To: supremedoctrine
Huxley claims his vision of the future in Brave New World might prove to be more accurate than Orwells.
Huxley was right as to the idea of making human romantic love irrelevant by by cheapening sex and making sexual play common from early childhood rather than trying to limit sexual relations to monthly encounters for procreation only. Huxley also was right on the idea of being able to dial back actual jail time and physical punishment over time through a soft tyranny instead of 1984's straight-on approach. Both authors anticipated future developments in technology that would help achieve the nihilist state's goals: ubiquitous cameras and screens (Orwell never thought that people would CARRY THEM AROUND!) and Huxley's Malthusian Drills (birth control pills). Huxley's explicit grade level class system has not come to fruition, at least not as he envisioned it. I do take a little issue with the writer of the piece. He maintains that the proles were kept "comfortable", as if they lived like Andy Capp and Flo. The proles were kept at bare subsistence levels and rocket bombs tended to hit their neighborhoods with some regularity to keep them in fear or Eurasia/East Asia. Huxley had one great book in him, and even that one is a bit jarring because the assumed protagonist, Bernard Marx, is replaced by the savage midway through the book. Unusual tale telling. Orwell is by far the better writer, and it was presumptuous of Huxley to say his book was better or more accurate. As the author points out, North Korea is very close to a literal rendition of 1984.
16 posted on
04/29/2017 6:43:20 PM PDT by
Dr. Sivana
(There is no salvation in politics.)
To: Dr. Sivana
47 posted on
05/01/2017 7:10:40 PM PDT by
supremedoctrine
("If you want to be able to predict the future, first you have to create it"---Lincoln)
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