Huxley’s Brave New World is more reflective of the ills of our society today than Orwell’s 1984 (thread)

Brave New World features a society where everyone can, and is encourage to, numb uncomfortable human emotions using Soma. Prescient of the prevalence of Ritalin, SSRIs, percocets and now marijuana in society to escape discomfort. Orwell makes no mention of this.

BNW features a society that worships pronography and hedonism over art. “Feelies” reflect the trash tv shows on Netflix and people read crappy books rather than classic lit. Pornography today is being marketed as “sex positive” ignoring the damage it does to the psyche.

Orwell’s view of literature is correct in the way that history is rewritten and people are not allowed to say the truth. But he doesn’t anticipate the depravity. BNW’s society is more relevant to the masses. Politics is quickly forgotten, Netflix is not.

Huxley’s BNW also features the perversion of relationships. “Everyone belongs to everyone else” is the reffrain. Orwell doesn’t address this. In BNW as today, it is odd to desire marriage. People get together and break up constantly. Open relationships are becoming more normal.

Orwell’s 1984 reflects the way that we treat information today through it’s concepts of “wrongthink” but the citizens of BNW police *themselves*. This is the crucial difference. They believe it is the best for their society. The atomization we increasingly suffer is captured.

Huxley’s Brave New World is much more prescient about the underlying ills of our society than 1984 in my opinion. But both complement eachother.