Orwell Or Huxley: Who Better Foresaw Today?

[Syrinx]

Poll question: Orwell Or Huxley: Who Better Foresaw Today?

One of the points in George Orwell's "1984" was that "in the future," the rulers would conceal information from us. Aldous Huxley, in "Brave New World," exhibited a somewhat different view. He postulated that instead of censoring information, the elites would drown us in a sea of nonsense that would make it almost impossible to sift out the truly relevant bits of data. Giving the constant stream of bullshit regarding Scott Petersen, Donald Trump, OJ Simpson, Lorena Bobbitt, etc., and the general tabloidization of "news," I'm leaning towards Huxley's view.

Who do you think was more prescient?

[Vincardog]

1. KKKarl Rove Read Orwell and used it as a training manual. They use

deception repression and disinformation at every turn. It is repulsive to think of these slime in control of my government.

[solinvictus]

2. Orwell....

I'm re-reading "Homage to Catalonia" now. Orwell foresaw the complete integration of media to shape opinion on both the present and the future coupled with a surveillance conscious state.

[madrchsod]

3. 50/50

both books were on the mark.

[PowerToThePeople]

4. rewriting history

Repugs try to rewrite history in their favor at every chance...

[Jack_DeLeon]

5. I'm going with Huxley...

while I dont think most Americans are using drugs to content themselves, most Americans have been made content with modern living.

As long as they got a roof over thier head, a TV, a car, and some food most Americans are satisfied.

[w13rd0]

7. Not using drugs to content themselves?

Bob is on Formicia to cure foot fungus, Lipitor to reduce fat, Zanax to conteract the depressive side-effects of Formicia, Cialis to get it up since Zanax makes him less able to perform...etc...etc...

[Jack_DeLeon]

10. Alot of Americans do use drug, however I dont think most of them do.

Most Americans cant afford to buy all these prescription drugs, or over the counter ointments, or "natural male enhancement" pills.

I certainly cant.

[Ron Green]

6. Both have come to be! Because the government, rather than becoming the

Orwellian totalitarian monolith, has been bought by the corporations, who are feeding us non-stop Soma. We're not afraid of Big Brother, we run to him with credit card in hand.

[ChairOne]

8. Shoulda used Animal Farm instead, imho....

Fucking perfect description of how shit tends to go to hell, as well as of the variety of flaws in people that allows it to happen.

[OnceUponATime]

9. I'll vote Huxley, although...

both have frightening parallels with today's America. To me, Brave New World wins with it's depiction of the 'utopian' dictatorship of the consumer. It's about the illusion of utopia, the illusion of real choice. And the controlled stratification of class and rank. All the myths we are fed daily.

For those interested in another great work of scifi that extends into politics and philosophy, check out the 1968 British TV mini-series, "The Prisoner".

Just curious, any Prisoner fans out there?

[nickgutierrez]

11. Orwell -- for euphamisms and doublespeak

The way the Bushies resort to euphamisms is very Orwellian. "PATRIOT Act", "War on Terror", "Clean Air", "Healthy Skies", are ways of framing harmful actions so that they cannot be properly discussed without changing the terminology. They also are very good at changing the truth in order to better correspond to the party line, but that's a tactic that only works with a complicit media (Ministry of Truth, I believe it was called in 1984?).

[tjwmason]

12. Huxley

Orwell had far more overt repression, the public denunciations in animal farm for example, or the constant threat of Room 101.

Huxley's repression was more subtle, a willingness to go along with the plan. Those who reject it being regarded as insane, or freaks, rather than as 'bad'.