Why People Born After 1995 Can't Understand the Book '1984'

[sean]

I barely know any zoomer who truly appreciates 1984.

1984 is not what our current society is heading towards even though we may share some similarities insofar as technological advancement, media control and the surveillance. It has some merits particularly around doublethink avoiding cognitive dissonance and mass surveillance, but it's unrealistically extreme. Brave New World is chilling in how accurate it is.

BNW is more appropriate piece of literature to discuss in terms of how a book would correlate to this particular time, the feelies, state sponsored drug use, and indoctrination of the youth to accept the current trends is also right there with us.

1984 is a dichotomy on the nature of government in society, Brave New World is more about how human society will naturally impose inhumanities on itself through our ambition for technology.

Any surveillance we see in the west reminiscent of 1984 for the most part exists to design better targeting systems for advertisements and products. Orwell predicted a dark dictatorship state, meanwhile Huxley predicted an insidious aristocracy and the truth being drowned into garbage information rather than 'censored.'

People like to imagine we live in 1984, not because we do, but because fighting the evil oppressor state is heroic while fighting your own hedonistic desires is hard and requires self-reflection.

Science fiction however is never meant to be a genuine prediction of the future. It's fiction about current day issues amplified by technological and societal change. Both 1984 and Brave New World show blown up versions of things that were already happening. Huxley saw the growing importance of entertainment, while Orwell saw the powerful getting more and more influence over people's personal lives.

[JamesBond007]

^ reading books has always been an elite niche anyway, yeah, quality post Sean.

People cannot be free if they are ignorant, and the more knowledgeable a person is, the more likely he is to be free -- or to be able to free himself. But because the information available to people is overwhelming in volume, it is necessary to develop good criteria for selecting the information you imbibe. Here are some helpful rules:

(1) Prefer books to periodicals. Books are far more likely to have enduring value; periodicals are, by their very nature, transitory in worth.

(2) If you like something an author writes, read more of his stuff. An author whom you find interesting is more likely to have written other material that will please you than an author you have no knowledge of.

(3) Modern books are usually better than older ones. This is partly because modern books benefit from more up-to-date knowledge (tho they don't always), and partly because the publishing business is now very competitive, unlike in earlier days, years, or centuries; and competition means the best will generally rise to the top (ie, get published). A great many older books ('classics') are much overpraised, but it took me a long time to figure out that it was the books which were lousy, and not my taste.

(4) Don't waste your time reading lousy stuff, even if it is supposed to be 'important'. If it's lousy, chances are it's not important at all, at least for your purposes.

[Daco Celtic]

I consider Brave New World by Aldous Huxley a far superior book and far more predictive of the modern world.

[PaleoEuropean]

I consider Brave New World by Aldous Huxley a far superior book and far more predictive of the modern world.

Yea I think the Orwellian perspective was based off irrational fears from rational events. I personally don't see an issue with the Wests efforts to keep Communism at bay, it was and through Cultural Marxism is still a real threat. I don't think the West ever wanted to veer into full on Fascism but knew that elements of Fascism helped keep the status quo the status quo.

[Zeno]

I barely know any zoomer who truly appreciates 1984.

1984 is not what our current society is heading towards even though we may share some similarities insofar as technological advancement, media control and the surveillance. It has some merits particularly around doublethink avoiding cognitive dissonance and mass surveillance, but it's unrealistically extreme. Brave New World is chilling in how accurate it is.

BNW is more appropriate piece of literature to discuss in terms of how a book would correlate to this particular time, the feelies, state sponsored drug use, and indoctrination of the youth to accept the current trends is also right there with us.

1984 is a dichotomy on the nature of government in society, Brave New World is more about how human society will naturally impose inhumanities on itself through our ambition for technology.

Any surveillance we see in the west reminiscent of 1984 for the most part exists to design better targeting systems for advertisements and products. Orwell predicted a dark dictatorship state, meanwhile Huxley predicted an insidious aristocracy and the truth being drowned into garbage information rather than 'censored.'

People like to imagine we live in 1984, not because we do, but because fighting the evil oppressor state is heroic while fighting your own hedonistic desires is hard and requires self-reflection.

Science fiction however is never meant to be a genuine prediction of the future. It's fiction about current day issues amplified by technological and societal change. Both 1984 and Brave New World show blown up versions of things that were already happening. Huxley saw the growing importance of entertainment, while Orwell saw the powerful getting more and more influence over people's personal lives.

This. So much this. In Brave New World, the element of degeneracy is also really, really apparent. It's very telling by the character Lenina, and by the end of the book, where people are aroused by John, the main character, whipping Lenina almost to death. Which indicates that life nowadays is centered a lot around sex.

Also, the notion of the government desperately trying, especially through sponsoring drug use, to force the population to accept the current societal norms is also absolutely relatable in our days. In fact, only the element of forced drug use hasn't been implemented in order to force us to accept the current norms!

And in the pics you posted:

"Huxley feared what we love will destroy us"

So painfully accurate, yet almost no one will wholeheartedly admit just that.

[Armenian Bishop]

The fact that it's more and more difficult for me to find a place to piss behind a public tree (without being observed), tells me that the world is becoming more crowded, more urbanized, and with less opportunities for privacy.