Chris Hedges Writes About Orwell's 1984 & Huxley's Brave New World

[Rakhmetov]

Huxley and Orwell were both right. The "feelies" in Brave New World are being used to distract the people with bread and circuses. But now that the U.S. is sliding toward financial bankruptcy crude forms of of violent oppression are being used as Orwell predicted.

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/2011_a_brave_new_dystopia_20101227/

[Diello]

Orwell warned of a world where books were banned.

Did he? Books weren't banned in 1984. Is the author mixing it up with Fahrenheit 451?

[Political_Chucky]

Did he? Books weren't banned in 1984. Is the author mixing it up with Fahrenheit 451?

I haven't read 1984 in ages, but I'm pretty sure it stated or at least implied freedom of speech was banned or limited. Just considering the three slogans of the party, they probably banned certain books from the public.




WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

[Diello]

I haven't read 1984 in ages, but I'm pretty sure it stated or at least implied freedom of speech was banned or limited. Just considering the three slogans of the party, they probably banned certain books from the public.

Ah-- well, you're right. I read "books are banned" as "books, themselves, are banned" (as in Fahrenheit 451), not "certain books are banned."

[A Revolutionary Tool]

Ah-- well, you're right. I read "books are banned" as "books, themselves, are banned" (as in Fahrenheit 451), not "certain books are banned."
I'm going to have to agree with you it does say "books are banned" not "certain books are banned". There were books in 1984 though. If I remember correctly all books were generated in a government institution through some computer system that basically printed a few different story layouts in a bunch of different ways. So Chris Hedges was wrong yes.

But let's not let that get in the way of what he was saying. I have to agree with Chris Hedges here, in fact this is about the same thing I wrote in English class after we read A Brave New World. Although I still think we have a culture of mindless pleasure and where nobody wants to read books. But as Chris points out, we're seeing 1984 style control over us too.

[BIG BROTHER]

Yea I think the State as a defender of the ruling class(which in the majority of the case is the capitalist class) uses tactics and approaches from both 1984 and Brave New World.

For example, If you look back in the US history this country has actually had a pretty dammed bloody labor history with the State using sheer repression to put down strikes and union organizing.

Currently the people are being doped with the whole "bread and circus" tactic but the State still shows its teeth when said tactic fails the state goes back to the more hard line repression, and when this approach fails the state goes back to the other approach.