I've aimed to read a lot of new fiction for this year, but as I reached six months, without re-reading any of my favourites, I thought I'd take an opportunity to read a classic.
I've always hailed Huxley as a genius of precognition. He exceeds Orwell in his sheer proximity to accurate prophecy.
Where Orwell saw a future of totalitarianism, held in place by a fierce and uncompromising force of will from above. Huxley saw one where a form of parasitic socialism had taken over and humans were genetically and scientifically conditioned into enjoying their own slavery.
Where Orwell thought sexuality would be repressed. Huxley saw it as one other method of social manipulation, becoming so free and open that the only taboo was to keep the same partner for too long. Even younglings are at it, playing their erotic games in the gardens. No desire is denied, so no desire becomes overwhelming. Everyone is trapped in this state of stupefaction.
Where Orwell saw complete control, by the state, of the flow of information. A vast network of propaganda that altered historical records to ensure the government was never wrong. Huxley saw information merely being freely shared and everything belonging to everyone. It's just that no one cares that the society grows humans in vats and matures them into adulthood using electro-shock conditioning. They're happy enough to keep taking drugs and watch entertainment shows. They have been conditioned to think that the abnormal, the unnatural, is stable and good.
The novel follows a few characters, but two particularly. One within the system. Who is the main character until he meets the second main character and then they alternate. And the second character is from outside of society.
This isn't like 1984. It isn't dark and sinister. The point is that it is light and frothy and there always seems to be an escape vector available. The horror of the reality presented is a subtle one. You're almost lulled into believing that the characters are happy. Until you realise the actions of those at the top of society would give Hitler a run for his money.
Additionally, re-reading this made me muse on the current climate of protests and visual moral cleansing and the public self-flagellation and wringing of hands being acted out by celebrities and other people of all types. It seems right out of a novel.
All this focus on a form of original sin that cannot be removed. That no mistake will go unpunished is a very Orwellian scenario and Huxley expresses this sentiment very skillfully.
“Chronic remorse, as all the moralists are agreed, is a most undesirable sentiment. If you have behaved badly, repent, make what amends you can and address yourself to the task of behaving better next time. On no account brood over your wrongdoing. Rolling in the muck is not the best way of getting clean.”
Yet, we seem to be rolling around in the muck as a society at the moment. So quick to point out the dirt on other people's shirts. Until it is shown that we have a spot on our own and then we tear our clothes and gnash our teeth and repent.
All that privilege checked. It gets in the way of actually changing. So long as we are saying "I am a sinner" there is no need to actually change or grow. No one is cashing the cheques. They want you to apologise, but they don't care if you do actually change. Besides, if you did, they'd have put effort into finding you guilty of something else.
If you are unlucky enough to be branded as someone guilty of wrong-think, that's you now. Forever. It seems a disaster of a shift, if you ask me. That's a long old stretch away from true progress. Would it not be better to halt all the 'trial by twitter' stuff and use that energy for productive activities?
The Booker Prize recently had to handle an issue in their ranks. Baroness Nicholson brought down the full wrath of the twitter mob and was dismissed from her honorary position. But the organisation went one step further and eliminated all honorary positions. No doubt to ensure they never again have the headache of having to deal with the mob again.
Through that action, numerous people also lost their positions and, thereby, their opportunities to do good via their respective roles. Women and men, from a wide variety of backgrounds, many of whom even support left-wing ideas (though one hopes they're now questioning their political alignment).
Was that a victory for the twitter mob? I don't think so. Though they hailed it as a victory, not one of the posts I saw had looked even a week into the future and worked out that those roles being removed was a blow for their own agenda. They ended up shooting themselves in the foot. They eliminated the roles and ended up removing a platform that had been, and could have continued being, used for tremendous good.
This is what I mean when I say that things are getting crazy. No one but a crazy person burns down a house because they didn't like the previous occupant and then settles themselves happily down on a park bench to sleep. It is lunacy. Why not use the resources to help society, rather than bring it to its knees. Why are people so upset over differences of opinion and things that no one living today is responsible for?
I think, in the end, the road to hell is always paved with good intentions. No one could object to the idea that what people are saying sounds good... but ultimately, the changes that actually happen are dangerously bad for everyone because they're wrapped in nice packaging. The world's governments have gotten very, very skilled at selling the public very attractive agendas that cause utter misery in practice.
“Much of the social history of the Western world over the past three decades has involved replacing what worked with what sounded good.”
― Thomas Sowell
Back to the novel itself... sorry
I go on and on about how 1984 got all the attention when it was actually Brave New World that most resembles our own lives today. We are taught to consume. We are conditioned to avoid conflict. We are soothed by drugs and entertainment. We are not beneath the boot; instead, we are beneath a warm slipper, tucked up and cooing.
A classic in my mind and well worth picking up. You'll learn a lot. You might be inspired to use local shops, rather than Amazon. And you might even cancel your Netflix subscription. But then, I doubt you will. I hear a new series of Drag Race is coming soon. Enjoy your consuming.
"You can't consume much if you sit still and read books."
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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