New World is also fiction. I'm the first to agree that fiction can be insightful and teach truths, but the fact that some author came up with a concept proves nothing.

That's the same logic that leads to putting sweeteners in every processed food item and the resulting epidemic of diabetes. What people reflexively want and what they actually need overlap to some degree, but there's a lot of money in trying to maximize that, to the detriment of the consumer.

If I can offer a slight alteration:

"Most people just want entertainment to relax, so they tolerate supporting the existing power structures for a while"

This doesn't blame people for needing a break, but it does acknowledge that the choice isn't "fight or not fight", it is "fight or support".

So many of the "don't bring politics into X" arguments ignore that the politics are already there.

Oh, completely agree! And I certainly don't begrudge people needing an escape/relaxation.

Just a reminder that those in power are banking on others giving up and pointing out the issues at play. It's very easy to sink into an opiate-driven world.

That’s the world of Brave New World. Just go along and have fun.

Not the viewers of John Oliver.