1984, Brave New World, etc. VS the Real World

I invite anyone familiar with these books or similar books to post their thoughts on how these works of fiction relate to real life. It doesn't matter if you liked the books or not, just feel free to post your opinions here.

Yo, don't post any reviews, articles, etc. done by someone else on the subject. I want to know what YALL think about how these and other similar works relate or don't relate to real life. I want your thoughts, regardless of what they are, about this.

if this is Brave New World, where the hell do I get in line for my Soma?

I came to make the same point, Odd. It's Prozac. Act depressed, you'll get it... but truly, don't, it's an illusion.

This has been an advisory post from a prescription-free poster.

1984 has more parallels in propaganda and information control.

Brave New World has more parallels in the early onset of human genetic engineering.

What "Political Correctness" Is All About

The Political Correctness movement is almost straight out of the pages of 1984.

Except there it is called "Newspeak".

There is no meaningful difference between Newspeak and the euphemistic tyranny of Political Correctness.

The very name "Political Correctness" is designed to imply that disagreement with PC is inherently wrong.

And this gem of memetic engineering continues full steam ahead, snaring new minds in its web of deception each and every day.

amen Majic amen....

Brave New World is one of my favs. 1984 I respect because it's eerily prophetic.

Part of me thinks that 1984 would happen, like, a hundred times (being destroyed by revolution) before finally Brave New World would happen. It would take many upheavels and purges to get order like in Huxley's book. Notice how "Our Ford" (circa 1920 when it was written) is the zero-moment in BNW? Everything before that is hidden and gone forever except to the scientists and elites. 1984 is just brute force.

[edit on 17-2-2005 by smallpeeps]

Interesting replies yall.

Smallpeeps, I feel you on the whole prophetic aspect of 1984. Maybe it's just me, but I think we'll have our own versions of Eastasia, Eurasia, and Oceania. The EU's already a reality, and they're openly discussing a similar thing here between the US, Canada, and Mexico (maybe more?). In that book, war is a perpetual thing, and I'm sure that Lord Bush would really enjoy that.

The thing about a 1984-type scenario hitting us before a BNW is something I had never considered. I guess they would sort of grade into each other over time.

Now, the soma idea ain't bad at all, but I'll stick to the LIQ and the sticky-icky. I guess it's the same thing, anyway. Make sure you're on something if the time comes!

I think Huxley himself said he wrote BNW about his present, not as a prediction of the future. He was into more drugs than anyone I'd trust the perceptions of, but give it a read from this angle.

Are we divided into alphas, betas, deltas, etc. at birth based on nationality/economic class/and IQ? Doesn't society do much more to educate and make confortable its most productive members (the alphas)?

About 1984, isn't there already a social mechanism that works like the thought police? Don't believe me? Start telling your boss and co-workers all about your favorite conspiracies.... haha, watch the thought police respond!

Truthseeka: Yeah, it could be said that cannabis is Soma of our time but until it gets widespread acceptance, it won't be quite like Soma. Remember the scene in BNW where all the workers riot because they don't get their Soma? Clearly there is an addictive side to Huxley's drug. Vicadin or Valium seem more like what he meant. Frankly, the idea of a three-day Soma vacation sounds great to me. Ecstacy would be the perfect modern-day example of that drug. All things considered, I think we've pretty much reached the BNW drug culture in our present world but it's just not widely known or discussed (yet).

How about BNW where all the kids get sex education by running around naked with each other around age seven or eight or whatever. Seems like a much healthier way to do it, frankly. Like if all the kids were naked during recess. You'd have them finding out how their bodies work without any threat of sexual predators or sexual manipulation which our own world is full of. I'm the type of guy who never cares about kids being naked at the beach so I'm sort of a hippie in that respect, I guess. Sexual neurosis is rampant in the US and it's to our detriment, frankly.

BNW is one of the greatest books ever written, IMO. Uncle Aldous was a god among men. Point-Counterpoint is another great read.

Again, great stuff, Smallpeeps.

You're right about the herb/soma thing. They wouldn't profit off the killa like they do if it was legal, so I don't see widespread legalization for a minute.

Are you familiar with Alex Jones or one of his sites, infowars.com? I listen to his radio show whenever I can. Anyway, this is something he has said a few times, though I can't say that I have verified this. Well, supposedly, Aldous Huxley has a brother who was in the UN or something like that. At some point, Huxley supposedly said that BNW wasn't a work of fiction. He had seen some of the UN documents that his brother had access to, and this was a partial influence of BNW.

Like I said, I haven't verified this, but I do know that the New Freedom Initiative has plans to eventually have 1/2 of America's kids on prescription drugs. Just look at foster kids. I know this for a FACT. My mom has had foster kids at one point, and ALL of them were on at least 4 different drugs. Seriously. Alex Jones has articles on his site where supposedly 2/3 of all foster kids are on drugs, and some of them are on like 17(I'm not too sure about that number, I'm pretty drunk right now).

Anyway, I can't say that I'm 100% on Huxley and his brother here. Just some food for thought, I guess.

Originally posted by Majic
What "Political Correctness" Is All About

The Political Correctness movement is almost straight out of the pages of 1984.

Except there it is called "Newspeak".

I would say that it more closely resembles "doublethink." Doublethink is pretty much the act of the subconscious mind preventing/suppressing certain thought processes, i.e. political correctness. NewSpeak is a degradation of language so as to minimize the amount of concept that can be expressed.........in tandem, doublethink reinforces NewSpeak.

The book1984 I thought was doubleplusgood. Haven't read Brave New World, but have heard of the corrolations.

My 2cents.......Bin Laden is the 2 minute hate......or Bush if you are a foreign national

I had read somewhere that Aldous Huxley was actually a British spy, but I haven't looked deeply into that claim. I'd believe it. He was scary smart and very focused.

George Orwell also had ties to British Intelligence at the time. Orwell also died in 1949, about a year after1984 was published in 1948.

Double-think was more about acceptance without question of two grossly contradictory ideas or beliefs to deny the existence of objective reality.

It is the ability to tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing them and to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed.

Originally posted by harrisjohns

It is the ability to tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing them and to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed.

Kind of explains the whole Bush getting re-elected, doesn't it?

I read the books about 20 years ago. I recall 1984 much better than BNW.

1984 is scary in terms of its application to modern society:
We are the Proules (I think that's what they called commoners)
The outer circle as I see it are the blackops and gov't as we know it
the Inner circle may well be the elitists (illuminati, Bildeburgers, whatever).

Of course this is just theory and speculation but similarities are there (assuming you believe in the existance of the illuminati and other elitist groups).

How about this:

Shrink Punished for 'New World Order' Talk

Here we see how doctors can so easily be discredited and removed whenever they try to help their patients gain a clear picture of the world. This doctor had been talking to his patients about the NWO and that is clearly not okay among his 'peers'.

Good Find, Small Peeps. What I want to know, is what if he had a patient who had a problem with paranoia regarding the NWO? Would discussing and giving information on the NWO be reprehensible?

I can see the point at hand, however. Attempting to help a person by telling him that he has absolutely no control over his life is kind of not the way to go about it.

Originally posted by Majic
What "Political Correctness" Is All About

The Political Correctness movement is almost straight out of the pages of 1984.

Except there it is called "Newspeak".

There is no meaningful difference between Newspeak and the euphemistic tyranny of Political Correctness.

The very name "Political Correctness" is designed to imply that disagreement with PC is inherently wrong.

And this gem of memetic engineering continues full steam ahead, snaring new minds in its web of deception each and every day.

I absolutely agree with "Newspeak" and our society with it's politiccally corrent terms. Let's not forget about the censorhip as well.