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Orwell vs. Huxley (i.imgur.com)

submitted ago by niltermini

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[–]Tynictansol 25 points26 points ago

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I've seen it before, and I'll say what I said then. They were both right in different regards. Keep what you love if you can afford to and stay fat dumb and happy. Step too far out of line and it's MiniTruth for you.

[–]reverendnathan 11 points12 points ago

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I feel like both are right together. Take Wikileaks, for example. In an Orwellian sense we were deprived of very vital information, but at the same time, in a Huxlenian sense we neglected as a whole to care about the war leaks, stopping to care or report on it before anyone could get completely through the thousands of pages.

In any case, they are bad directions to head toward as a society.

[–]raziphel 1 point2 points ago

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I'm glad I'm not the only one who's noticed these parallel downward trends.

[–]c7hu1hu 7 points8 points ago

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Exactly. Orwell's methods are reserved for those that Huxley's don't work on.

[–]dustinechos 1 point2 points ago

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I also have seen this before. Back then I opened the comments in order to make the point you just made. And back then someone also beat me to it. :(

[–]smihc 1 point2 points ago

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And this is precisely why the super-corporations control both the mass media AND the legislature

[–]opiateofmasses 18 points19 points ago

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1) read about how our trivial pleasures destroy us

2) take moment to reflect and shake fist

3) go back to browsing reddit

THERE'S NO ESCAPE!!!

[–]them0nster -2 points-1 points ago

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take moment to reflect and shake fist

fap?

[–]baumkramer 5 points6 points ago*

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Saying that Huxley is right works under a weird assumption that you can't be very entertained without being completely distracted. Imo neither are very right.

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]baumkramer 0 points1 point ago

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I meant to say they're both a bit right.

[–]thelightbulbison 0 points1 point ago

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Actually, Huxley is opining that the availability of entertainment provides a constant distraction, diluting important issues, causing them to appear indiscernible to trivial ones.

[–]MC-Master-Bedroom 3 points4 points ago

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Amid all the rage comics and cute kitten pictures, it's very nice to see a thought-provoking post once in a while. Thanks.

[–]spormcer 1 point2 points ago

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MrOhHai would love this one

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points ago

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Orwell will be built on the back of Huxley...

If you Orwell before you Huxley, you're going to have a bad time.

[–]aModestProposal 1 point2 points ago

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in a sense, China vs America

[–]shitfaceddick 0 points1 point ago

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You, in person, proved both the Huxlian and the Orwelian aspect of it. Good job!

[–]lift 0 points1 point ago

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This looks too serious. Back to r/funny!

[–]Juan_Solo 0 points1 point ago

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A college prof has us read that book. Man, did he make it seem boring. It was actually really interesting. He should have just moved out of way, and let us read it.

[–]galacticgaia 0 points1 point ago*

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As evident in the footnote of this infographic/comic all the words come from Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death. Postman's work was published in 1986 (before the internet became the lumbering behemoth that it is today) and focused on the detriments of television. This won't be too popular around here, but I'm sure Postman would agree that today's internet is a far more abusable resource that television ever was.

[–]waterinabottle -5 points-4 points ago

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why are people downvoting this? its a little scary to me how right huxley kind of was. sure, our world isn't as insane as in a brave new world, but he probably exaggerated for dramatic effect. it sucks.

[–]dishwashersafe 12 points13 points ago

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why? reeeeeeepost... I do like it though

[–]derpderp090 -4 points-3 points ago

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it's a reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeepoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst

[–]Tubasaurus 3 points4 points ago

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Because nothing gets unanimous upvotes, especially extra stale reposts like this.

[–]stealthshadow 1 point2 points ago

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Agreed, but also exaggerated because of copious amounts of LSD.

[–]djdementia 0 points1 point ago

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They've probably seen it reposted here every 3 months or so and are tired of it.

The thing I found most fascinating was the technological advances in Brave New World regarding genetics, but then there was that one scene where they went into the file room that had hundreds and hundreds of index cards with information on them :)

In the end though I'm not sure I that the Brave New World was such a terrible one. Would it be so bad to give up the majority of free thinking to eliminate strife, aggression, famine, disease, and war? It's a tough choice, that's for sure.

[–]waterinabottle 0 points1 point ago

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its not a tough choice at all. what sets us apart from ants or mice is our ability for free thought. giving it up so that we can live in harmony is a backwards step. we need to educate the population and use our intelligence so that we can keep our free thought and solve all of those issues. solving them by simply regressing back to our animal origins means that everything that sets us apart from animals, our technology, art, science, all of it would have been for nothing.

[–][deleted] ago

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[deleted]

[–]Robbuffet 5 points6 points ago

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You don't see any irony in this being posted on reddit? It's a little difficult to take this message seriously when is slumped in between a post about Wiley Coyote and a rage comic.

[–]phrank12 -1 points0 points ago

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I like to pretend that people on reddit aren't caught in the matrix.

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