Day 3,579 —Reflection on Brave New World—

  Just finished reading the graphic novel version of Brave New World, and immediately realized why I loved it so much when I first read it. As much as the book seemed to be prophetic of the future before, now I think it is more of a mix. With radical religious groups more able than ever to take over government and prescribe "morality" and values, it is hard to believe that the religious free world of the novel will ever exist.

          If you’re looking for a novel that more accurately predicts the future, check out Oryx and Crake. In my humble opinion, Margaret Atwood is the expert on the dystopian novel, and her stuff rings more true than 1984 and even Brave New World.

          Brave New World focuses so much on everyone living for their own pleasure and connects that type of future with slavery. It is basically saying that we are and continue to be slaves to our own pleasures. The book introduces the perfect drug, Soma, all the pleasure with none of the drawbacks. And suggest that to really be free of suffering, we must be free from all close relationships.

And that’s the idea that rings true today. Society at large is becoming more addicted to drugs without perceived negative side effects (painkillers and marijuana). Also, people seem less connected than ever before because they’re addicted to virtual intimate relationships on the Internet (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat). I don’t see this unhealthy behavior leading to a complete rejection of intimate relationships and complete reliance on drugs, but we’re getting there. The consequence that Aldous Huxley didn’t see is how individuals have become radicalized through the unhealthy combination of drugs and social media.

It is just now starting to make sense to me how people could support someone who has been convicted of sexual assault and currently has 91 criminal charges.

These individuals don’t see a dissociation between their celebrity worship of a person and themselves. Their identity has merged with this person, so to take a stand against him, would be taking a stand against themselves. 

I don’t know how to help people see this, but at least I can now sympathize.