Orwell vs. Huxley [comic]

[mediahasyou]

http://rockus.posterous.com/713939

[peter_lifton]

I've read "Amusing Ourselves To Death" it is a great read.

My thoughts are before we get Big Brother, we need the Brave New World.

[sailor]

The comic makes a good case about this specific thing, but Orwell was just so much of a better writter than Huxley. And he really created a world that sends a chill to your bones.

[Imperial]

Read Brave New World and Amusing Ourselves to Death. I have only skimmed 1984 and read its plot outline.

Truthfully, Neil Postman is guilty of cherry-picking facts sometimes in Amusing Ourselves to Death. It is a great work to open your eyes, but you have to read it critically. And he sometimes gets on a totally wrong course, like when he (briefly) discusses politics.

One major recurrent theme in the book is Huxley was more accurate than Orwell in relation to us(he says Orwell's vision was for communist world). However, this is ignoring the fact that neither 1984 or Brave New World is mutually exclusive. In Huxley's world the Controllers censor materials that could incite the people and exile those who fight the establishment or are radically nonconformist. The state also controls manufacturing and all economic production while rationing soma. So a major similarity is seen in that the state is the force that controls society. Meanwhile, the highest echelons of government may taste freedom.

The major difference then is how society is subdued by the state. In 1984 the state uses force first and terror second. Brave New World the state seduces first and then promises continual subsidy to eliminate threats to its position. In both instances though the key is to suppress the individual first, and then manipulate his psychology to maintain the status quo. In this way they both mix the elements they use to some degree.