Aldous Huxley was correct not George Orwell

Long time no see ATS, been away for awhile. I started a new job and it takes up a lot of my time, but in this job market I'm quite happy to be employed again (especially after going 9months unemployed).

The picture I'm about to share with you proves that it was Aldous Huxley not George Orwell who correctly feared what the future would hold for us, and how it would allow TPTB to take over.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/c1c6f6577680.jpg[/atsimg]

Its a subject often spoken of here on ATS, people care more about the newest American idol judge then the newest supreme court judge, more about there iPhones then their rights.

I couldn't agree more with this picture, and i fear the battle has been lost.

star and flag op
i think that both systems are in effect
one is self enslaving the other takes a bit more effort
lol

nice bro we do it to ourselfs mostly

xploder

Very good comparisons...I fear it is this way by design...They want us to be consumed even by conspiracy...I fear the underline truth to be much sinister...

I think both books are heavily influenced by the society of the time.

Brave New World was written in the 1930's in a time of massive expansion of personal leisure time and wealth for some and The Great Depression for others. The rich driving around in Bentleys, Having wild decadent parties with the new sexually liberated flapper girls and the poor turning into drones as industrialisation really set in.

1984 was written in 1949 a very different time when fascism and communism had both swept through the world, many countries struggles with little money and little food as they tried to rebuild their countries, the corruption of governments seemed far more important then the decadence of the masses.

Great thread, we are so bombarded with conflicting information it takes a lot of time and research to get to the truth and just when we thought we did there is more information to digest, talk about overload. I think it is all worth it, if not for the the internet and information we glean from it today we wouldn't discussing this on ATS today now would we.

The key is discernment in everything we see and read, sometimes not so easy.

S&F

I feel that Huxley and Orwell had the same things in mind.

If you think about it, all of those comparisons are actually just two different sides of the same coin.

It's happening one way or another.

Escapism is definitely the drug of choice for the sheep these days. They will do anything to avoid the realization of the facts. This door of perception is magnetically shut by the forces of denial.

Edit to add: Orwell had the concept but Huxley had the means.

A possibility: Huxley's dystopia fits the wealthier, western democratic republics; while Orwell's is reflected in the rest of the world. For example, wouldn't 1984 be a better fit for The People's Republic of China, North Korea, Laos, many of the former soviet republics, as well as parts of Africa, and the more oppressive nations in the middle east? Just a thought.

An interesting photo essay on the least free places on earth:
www.foreignpolicy.com...

reply to post by TarzanBeta

reply to post by joechip


I believe you both hit the nail on the head.

Both are currently taking place. The variations depend on your position on the globe. It even varies within the U.S. Look at the difference between legislations in California vs. Georgia.

Raist

reply to post by Alaskan Man


Absolutely it seems that Huxley got closer in his vision of dysopia than Orwell - although both of them have many valid points.

They both make great read. In fact, should be included to general education.

-v

Absolutely. But they are BOTH right. I just happened to have read Brave New World again yesterday, and it was really striking a lot closer to home than when I read it in high school.

Brave New World is much more what is happening in the US, with Big Brother to mop up those who don't fall for all the sex and drugs and TV.

Both books apparently draw a lot of inspiration from this 1921 book called "We"

We is set in the future. D-503 lives in the One State,[3] an urban nation constructed almost entirely of glass, which allows the secret police/spies to inform on and supervise the public more easily. The structure of the state is analogous to the prison design concept developed by Jeremy Bentham commonly referred to as the Panopticon.

You can find a link to the full text of the novel at the bottom of the wiki page, if you can stand to read a whole novel in a pdf

The fact that 1984 and Brave New World are still allowed to be talked about, yet are talked about very little, indicates to me that Huxley was right.

Like others have said, it's a bit of both. Which is quite depressing really.

Huxley once said...

"There will be in the next generation or so a pharmacological method of making people love their servitude and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless concentration camp for entire societies so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away from them but will rather enjoy it."

Which immediately reminds me of this...

reply to post by Alaskan Man


I don't remember where I heard this, but they were both members of the Fabian Society.
It's possible they were both privy to the same information or end result.

Huxley had nothing on Orwell.

Orwell lived a hell of a life from his own choosing and mapped out the differences in society by going out there and seeing for himself. He roughed it from Paris and all the way through to the northern counties of England. He was a class rebel and became a misfit witness to all the social classes...accepted by none and refusing acceptance on his own terms.

He could have been an empire nobody in India, but his conscience for social justice led him elsewhere. In one of his essays, he describes a public hanging in India. He relates a small man walking towards his death, wearing only a loin cloth...bare-footed. As he approached the gallows, there was a small pool of mud. The man side-stepped the puddle and was executed. Knowing he was moments from death...he still avoided the mud.

What struck Orwell was the meaningless dignity of that final action. He saw some intrinsic value in human life and recognised his own position as an interloper in India and agent of that empire. He resigned and returned to England with the profound sense of what it means to be an outsider.

Orwell lived the life of an alienated witness to events and society...he became a commentator and journalist of all that was wrong with early 20th Century life. Spanish civil war, Paris kitchens, coal mines and the open road...he was an uncomfortable adventurer. He wandered the byways as a homeless man and lived amongst the poorest in society. I've read his books and diaries and the accounts of people who met him. He was an outsider always.

His name is forever associated with Animal Farm and 1984 and neither of these books come close to what a great man he was. He had a BBC radio broadcast and not one of them has survived. He supported Victor Gollancz' Left Book Club that created libraries and clubs to educate working class men. Eventually the government legislated against them.

Orwell is one of the greatest 20th Century champions of social justice and equality, in my opinion.

reply to post by Kandinsky


Never said Orwell wasn't a great writer/human being.

His fear of the future just wasn't as accurate as Huxley's.

At least by American standards which is where i hail from, as others have pointed out, in country's such as China, Orwell's vision was/is more accurate.

reply to post by Alaskan Man
My entire post was technically off topic...I just rate the guy.

Some quotes that stand the test of time...1930s!

'Early in life I had noticed that no event is ever correctly reported in a newspaper.'

'Every war when it comes, or before it comes, is represented not as a war but as an act of self-defense against a homicidal maniac.'

'All the war-propaganda, all the screaming and lies and hatred, comes invariably from people who are not fighting.'

'All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.'

'Advertising is the rattling of a stick inside a swill bucket.'

George Orwell was an ATSer.

reply to post by Alaskan Man


Your commentary said it all........................I believe you are right.

The herd is being kept distracted.


Starred, flagged and a bender applause, great post!
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4bf38bb62cc0.jpg[/atsimg]

they've got the whip and the carrot on a stick pushing us forward to our eventual future, ....the future the controllers envision. they have known how to manipulate people like this for CENTURIES. "bread and circuses".
there is nothing new under the sun, as they say. there's just MORE of it, now, 'cause there's more of US!

rock out with your spock out.