“Those who would trade their liberties for a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety”. That quote by Benjamin Franklin described mindset that leads to totalitarian government. The British novelist, George Orwell is known for his chilling governmental satire. Animal Farm, his other well-known novel is a look into the past, his novel 1984 was a eerie prophecy into the not so distant future. This view of a negative Utopia has become so well known that people who believe in his theory are called Orwellian. But do we exist in a manner similar to the prophecy of the world in which he claimed to be what life would be like in 1984? The answer is No, but in just a few years we could. Ironically one of the greatest differences in our society and the society of Orwell, is that in 1984, the gene which leads to sex has been suppressed. For In our society promiscuity and suggestiveness have gotten maybe not more common but certainly more public. When Orwell published 1984, this seemed to be a logical conclusion that such an event might happen. For in the Post- World War II, generation sex was expressly hidden. For example on television the Rock musician Elvis Presley was not shown below the hips because it was considered far too suggestive.
In this aspect Our Society more resembles the other most famous novel of a negative utopia, Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. However we do share some similarities. Part of the power base in 1984 has its power exclusively through the deception of the people. Winston for example accepts the “fact” that two plus two does in fact equal five. As we know, two plus two equals four. The most important way in which we can prevent turnining into an Orwellian society is to not be able to be misled. To prevent the society of which we live from becoming Orwellian we must stave off apathy. For it is a slippery slope and if we take the first step down it we could live in an Orwellian totalitarian state. Closing, we do not as of today live in the society, which Orwell predicted. We still maintain a level of personal freedom in the United States greater than that described in 1984. However other nations of this world, the Peoples Republic of China comes to mind, where they live in a semi-Orwellian world. Even though we tend to say “it can’t happen here”, it can. That’s what they would have said in Germany in the twenties or Russia in the Pre-World War One era. It can happen here and it shall if we do not remember the lesson of the American President Thomas Jefferson “The Price of liberty is Eternal Vigilance”.
The Essay on Aldous Huxleys Brave New World And George Orwells 1984
Neil Postman once stated; Huxleys vision is more relevant today than is Orwells, Neil was of course refering to Aldous Huxleys Brave New World and George Orwells 1984, both chilling prophecies of the future of humanity gone terribly wrong. Although one could agree with Neal's view of Huxleys Brave New World, where life is taken down to only the most trivial of entertainment, lack of family, love ...
