huxley pwns orwell

[burnrider2001]

I have to say, I see too much of both viewpoints to feel safe anymore. The corporations use psychology and advertising to help control people and they give them endless gadgets to consume. All the while, the people who are not blinded by this corporate machine are watched and dissent has been turned into an evil act rather than the way it should be viewed, as incredibly patriotic. Anyone who disagrees with this system will be watched and shut up as we can see with what happens at many protests.

[silvermaniamania1]

1984=old totalitarian

brave new world= new totalitarion

new is more efficient than old... nothing more............

[aelfredhauscarl]

What we have is a marriage of the two BNW is more based a upon cultural perspective then it is political where as Orwells is the mirror opposite it is seen through the political lens yes to an extent we have a brave new world in the West whilst the middle east have 1984 but there again why not use both if your the ruling class .

[pennilesscripple]

yes we do have elements of both in this tragic culture. orwell was a student of huxley's, so i imagine they both informed each other's work, and they wouldn't understand the modern obsession with 'pwning'--they'd say it was a false dichotomy, which it is

i see more brave new world in the day-to-day world, because the totalitarian rule (in the west, that is) is more covert than overt--it's still there, but it's covered up with a lot of pretty words

[pennilesscripple]

yes there are elements of both in our tragic culture. orwell was huxley's student, so i imagine they both informed each other's work, and would be surprised at the modern obsession with 'pwning,' and say it was a false dichotomy, as it is.

i see more brave new world in day-to-day life though, because (in the west) the totalitarian rule is more covert--it's still there, but it is hidden behind a veil of pretty lies

[Krahl123]

Aw, man, Orwell just got schooled by aldous huxley. (really though, aldous huxley was orwells teacher at oxford)

[Kirilltraceur]

pwned.

mindraped.

[Kirilltraceur]

read the book a week ago...

had to do a review on the book 5 minutes ago.

seed has been dropped =)

[pennilesscripple]

yep

[fellwurst]

this is no ownage

[tippsmeister]

BAM! Huxley just RAPED Orwell

[tovadaq]

From what the narrator says, I think Orwell has definitely the bigger chance to pwn Huxley.

The whole world is under the influence of violent threats, and only a few of us are subdued by happiness and drugs.

[pennilesscripple]

yeah true enough when you look at it globally

huxley's work is more about first-world culture than global culture

[notyetaladie]

Or how about throw "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin in the mix. He came before and influenced both Huxley and Orwell.

[pennilesscripple]

oh cool i'll have to check that out thanks

[LaShnike]

Wow. I've read 1984 but not Brave New World! I have to read it now...

[pennilesscripple]

yeah check out bradbury's farenheit 451 too

kinda freaky

[flossanova]

Ya know, they really shoulda shown Oprah when they said " than it would be by threatening them with violence."

[pennilesscripple]

heh

damn

where were you when i was working on this?

;^)

[ikdzero2]

Subtitles?

[gloriousotter]

but they both came true, look at the entire bush abmin. do what we want or terrorists will attack. and the use of prozac and riddlen to keep people happy. sadly they were both right

[russell6clacks]

wat

[ThomasRowsell]

huxley>orwell

because he's a better writer. still.

[mistaspot1]

I'm reading Brave New World right now. Surprisingly I hadn't read it before.

[goreki77]

my two favorite books! it could go either way, in my opinion... although i must say that with television and "news" becoming such an integral part of american life, i see 1984 playing out. =) great vid.

[deepwatertree]

Huxley argued HIS was more likely to happen, because HE was PART of the system of CONTROL, so HE had prior knowledge as to what would happen. It's easy to predict something when you are the one planning it...

[Gonzo707]

Nonsense. Aldous Huxley was one of the most outspoken and erudite social critics and satirists AGAINST forms of social control and totalitarianism.

[deepwatertree]

if that is what you choose to beLIEve, then so be it...I wouldn't call your opinion nonsense, but we all can't think our opinion is the only one with validity...

[Gonzo707]

I dont "believe" anything I dont know for certain. But the idea that Aldous Huxley was planning to control people and actually ADVOCATING totalitarianism really makes little to no sense. The opinion(speculation is a better word) has validity...but not much.

Its generally argued by people who have seen Alex Jones' "Endgame" but arent nearly as familiar with Huxley's actual work, what he DID advocate, and the sort of cynicism, satire, and social commentary/critique that pervades his writing.

[Rev01t]

Well, you also have to understand that Orwell wrote his book out being hopeful of the new communist movement only to see it usurped by a fascist dictator (Stalin). Huxley was more inclined to write about the use of technology to control the masses. They both had very valid points. We can draw numerous comparisons from their books to existing society.

[PhilosopherFresh]

kinda creepy eh

[isforbliss]

yeah the ego attachment to distopian nightmare is quite incredible but understandable. though self inflicting of pain it removes all self response-ability for the state of the world.

to me it's worth noticing that both brave new world and 1984 are heavily on school curriculums - which would not be the case if either book were effective at preventing the futures they describe.

it's simply a dangerous activity to partake in others nightmare fantasies.

[bwhahrhr]

Huxley thought lowly of noble savages.

[fckuvrymch]

yea it is a toss up. ;)

great vid though. 5* even tho ratings disabled.

i think they are using both. hehehe

[gleefulsabotage]

i see pretty equal elements of both dytopias in our modern civilization. they are the yin and yang of repression, the 'carrot' and the 'stick' right? (after a great deal of reduction)

maybe the larger difference was at the time of writing, orwell's future more closely resembled his time as well as the future.

all around i see newspeak, i see doublespeak, i see the memory hole.. used as propaganda tools.

[pennilesscripple]

yeah sadly it's pretty much a tossup

[Gonzo707]

I really dont think its a toss-up at all.

Not to diminish Orwell's work or "1984," but Huxley was absolutely right when he argued that future (and more sophisticated) models of totalitarianism would rely on the public being coaxed into a blissful ignorance and preoccupation with consumerism where they actually loved the condition they were in and believed they were free anyway; it almost eliminates any inclination toward dissatisfaction and rebellion. Goethe probably would have agreed.

[pennilesscripple]

very well put, gonzo

although the bush administration has given a whole new meaning to the world 'orwellian' :P

consumerism it hasn't eliminated my inclination toward dissatisfaction and rebellion--it's exacerbated it

[neothomist1275]

Thanks for the post.

Please change the title.

[pennilesscripple]

how would you like it changed, and why?

[hjaeko]

thats fucked.

[bbbleaver]

well, fav'd anyway...

[bbbleaver]

5'd & fav'd!

[runnygrits]

True randomness. At Tom Cruise' current status in Scientology, he is suppose to be able to fly. WTF?! Enough said.

[ResistTheMachine]

the american system is a good mix of both orwell's and huxley's.

They are both correct.

great video

[pennilesscripple]

the american system?

all of freakin' civilization....

i wish it was just limited to one country

the world would be a much better place

[ResistTheMachine]

well yeah ur right, but primarily the U.S. it being the most powerful nation in the world and it being the main player in the game of nations.

[BIndeed]

ya, 1:00 totally creepy.

i'd give it to aldous, too.

[pennilesscripple]

am i the only person who is totally freaked out by newscasters' faces?

[BobForehead]

nope.

[pennilesscripple]

whew

[Loreleila]

The art of keeping people 'happy' is apparently telling them they need something, that they must work hard to get it, preferably getting themselves into debt in the process, omitting the part where they realise it's all meaningless crap, and we're living in a brave new world. I'm with Aldous, except they aren't happy at all, they're brainwashed into thinking they are. Not the same thing at all.

[pennilesscripple]

yes it's denying them their real needs, their birthright, and convincing them that products will fill those needs

yeah it's not real happiness, and huxley never implied that it was--we need a word for 'fake-happy.' the fact that we don't have a word for it is telling....

[lapislazuline]

felicifauxity.....how would that do?

[pennilesscripple]

there ya go

[pennilesscripple]

let's see

it would be reduced to 'fawf' pretty quickly, i'd imagine and then slip into 'foof'

and of course there would be back formations as in "she said she likes her new job, but i bet she's just foofing"

or "that waitress was a grade-a foof"

[lapislazuline]

so an ad-man would be a foofer

[pennilesscripple]

which in your country would become 'foofter'

[lapislazuline]

we have the combined outlook so

they are equally valid

[pennilesscripple]

yeah sadly seems to be a combination of the two--like darganot said, you have two choices--you can pretend to be happy, or face the repression of the state

[zzz33333]

brave new world is much more accurate.

1984 would never work. the whole reason civilization works is because it fools us into thinking everything is awesome - just like in brave new world they all thought everything was awesome.

[pennilesscripple]

excellent observation

[pennilesscripple]

but orwell sure did nail the surveillance society on the head

they are engineering tvs and computers that can 'watch' the watchers now

and in a way the corporatocracy already does, with its surveillance of our buying habits

[BobForehead]

funny thing is, they had them before; but never used it.

[pennilesscripple]

yeah?

[BobForehead]

yup. They™ are lazy, cheap, and over-staffed, Thank Maa for cludgy bloated beaurocracy!

[iDroli]

All humans infertile... At the mercy of a mad scientist... WHOA!

whoever gets in charge of the "human factory" will control our races, and that is a scary though.

[runnygrits]

Nice vid pc. Throwing in America's favorite scientology couple was fitting. They creep me out....a lot

[pennilesscripple]

yeah those fake grimace/smiles always give me the heebie-jeebies

[runnygrits]

Huxley was a smart cat. I remember readin' that some years back and goin, well shit, ain't this a bitch.

[Dadalama]

in the year 2525....

[pennilesscripple]

if man is still alive....

[Dadalama]

if woman can survive....

[Drstrangelove17]

I think BNW totally beats 1984... I mean, Soma, Sex, and the "feelies"? C'mon... much better than vows of chastity ANY DAY.

But, it's all hell.

Pick your poison... love or war... the reality is it's all ignorant brew.

[zzz33333]

and besides Orwell was kind of a "whacko." (see my latest favorited video for a definition of the word.)

[JTickett]

I cant put your favourites in chronological order. perhaps you can give the title, or link to that video?

[zzz33333]

watch?v=fbYhbVvPZKc

[JTickett]

cheers mate! excellent vid

[pennilesscripple]

damn i always spelled it 'wacko'

off to the dictionary....

[zzz33333]

as in, someone who's really whack

[zzz33333]

i guess it could be wack... like derived from wacky... like a wacko is someone who is really wacky... hm.

[dnHooligan]

i thought it was wact

[pennilesscripple]

you're wact

[runnygrits]

lol @ zacks "whacko" comment. That vid was too much.

[ReliableInsider]

But penniless,

we live in the best of all *possible* worlds. O.O

[pennilesscripple]

been double-dipping the soma again, peter?

:P

[BobForehead]

There's a panglosscripple joke here. i can tell by my neck hairs.

[pennilesscripple]

neck hairs never lie

[cartoonage]

"they" try to keep us happy and under control with youtube though....

[pennilesscripple]

yeah maybe it will backfire on them....

[ItsFilthy]

I hate to admit this, but I still haven't read Brave New World...I gotta get on that...though, it seems that we're already living it. It was nice of you to give Aldous the win on his b-day...I'm sure he appreciates it. :op respect!

[dnHooligan]

its not really a book of hope.

[pennilesscripple]

yeah and he didn't mention sleep-learning, which i just read that 'they' are working on

[ItsFilthy]

Yeah, I wouldn't expect it to be. :o) 1984 was thoroughly depressing and totally scary because it seems like a very plausible future...because the present seems like a slightly watered down version of it.

[minomeshank]

hwre did i read or see the experiment with rat...

they planted electrodes in the pleasure centers of it's brain and gave it a button to stimulate them & also they gave it food too?

the rat hit the button and died of starvation.

i don't know if it's true or not but as a theory it's interesting & i think i saw it in a documentary recently which at the moment i'm failing to place.

i'l get back to you.

also i think the whole "technology is evil" thing is completely absurd. infact, it just is.

[minomeshank]

"hwre" IS a word... the human race is just so far behind me at the moment they havn't discovered it yet.

i repeat "technology is evil is just FUCKING ABSURD"... and infantile...

and any other derogatory words that mean it's not been given even the teeny-est bit of thought.

reflex idealism.

[Drstrangelove17]

must be newspeak.

[minomeshank]

depends.

[BobForehead]

Hwre B Fhwyghwgdz.

[DANE842]

another homestar fan eh? I think I'm going to take a poll.

[pennilesscripple]

what's a homestar fan?

you mean more than one person talks like bobforehead?

aiiggg

[DANE842]

oh yes, but only a few make the connection outside annonymity.

[BobForehead]

Happy peasants? Bah. Keep your thugs happy by letting them prey on the peasants, and everybody's in their places just like Gawd intended.

-Morlock proverbs

[pennilesscripple]

while i was making this i was wondering what kind of clever and insightful comment mr. forehead would leave on it

now i know

[BobForehead]

It's all thanks that Big Book Of Cyclopes' Aphorisms mom got me for Finishing School- better than Franklinz "Poor Dicks'" for daily Machiavelian re-dis-afirmationisms!

(have to hand it to Al' - he WAS an optimist. *pours a libation for homie Huxley's happy-postb-dayboy*)

[pennilesscripple]

good ol' momforehead

[BobForehead]

*sniff* she only burns because she cares so much...

[Boucrate]

Excellent! Well with both we had two chance to get the idea! But OK it's Alduous Birthday!:-) Merci!

[ozjthomas]

I agree. I'll give it to Aldous, because its his birthday, but there is some of both.

[Darganot]

But we have both...?

Either you enjoy your "happiness", or get locked in a cage (or shot).

[pennilesscripple]

yes

pretend to be happy

or suffer the consequences