when people point to 1984 or brave new world and say we're heading there what they don't realise is those books are purposeful exaggerations for effect. we already live in realistic versions of those societies. the way we live has completely changed. the govt controls everything, so many people are on some sort of drugs, we are fed slush slurry conformations with sugar added for taste, there is surveillance everywhere, it's very hard to escape the system if you're born within it, monogamy is nigh dead and a facade for most, and 99% of people believe in a false history and version of events.
I watched a debate on which of 1984 and BNW best predicted current events before their time. The guy advocating for BNW made one quite simple but I thought excellent point (as I had missed it myself when reading it) - that the soma drug in BNW is the mountains of anti-depressants people are on these days. Pharmaceutical “happiness” was a very central theme to BNM that we are seeing play out today.
You just reminded me of my favourite historical letter:
https://lettersofnote.com/2012/03/06/1984-v-brave-new-world/
I remember this. Good call. It was good to read again.
That’s brilliant, I wasn’t even aware such a letter existed. Thanks for posting it.
I think it's an algamation of the two. The overstimulation and drugging of the masses from brave New world married with the totalitarian technocratical surveillance state of 1984.
You would have missed the similarity as soma had differing effect that were not like ssri's . The direct comparison doesn't work.
Soma is heroin/ fentanyl.
If produced professionally it is safe and has few side effects. Aside from addiction.
And let's not forget, facts change from one week to another. Literally in front of your eyes.
Yup. As G. Carlin would say, it's not 1984 OR BNW, its BOTH.
I've recently been seeing arguments that the books were not predictive or warnings but actually documentation as to what the authors knew was coming based on their associations with elites. Both authors were quite connected.
Huxley was. Orwell was brainwashed as a youth. He actually helped the commies in Spain try to take over and mass murder priests and the clergy. Then he turned against Communism. Gandhi used to write him letters trying to tell him it's the Jews, but Orwell never showed any evidence he realised that it was in fact the jews. He just knew that with technology came total power and assumed that communist was a natural expression of humanity of control when of course it isn't. Only a foreigner would hate his host population with that much fervour.. control the people sure, but some empathy will always creep in if it's a white dictator ruling his own people.
AGREE 100%. What can we do about it,??
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