Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Is this a Goldilocks Situation?
I'm finding Neil Postman's book very interesting from the very beginning in the Foreward. He compares George Orwell's 1984 to Aldous Huxley's Brave New World. Both books are very similar and Huxley has even been accused of plagiarizing Orwell's work, but Postman points out the very important differences. Orwell talks of a world of control, totalitarianism, and government holding information from us. Huxley talks of a world where so much information is offered to us that we stop caring and would rather roam in a world of "passivity and egoism." But both end in similar outcomes as we let the Big Brother (or "externally imposed oppression" as Postman writes) take over either unwillingly or unknowingly. So are we in a Goldilocks situation? Is the best society a balance of freedom and control?
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Of course it is.
ReplyDeleteBut the perfect balance of freedom and control may never be achieved in any lifetime because humans are selfish and personal aspirations will always overcome the freedom of others. We as humans look out for ourselves, as selfish as it may sound and as much as we would like to deny it, 'me' will always come before 'you' or 'them'. I believe that we are in a Goldilocks situation but I wouldn't go as far as Orwell. World of control? Yes. But considering that humans are selfish, without that control and the limitations that the government has set up mankind would be lost, everything would be in ruin, and morals would cease to exist. Whether unwillingly or unknowingly our lives revolve around rules because in the end, there can be no balance without the checks.
"Huxley has been accused of plagiarizing Orwell's work..." I've never heard this before. Where did you get this?
ReplyDeleteMy initial reaction is skepticism, especially since Huxley predates Orwell, but I'm intrigued.
Ahhhh! i misread! Huxley wasn't accused of plagiarizing Orwell, but he HAS been accused of plagiarizing works for Brave New World according to several google articles as well as wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteThere is totally a balance of control and freedom. Take for example the internet; we have the ability to search what ever we desire, but we are watched constantly if we are suspected of criminal acts or other matters. I doubt that man kind can handle a balance between control and freedom. It doesn’t seem to be in our nature to be able to accept such terms. Even though we’re considered to be the top of the chain, we are still in some way savages. Now I know this sounds ridiculous, but many people often have thoughts of the evil things they would do if they could get away with it and there were no consequences for their actions. This is why we need balance. Humans by nature seem to have a complete lack of self control. Without a set of rules to govern us it would be a dangerous life for our kind to live. Imagine if everyone could do what they wanted to, our world would be chaos. We are in a Goldilocks situation, but is it really a bad thing to be this way?
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