“Amusing Ourselves To Death” is a very cool infographic showing a comparison between Aldous Huxley’s view of the future from “Brave New World” and George Orwell’s fears or vision expressed in “Nineteen-Eighty-Four”. Enjoy!
I read “Brave New World” when I was a teenager. It looks like it’s time to read it again.
Which one do you like better: “Brave New World” or “Nineteen Eighty-Four”?
You can vote for your favorite book on Deep Spirits.
[...] summation, hey Huxley, what’s up? [...]
Love this! Both authors were visionaries ahead of their times! Huxley indeed is turning in his grave. He is one of my favorite authors and raised serious issues and made world-wide breakthroughs in the research of psychedelics as well as our cognitive liberties. I drew a portrait as homage to the man and his works. Let me know what you think of it at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2010/07/aldous-huxley-rolls-in-his-grave.html
Reading the Iron Heel would be a good 3rd party addendum to this…. But I don’t think it matters who was right. BNW is my favorite book, of all time. Followed by 1984, Fahrenheit 451, The Iron Heel, and the Wanting Seed. (Kind of a dystopian fanatic, for some reason) But, as was said before. 1984 was/is a warning to extreme perversions of socialism, as BNW is a warning against extreme love of freedom, and self.
But as I said earlier, I would strongly suggest reading the Iron Heel by Jack London. Fantastic criticism on the bourgeois.
I’m sorry, who cares whos wrong and whos right? It looks like the world is a mix of these two things, Huxleys ideas are more obvious, but Orwell’s ideas are still there, but they lie in the cracks and behind the curtains of society. This is like that stupid book about ‘Did Shakespear write his own works’.
@Shane: I disagree. Our world still bans books, governments continue to hide a lot of truth from us, people preach altruism, and a lot of us are controlled by fear or hate. I’m looking at 1984.
Violence and pornography are both rated R in the movies. Triviality and captivity are one and the same. Quoting The Usual Suspects “The best trick the devil ever pulled was to make us believe he doesnt exist.” Triviality conceals its intentions of having us captive day and night in an Ipad, pc, android, etc. Both books are great. 1984 laws of Ignsoc are brilliant. Ignorances is strength, War is peace, Slavery is freedom. It all comes down to that.
1984 is a good book, but I think Huxley’s view is how the world currently is.
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Interesting to say the least. It is true that we are currently in a state of Huxley’s interpretive apocalyptic nightmare. Give Orwell some credit, though. His book 1984 as well as Animal Farm are both largely symbolic of the threat of tyranny by the former Soviet Union. Oddly enough, the two biggest threateners of peace at the time were America and Russia, which was a major cause of the Cold War. (Granted the nukes probably didn’t help anything). It’s not a question of who’s right, but it is good to know a ruse when you see one. Okay, done rambling. Later, all!
Brave New World is the sophisticates Fight Club.
Both of these men were in my opinion predicting the same future. With the experiences of both extreme Nazism and Socialism etched into the popular psyche through both WWII and the Cold War, any overt limiting of freedom would trigger an open revolt (in the West anyways). Therefore, i would maintain that Huxley’s position and Orwell’s position are both complementary, with Huxley’s acting as the methodology (or implementation)whereas Orwell’s serves as the greater ideological narrative, or presents the bottom line.
What bugged me about this is that both men were not trying to depict the same future! Orwell wrote 1984 as a warning of what could come if Stalin’s/Hitler’s views of Socialism were successful – it was mean to incite people against fascism and government’s abuse of force. Huxley’s vision of the future seems correct because the conditions were on the other end of the spectrum – too much freedom.
Doctor Doctor what is wrong with me
This supermarket life is getting long
What is the heart life of a colour TV
What is the shelf life of a tee nage queen
Ooh western woman
Ooh western girl
News hound sniffs the air
When Jessica Hahn goes down
He latches on to that symbol of detachment
Attracted by the peeling away of feeling
The celebrity of the abused shell the belle
Ooh western woman
Ooh western girl
And the children of Melrose
Strut their stuff
Is absolute zero cold enough
And out in the valley warm and clean
The little ones sit by their TV screens
No thoughts to think
No tears to cry
All sucked dry
Down to the very last breath
Bartender what is wrong with me?
Why am I so out of breath?
The captain said excuse me ma’am
This species has amused itself to death
Amused itself to death
Amused itself to death
We watched the tragedy unfold
We did as we were told
We bought and sold
It was the greatest show on earth
But then it was over
We ohhed and aahed
We drove our racing cars
We ate our last few jars of caviar
And somewhere out there in the stars
A keen-eyed look-out
Spied a flickering light
Our last hurrah
Our last hurrah
And when they found our shadows
Grouped around the TV sets
They ran down every lead
They repeated every test
They checked out all the data on their lists
And then the alien anthropologists
Admitted they were still perplexed
But on eliminating every other reason
For our sad demise
They logged the explanation left
This species has amused itself to death
No tears to cry, no feelings left
This species has amused itself to death
we will be destroyed or destroy ourselves…. in the end how you die irrelevant, how did you live? both of these realities offer the same slavery…
I think they were both right. It depends upon the specific target audience. For instance, those inclined to fear or hate would more easily succumb to Orwell. Those who seek escape from a mundane life would be easily distracted(and led) by Huxley.
You know, I attempted to post a comment on both men, and when I spelled out the word “19th Century,” I was automatically blocked because, the comment below verification said I used a banned word beginning with a “t”. So if you’re going to be this petty about it, don’t waste my time with your site. So much for the exchange of ideas…
your comic strip compare and contrast was refreshingly lucid!
obviously, it’s both.
They were both right: you have the neocons/neolibs and phony libertarians like Glenn Beck constantly telling us what to think or else, and then again you have others in the MSM/Military/Industrial/Financial/Educational complex telling us that ignorance is a badge of honor, conformity to loving “American Idol/So You Think You Can Dance/Dancing with the Stars/Fear Factor/Wipe Out/etc.” is “cool” and reading is out…and so is thinking for yourself–and the irony is the “Christian” lobby (and the Israel lobby..or is that the same thing?) goes along with it and praises the typical American’s inability to think.
You know what you get when you put ‘em both together? “Idiocracy.” Mike Judge is the last cultural genious.
http://somethinghappeninghere.blogspot.com
The neo-cons vs. the p.c. crowd. Two wings of the same bird of prey.
It seems the pendulum may be swinging back into Orwell’s favor.
-Perpetual war (Two words: Predator drones)
-The rise of “pain compliance” weapons such as the Taser or area denial laser weapons.
-Allowing public infrastructure and services to crumble while increasing military spending.
-Rampant censorship (Just look at the state’s reaction to Wikileaks)
-The intentional destruction of the middle class and the nation’s wealth as a whole in order to constantly reduce the standard of living.
When the Soma runs out, the state will revert to the gun and the baton.
Brilliant! Sums up my perception of my surroundings.
Huxley was right about Western civilization. Orwell was spot-on about states like North Korea and others. Some, like China, use both methods.
well, I like T H Huxley, especially that little thing he did at the monkey trials, and I’m kind of fond or Orwell Reddenbacker, so I guess it’s a toss up.
I really liked 1984 and now I really want to read Brave New World lol
This was beautiful and depressing. Part of me wants to laugh out loud, while the other is sadly nodding at every illustration.
Wow. This is great. Well put.
Sad as it is…..Huxley and Orwell are so spooky. Wow.
Well, there are two ways I see it.
Orwell interpreted Europe, the Middle East, North Korea, and the Soviet Union amazingly. Heck, North Korea is already run like 1984. Look at all the riots happening in the Middle East, I think we are just now realizing just how many dictators there are.
Huxley interpreted America. When I read “Brave New World”, my mind was blown. I never thought about our culture like that, but it is so true! And to think, it’s happening more and more everyday…it’s so scary.
So no, Huxley wasn’t wrong, Orwell wasn’t wrong, they’re both right.
Huxley was right, and I liked Brave New World better….it gave me insight into the consumer-driven society in which we live
Yesterday I stumbled upon this site. I looked around a bit and realized that there really is some interesting writings and such . Some authors that I am familiar with. Anyway I decided to start at the top and read.
This is exactly whats going on in the world today. So many of us are so busy looking outside of ourselves for answer that we are failing to notice who we really are, and why we are all really here on this planet. Along with the fact that why we are all running around distracted, we don’t see or don’t care to see what is really happening to us. We are killing ourselves..one pleasure at a time. I believe that both situations are happening. It doesn’t matter what part of the world you live. Bad is happening everywhere and we are causing it.
Orwell’s possibility already occured. in Russia. ppl died. and they had to forfeit the Soviet Union. So, both were correct.
Maybe in the future, America, Japan, China, and all of the powerful nations will be overtaken by the Huxley point of view. “The things you own end up owning you.”-Tyler Durden.
And maybe in the future, all of the other countries who don’t agree will be run as Orwell envisioned it.
As many have pointed out they are both correct. Another way to say it is “The Stick and The Carrot”. While there is no true Communism and no true Capitalism, Economy is the Master… While if find it hard to believe in any “one” over arching controlling agency or power there is a lot of credence to the thought that there are manager bees and worker bees; and further more, that there is overt and passive collusion between the manager bees… across industries, across geography, across theocracies- Management Has No Ideology!
So is it really wrong?
Both philosophies sound right. They are not mutually exclusive. In some countries hate of one another is still provides an excuse to hurt and control. In America, we tend to be too distracted to care about what is really going on.
Marcus, I disagree that both ’1984′ and ‘Brave New World’ are attempting to send the same message; in fact, they were opposites in some ways. If you take a look at all the stuff Huxley and Orwell wrote, they are interested in very different topics. Orwell used literature to protest authoritarianism as well as the social mechanisms that cause it. Huxley addressed spirituality. So, they’re related, but not at all the same.
Perfe, I agree with you 100%.
It was only once I read Huxley’s ‘Island’ that I REALLY got his point and was able to identify the realism of his argument, that we have lost touch with genuine spirituality.
What’s amazing about Postman’s book is that he wrote it back when our major distraction was TV. He couldn’t have foreseen the internet or all of our technological toys, yet his message is more vivid today than ever. Makes one take pause about the universality of his insights.
The most frightening thing about what technology has revealed about society(and I use the internet everyday–couldn’t imagine a life without it) is how it has further distinguished classes: those who have smart phones and laptops have the world at their fingertips; those who don’t are left in an informational shadow.
Fantastic pics! I love both Orwell’s “1984″ and Huxley’s “Brave New World”, and in general, I totally agree to the points the author stated.
thesis writing
Excuse me, I should have checked what I had written before posting.
Anthony Burgess, in his essay “1984″ (which was paired with his own novel, “1985″), makes a convincing argument that “1984″ was meant as black comedy. Most people seem to ignore the impact of the prologue and epilogue of the novel, which make clear that it is a rediscovered story of an incomprehensible and unsuccessful phase of human society, not some author’s fear of what the future would be like; a great deal of the sort of things going on, in terms of propaganda, information control, distraction of the lower classes through gaudy entertainment and excessive alcohol, Orwell could already see in place around in by 1948, whether in the UK or in other places such as the USSR.
Anthony Burgess, in his essay “1984″ (which was paired with his own novel, “1985″), makes a convincing arguement that “1984″ was meant as black comedy. Most people seem to ignore the impact of the prologue and epilogue of the novel, which make clear that it is a rediscovered story of an incomprehensible and unsuccessful phase of human society, not some author’s fear of what the furture would be like; a great deal of the sort of things going on, in terms of propganda, information control, distraction of the lower classes through gaudy entertainment and excessive alcohol, Orwell could already see in place around in by 1948, whether in the UK or in other places such as the USSR.
orwell was definitely right when it comes to the situation in Iran.
but huxley got modern-day America spot-on.
You obviously live in the USA. In some other parts of the world, Orwell´s vision seems much more real.
of course it’s slanted towards huxley. the book is about show business. but, it’s obvious that both authors are partially correct depending on the area.
for me they are both correct,
This is a good point, but consider other modern countries. In a place like China, perhaps Orwell was more accurate.
I don’t understand how you can say one is better than the other, excuse me, which one is right…if you observe both books you realize they both say the same thing; that we create our own distress by accepting what is presented to us as opposed to fighting for what we all know is right. We are just too selfish to fight back together in a way that we could change our own destination. We would rather make one small individual attempt so we get shut down. Not that I have it figured out or do anything to progress in a group effort. Its more just a eutopian society. More like an idea. Sorry for the rant.
Excellent,
One forgets how good Huxley was.
Giggling to our graves
nothing wrong with that
This is obviously slanted towards Huxly….I love 1984 though, amazing book