 G'day, May 40 here It's not a beautiful day in Beverly Hills So I'll just Huxley's novel Brave New World. I Didn't like this book. I didn't enjoy this book. I Didn't resonate with this book. I Wasn't stimulated by this book. I Wasn't thrilled by this book. I wasn't appalled by this book. I had no emotional reaction to this book None. There was never a line in this book And I thought oh, I want to discuss this line and that's such profound insights into the world today So I'm scheduled in Eight hours to discuss Brave New World with my friend Richard and Richard chose the book Oh, he chose five books and I then selected out those five Brave New World And I remember we did it on the book club as well with Kevin Michael Grace. I don't think I had anything to say back then either That I had no reaction to this book It's not criticism of the book. Obviously the book is greater than I am so If I were just to pick up the Bible and read it, I Wouldn't have much reaction to the Bible as it is. I need Commentary on the Bible. I need to be told how to react to the Bible I need to study like the text in and of itself. I don't think makes much of an impression on me Until I've been put into a certain mindset same with the big book of AA so I pick up the big book then I Don't don't really have any reaction to the big book. I Need I need to be told how to approach it. I Need commentary on it. I need to be taught how to apply it and Same to say the plays of Shakespeare. I first read Famous Shakespeare play a fellow or Hamlet or Romeo and Juliet I Wouldn't necessarily have much of a reaction. I Need commentaries need Need people telling me about the work And people explaining the greatness of the work to me because in and of itself It doesn't do anything for me so I rebreat new world and There's no part of me that says oh, this is the dystopia that we're living in or this is the utopia that we're living in oh This is an outline of the dangers that we face I don't find a brave new world applies to today's world so In a brave new world people will take soma to get happy and to help them sleep and So that there are a lot of Americans on antidepressants and opioids But we don't have any medication that acts the way that that soma does probably opiates come the closest and They only work temporarily So apparently so more people are taking their entire lives so I don't recall people Having bad reactions to soma anything like our opiate epidemic so in a vague way there are some similarities to today's Psychiatric medications, but not really I Don't share brave new world's horror of industrialization. I don't think we're in any danger of Venerating people like Henry Ford too much that industrialization makes makes goods more efficiently Out of with a better quality and at a lower price. I just see that as an unalloyed good Okay, I didn't see anything Don't see anything bad or dangerous about that a consumerism So intellectuals love to invade against consumerism I would say In the problems facing the West today Consumerism's not in the top 100 The people like to buy stuff. I didn't see that is so terrible Rampant promiscuity in the novel you didn't see Many of the downsides to rampant promiscuity in the novel I We're not like that now there is some promiscuity, but it's enjoyed primarily by a small percentage of men and then Young women have that option available to them. That's almost always self-destructive So I've had my share of sexual promiscuity and Yeah, it can you can deaden your pain and frustration and loneliness temporarily So sexualizing things provides can provide a temporary effects But the fix dissipates so quickly but It's not a viable path and No society that is as promiscuous as Portrait in brave new world is going to last very long So we have nothing like the promiscuity level of brave new world now brave new world in part is a satire on California so apparently Huxley was here in the 1920s, so The character La Nina When she says hug me till you love me honey, honey there is Is Based on California speak so, yeah, I get there's some over-the-top satire of California that There's some people What they call Call a blowjob, you know California way of saying good morning That's not how life works here in the main. That's just a very tiny part of the population that Gets to enjoy a blowjob as a California. Good morning or It's a way of telling a Blowjob is a way of telling people that you know when I say good morning. I mean it So we don't have anything like Level of promiscuity nor do I think it's a threat Now people flee to California and the West Coast in general to escape the ties of tradition Ties of family ties of religion ethnic ties class ties Educational and professional ties so I Felt that when I went to New York I had one visit to New York City for three weeks and in those three weeks. I felt how much tighter the ties of Education were so where you went to school seems to be much more important on the east coast than the west coast and Ethnic ties seem much stronger In New York City compared to Los Angeles and religious ties much stronger This ties of tradition seem much stronger Codes of appropriate behavior seem a little tighter in New York City and I get that Brave New World also a satire on the United States with its consumerism and industrialization and industrial efficiency it's It's like an upper-class Brit mocking the United States and That's fine. I'm sure there's some Intellectual and literary merit there. It just doesn't particularly move me United States was the dominant power in the 20th century It is the dominant power in the 21st century and that power comes large part from its economic dominance from its industrial efficiency we have the hardest working most productive workforce in the world and that then provides us with the economic basis for Purchasing the the biggest most powerful military in the world. Oh, yes, that's someone said to me the other day Hey, that situation in Afghanistan it Huh, well, I keep breaking up That's sad I don't know if there's anything I can do about it. So I had someone Tell me the other day that look the situation in Afghanistan it totally contradicts your Your view that the 21st century will be the American century and I don't see that at all Like if Afghanistan disappeared from the map tomorrow with the Taliban took over the Afghanistan 100% tomorrow It has no repercussions on American strength The American strength does not depend upon its prestige American strength does not depend upon its ability to train Afghans into a formidable fighting force American strength does not depend upon its ability to turn Afghanistan into a Jeffersonian democracy That's all irrelevant. So what's going on in Afghanistan? It's nothing to do with American strength and power Afghanistan has no importance to the United States and Obviously, it was a misguided mission. Okay. What else in brave new world? so as you breathe new world is Huxley's vision of Much of what he wants for the future like Huxley flirted with world government I'll just Huxley supported Eugenics for a while he supported central planning he saw that parliamentary democracy was not really up to dealing with the problems of the world in the 1920s and 1930s, so he thought No more authoritarian state would be more efficient and effective and at the same time in brave new world he got to Explore the downsides of the type of state that he wanted Huxley was very much part of the modernist intellectual movement and modernist means that you essentially despise tradition and You despise the masses so we had the mass growth of literacy at the end of the 19th century and the Intellectuals reacted with horror. I hated the daily newspaper. They hit a radio They hated movies hated TV Essentially, they had the same sort of attitudes towards the masses that Hitler did John Kerry wrote a great book the intellectuals versus the masses so So Huxley and brave new world in large parties He's sketching out the type of world that he would like to create and At the same time explore what are the downsides and type of world that he'd like to create So it's not clear whether Huxley's brave new world is a utopia or a dystopia So there's strong elements of both There's no pain no suffering no aging no death Brave new world Don't see too many birth defects I Don't have crime and You have nothing like the Totalitarian aspect of 1984 so Compared to 1984 Brave new world is much more pleasant So you see in brave new world Huxley's contempt for American popular culture in particular So he has particular contempt for group singing Which I notice a lot of intellectuals have contempt for group singing So when it comes to synagogue, they want the cancer to lead and The congregation just to follow along Well for most ordinary Jews congregational singing is the high point of going to synagogue but for intellectuals they kind of despise congregational singing and Huxley has contempt for daily newspaper for radio movies TV because these These avenues of popular culture and popular entertainment are just too accessible to enjoyable to appreciate it by the masses So he despises that So when when the masses developed group literacy and it became really important for the The elite to distinguish themselves from the masses anything that the masses enjoy in the elite had contempt They look down on What the masses were enjoying So yeah Hitler and the modernist elite had pretty similar views about art And the masses and they need to be controlled. Oh another aspect of brave new world that rings false to me is the power of propaganda Propaganda does not have nearly the power. It was popularly ascribed to it So the best the propaganda can do is that it can provide you with more reasons and arguments and incentives And ways of thinking that are congenial to you So if you already want to go in a particular direction Then propaganda can reinforce That direction it can give you arguments for why you're right But propaganda is not going to change your mind, right? If you love Jews propaganda is not going to make you hate Jews if you hate Jews propaganda is not going to make you love Jews If you're opposed to women's suffrage Propaganda isn't going to change your mind if you're for women's suffrage propaganda is not going to change your mind so That aspect of brave new world rent false to me The rampant sexual promiscuity you rank false to me never gonna have a society It's as promiscuous as brave new world and it still functions at a high level So yeah overall the novel just rent false to me. I don't think we have anything like these problems now I appreciate that Huxley portrays the the Indian reservation as Not a utopia. There's a certain kind of dystopia so He doesn't buy into the cult of the noble savage What a gorgeous day in Los Angeles Barakasham Barakasham so He's not a romantic like Th Lawrence or is so Doesn't buy into the cult of the noble savage To portray his life on the Indian reservation the squalor cruel nasty mean British and short So I thought was pretty true to life I would expect in many Indian reservations and In brave new world the state controls the means of reproduction. Yeah, it's a beautiful sunrise just gorgeous mornings last last few days yesterday I woke up at 4 30 a.m. And I went outside for a walk at 6 a.m. Just gorgeous skies. So something about I think the semi-desert That and the air pollution that produces Gorgeous sunrises and sunsets often in Southern California. I Love getting up early Not by force right when I'm fast asleep and my alarm rings. I Don't enjoy getting up then But if I wake up rested at 4 a.m. Or 4 30 a.m. I'll often Get up and start reading a book Go for a walk Now I normally don't take naps But there is just something about Shubba's afternoons where I Can't help having a nap. I think it's it's all the Sun I get that's what I'm guessing so Often go to shul. It's outside getting a tremendous amount of Sun Then I have a I guess a big Shubba's lunch and Even though I've taken my mid If I've taken my medaffin or not, I'll still get sleepy and just pass out about 2 p.m. Now when I'm lucky it's only for 20 minutes When I'm unlucky you'll be an hour or so I'm just dead to the world and then when I wake up. I'm groggy and Then it negatively affects my sleep Saturday night But there's something about Shubba's afternoons that sends me off to a shlough. So I see in the anti-vax crowd that Other people make the point. We should be pushing people shaming people not to take the vaccine Sun exposure creates melatonin in the body. Yeah, definitely puts me to sleep I noticed that the anti-vax crowds as we should be shaming people often not getting vaccinated, but for being overweight and There's there's some truth to that argument question number one is is Social shaming or fat shaming is that an effective way to stimulate people to lose weight? I know an acquaintance of mine Greg Kreitzer an author who was getting out of his car in A narrow narrow street and someone driving by you out a get out of the way fat. So, you know So triggering and traumatizing that he Diverted himself to losing about a hundred pounds and he wrote a Highly regarded book on fat. So certainly for some people social shaming will be an effective tool to get them to lose weight, but Wonder if overall I Don't think shame is an effective tool So I wonder what society can do to encourage people to lose weight and also It's a lot easier. I would think to get people to get vaccinated than to lose 20 pounds Let's get vaccinated and you have to get a shot Well to lose 20 pounds and keep it off requires, you know sustained change in the way you live It's fat acceptance an effective way to get people to lose weight. Definitely not on the other hand And I from my 12-step work, you know acceptance is the beginning of recovery So if you can accept that you're fat So for individuals accepting their own fatness. Yeah, I think acceptance can be the beginning of a heavy journey of recovery so for someone to accept that they're a love addict or their food addict Or some other kind of addict. Yeah, I think that's good. And then also I think with regard to our feelings Probably some acceptance and embracing of our feelings It's useful So I've been exploring nickel therapy the developer of nickel therapy, I think it's David Mickel a medical doctor and He works with people with chronic fatigue syndrome And he says he takes people who are happy but sick You know, they've got this fierce positive mental attitude, but they're Defeated by chronic fatigue syndrome and then through his work at exploring the painful emotions Bringing them to the surface. They become unhappy, but well and so I think I have probably tilted too far the last few years towards positive mental attitude and just Appreciating the good things in my life not spending time on the bad things And I think I need to spend a little more time on the painful things the painful failures in my life so I'm just listening to a video A woman saying when you when you get get a negative emotion Accept it and welcome it because it's it's Your psyche your body's way of telling you something important that's sending you a message So I'm 55 years of age. I'm a bachelor Sometimes I have fears that I'll never find love that I'll never marry that I'll never have kids I'll never be rich and so those negative feelings come up absolutely be a great idea for me to Not just accept them but to embrace them And to thank them for their for their message How they're orienting me to There's a painful glaring Failures of my life. Okay. What else embrace in a world? So Huxley's got his contempt for pop culture, particularly American pop culture particularly group singing There's a lot of contempt for group singing it was really hard for me to Develop any reactions to this book. I just had nothing Just said absolutely nothing. So I had to do a lot of work had to read analyses a brave new world had to learn about dramatic irony versus situational irony Dramatic irony is where the the re-deceased things that the character doesn't see Situational irony is where you'd expect one type of behavior in a situation and you get another So, yeah, I read about irony and symbolism and satire and brave new world and I Jotted down all these notes And I'm coming up empty Doesn't the medicine will fix everything attitude encourage a sloppy careless attitude towards maintaining one's health Yeah, that's a really stupid attitude and I think we have Moved away from that attitude Like I don't think that attitude is as prevalent today as it was in the 1950s so medicine is much more collaborative these days between between the patient and the Doctor so Medicine plays relatively small role in our lifespan So people think that you know the reason we're living longer is because of medical advances. No That medical care plays a relatively small role in the quality of our life and the length of our life So obviously your genetics And your choices will generally speaking play much more of a role In the quality and length of your life than medicine medicine plays a relatively small role Like first of all is your genetics second of all your choices third It's public health measures such as Fluidating water Sanitation measures But going to the doctor to fix a problem as my father would repeatedly say Yeah, the body either cures itself or it can't be cured now. I think that's an overstatement There's so many times when we're medicines helpful But overall yeah plays a relatively small role in people's lives in length and quality of their life so I don't see the Pro-vaccine movement as a The movement that pushes that you know medicines. Yes, the Chinese are fat because their culture encourages health maintenance I think it's probably has more to do with their genetics Do we see a lot of fat Chinese? in the United States Don't think we do Now by the way Chinese are far less healthy than Americans are So Chinese smoke much more. They're much more our problems So overall Chinese are not nearly as healthy as Americans are They're generally speaking length a rich length of life correlates with intelligence. So Japanese Chinese Koreans on average have higher IQs and Europeans and hence tend to live a little longer All things being equal, but in China all things aren't equal. They have much worse air pollution water pollution and other problems and I noticed in Middle-class and upper-class life in America you see very few fat people in the upper class or the upper middle class and You go into like a corporate tower. There are very few fat people There are very few fat chief executive officers very few fat leaders in American life. I Don't think there are many fat politicians I'm not sure you could run for president of the United States and be fat So at the elite level there are very few fat people and if they are fat and they dress to To hide it while the lower classes They're fat. They've got horrible legs sometimes and they They still you know wear like revealing clothing. It just makes them look terrible You never see an upper-class English woman with bad legs because if she has bad legs she She hides it