Page 1 of 1 [ 5 posts ] 

Honey69
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 29 Jan 2023
Age: 65
Gender: Male
Posts: 2,251
Location: Llareggub

22 Jan 2024, 9:36 am

Neil Postman wrote:

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.

As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny "failed to take into account man's almost infinite appetite for distractions."

"In 1984", Huxley added, "people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure."

In short, Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we love will ruin us.




Image


_________________
May you be blessed by YHWH and his Asherah


DanielW
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 17 Jan 2019
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 1,873
Location: PNW USA

22 Jan 2024, 9:42 am

ir's probably BOTH, not merely one or the other - the two are not mutually exclusive.



Jakki
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 21 Sep 2019
Gender: Female
Posts: 10,262
Location: Outter Quadrant

22 Jan 2024, 9:57 am

Overwelm your population...with emotional distracting or straining things , allowing easier control of the masses ?
Seems as if , i recall both authors had concerns about controlling the masses of the population, they cited as examples .
And causes me to wonder if both were actually predicting the future of Humankind ? From their own different points of veiw. 8O


_________________
Diagnosed hfa
Loves velcro,
Quote:
where ever you go ,there you are


naturalplastic
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 26 Aug 2010
Age: 69
Gender: Male
Posts: 34,158
Location: temperate zone

22 Jan 2024, 8:43 pm

Interesting question.

At first glance the answer seems to be "Orwell was right only about places like Iran and in North Korea, but Huxley was right about everywhere else including ( and especially) the US".

Both things go on. Maybe it aint totally either-or.

Technology has indeed created ever greater and greater "weapons of mass distraction".

In the Sixties everyone worried that big mainframe computers would aid "Big Brother" in enslaving us all to big government and big corporations. Now we worry about information tech helping "little Brother" (the forces of anarchy and crime). Except the later can be in the service of the former (misinformation campaigns can be waged in democracies to aid dictatorships).



blitzkrieg
Veteran
Veteran

User avatar

Joined: 8 Jun 2011
Age: 35
Gender: Male
Posts: 15,440
Location: United Kingdom

23 Jan 2024, 7:16 am

naturalplastic wrote:
Interesting question.

At first glance the answer seems to be "Orwell was right only about places like Iran and in North Korea, but Huxley was right about everywhere else including ( and especially) the US".

Both things go on. Maybe it aint totally either-or.

Technology has indeed created ever greater and greater "weapons of mass distraction".

In the Sixties everyone worried that big mainframe computers would aid "Big Brother" in enslaving us all to big government and big corporations. Now we worry about information tech helping "little Brother" (the forces of anarchy and crime). Except the later can be in the service of the former (misinformation campaigns can be waged in democracies to aid dictatorships).


I agree.

I particularly think the concept of Soma for happiness is relevant to the US, since a lot of folk in the US, more so than any other place in the world, seem to be on anti-depressants or mood stabilizers as a substitute for happiness.

Technology replacing religion as a means of spiritual fulfillment also seems relevant to the current day.

1984 seems more relevant to less developed countries with more crude methods of suppressing and controlling their populations.