Everyone else has written about Amusing Ourselves to Death, so I'll write about Brave New World. Today I read the entire book in one sitting, so my perspective might be different.
In Brave New World, nobody is born naturally. Fetuses are raised and "conditioned". They undergo genetic engineering and are trained to prefer certain circumstances over others. They are also conditioned while they sleep. They listen to a voice that tells them all that the government wants them to hear. As a young child, they are told that they constantly need to buy new things.
This relates to what is happening today with technology. For example, approximately 25% of time spent watching TV is commercials. The media is telling us that we need to buy new things constantly. Another example is how Apple comes up with new products every year and forces you to buy them by making the old ones obsolete, even though there is only minimal change in the product. If you don't buy the new product, the old operating system will no longer work and will not be compatible with apps that you want to update or download. This relates to how people in the novel are brainwashed into consuming all that they could ever want.
One of the political leaders in their utopia says, "The world's stable now. People are happy; they get what they want, and they never want what they can't get"(220). This is their justification for government control. By setting the standards of happiness, they effectively control when the people are happy.
What is Huxley saying about what our world is becoming? I do not believe that we would go to the extremes found in this novel, but anything is possible. Do you think that the world could ever get this bad, and if so, when?
Caleb Douglass
I doubt it could ever get this bad because humans generally tend to hate being controlled by their government, and even if people wanted that it'd be statistically improbable that everyone would want that. I also know that commercials and advertisements are subjective because people want and need very different things. So only one percent of that twenty five would be something you'd even be mildly interested in. I understand that commercial slogans and jingles are stuck in all our heads but that just makes it more annoying then wanted really. Well controlled happiness would be better then no happiness because they're made to be happy. Although I think free happiness is the only way to be happiest. I also feel that in these Dystopian or Utopian societies no one seems to know what being a Utopian or Dystopian society is, but everyone in real life should and they no that the cons outweigh the pros for each. So we'd chose to not do that.
ReplyDeleteConsidering that Huxley published this in 1932, he wasn't to far off from his prediction. This novel is in an extreme form but does relate to our society in some ways. For example, in Brave New World, the youth is expected to not be with one person forever as they say, "everyone belongs to everyone" and in today's society I have never seen so little amount of loyalty in my opinion. However, I do agree that in reality we will never reach the full government control on society. this is because I believe that a big part in the people of this novel accepting their society was that they were no longer being bred, therefore couldn't experience the love for and from a parent or home. our reproduction is a large part of our humanity for which if we turned over to the reproduction ways in the novel, then we would lose most human aspects. to conclude, I think that our society today does have some similarities to what Huxley had predicted although I do agree with you that we won't reach the full extremity in this novel because like Mason said, humans don't like to be controlled fully by the government.
ReplyDeleteI do not believe the world could ever achieve the level of extremism that Huxley predicts. This is because it is human nature to be independent and to defy control of unjust authoritative figures. Although the government is able to conceal the truth from many people, there will always be a handful of people that outwit the tactics of the media and bring to the attention of others the deception behind the information that is being forced into their brains. Of course I see the future of our country worsening in the aspect of governmental brainwashing, but I would never expect us to reach a point where humans are completely submissive to the lies of the government and media. Throughout history, nearly every conflict has risen due to a group of people fighting for independence from tyrannical leaders which just goes to prove the point that because humans are driven by a desire for freedom and individuality, no government will ever achieve total control of the general population.
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