As for the New Republic, the review I read of Avatar there was this one:
Again, they are conflating 'technology' with 'civilization', which is the mistake made by most people who complain in this excluded middle format.
Depending upon how you look at it, all this technology has brought us to the beginning of a post-scarcity economy, or the end of our scarcity economy. And that frightens the hell out of a lot of people; especially the ones in power.
From what I have been reading lately, most people are at a point where they are willing to put 'progress' on autopilot for a while, until we sort out how to keep things moving without killing ourselves in the process. I think that is the direction many people are headed these days, and the folks with the wealth and power are no less terrified of losing everything to that paradigm.
The message is not one of 'live in caves'. It's a message of living more in harmony with Nature. Whether people want to admit it or not, all the progress wrought by technology has at least as much destruction in its wake. It is almost completely a zero-sum game up to this point in human history, or possibly having a small balance on the 'destructive' side. Getting rid of that negative balance is the goal, not completely abandoning all technology.
Because all the shiny iPods in the world won't save us in the event of financial collapse, ecological catastrophe, or governmental failure.