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brave new world vs. 1984

Was ich im Internet gefunden habe:

Zusammenfassung:
Tyrants were the chief threats to freedom and individuality in the 20th century. The chief threats to freedom and individuality in the 21st century will come from Good Time Charlies.

Die Frage, die ich mir stelle: Welche Rolle spiele ich in der Oper genannt Gesellschaft?

1984 or Brave New World

George Orwell, born Eric Blair on June 25, 1903 , would turn 100 this week had he not died in 1950 at the age of 47. On the anniversary of his birth, it seems fitting to briefly compare his 1948 dystopian warning of the future, 1984, to that of his one-time teacher, Aldous Huxley, who had written his own prophecy, Brave New World, in 1931.

Antwort: Both

I offer two nations as an example of each prophecy: Australia and the United States. Since 9/11, the Bush regime has pushed the 1984 Big Brother approach to the limit. Australia, on the other hand, currently exhibits many, if not most, of the earmarks of Brave New World. This is no accident; it is mostly a question of timing. Both nations are bastions of socialism, but Australia is years ahead of the U.S., as I said in “Taxpayer Breeder Program.”

I contend that the U.S. will follow in Australia’s footsteps, eventually abandoning the 1984 approach and replacing it with the Brave New World approach. It is only a matter of time. Once the inevitable finally occurs (crash of the U.S. dollar, more inflation by the Fed, major income tax increases, and depletion of the U.S. Treasury to afford the costs of Medicare, Social Security for Boomers, and Perpetual War for Peace) the relatively few remaining American taxpayers will gladly welcome their daily ration of soma, the ultimate happiness drug in Brave New World. Designer drugs like Ecstasy point the way.

Eventually, it will become obvious even to Americans that the 1984 approach is doomed. It is based on punishment, which creates criminals, who then must be punished, imprisoned, or re-educated, all at great expense. Even the most ardent supporter of the 1984 approach will finally realize that incarcerating the majority of the population incurs excessive costs to society while simultaneously draining the pool of available workers and taxpayers. A 1984 society is one of spies, informers, Big Brother, and constant surveillance, not to mention a distinct lack of happiness.

The Brave New World approach dispenses with all of that by replacing punishment with pleasure, but again the cost is high. It requires giving up art, science, literature, history, marriage, monogamy, religion, love, individuality, and freedom in return for soma, temporary happiness in a tablet.

Janadas Devan writing in The Straits Times goes even further. He contends that “1984 is past and Brave New World is here.”

Huxley's argument, in essence, was that it would be easier to control people by making them happy (cakes and circuses) instead of flogging and kicking them into submission (clubs and prison).
‘The nearly perfect control exercised by the government is achieved by systematic reinforcement of desirable behaviour, by many kinds of nearly non-violent manipulation, both physical and psychological, and by genetic standardisation.'

Huxley was a better prophet. In many respects, the Brave New World he described is already upon us - and governments have had little to do with its achievement.
Tyrants were the chief threats to freedom and individuality in the 20th century. The chief threats to freedom and individuality in the 21st century will come from Good Time Charlies. We are bound to succumb; we already have.

Orwell’s 1984 was a good model for the 20th Century, with its prevalence of totalitarian dictators, but the page has turned. In the 21st Century, the vast majority of nations exhibit some form of democracy. This fact alone suggests that Huxley’s prophecy will prevail. Voters (and taxpayers) will demand happiness, and their socialist States will deliver.

Quellen:
http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/blow/blow3.html

und kurz aus
http://mural.uv.es/~mifepra/mainthe.htm

is a chapter in Brave New World that is one of the most fascinating pieces of Universal literature; it’s chapter seventeen
they just do their work, they obey.
The lower castes are happy because they do unexhausting labour, they have soma and unrestricted copulation

oh, oh, wie konnte ich das vergessen - es gibt zu diesem Thema noch ein sehr wichtiges Buch:
Neil Postman, We are amuzing ourselves to death.
Gibt es auch auf Deutsch.

Unbedingt lesen, auch wenn es schon älter ist und Neil ca 2003 gestorben ist. Aber auch hier, wir sind schon mittendrin im Wandel! Die Gefahr kommt nicht mehr von Verboten sondern vom Vergnügen. Wir werden nachlässig, weil wir uns vergnügen wollen und uns dieses Gefühl einlullt. Außerdem glöaulben wir alles, was die Medien uns erzählen, wir hinterfragen zu wenig und machen zu wenig eigene Erfahrungen, wir konsumieren.