Lesson In Physics
Uploaded by srheric on Apr 25, 2007
Lesson In Physics
Archimedes, Sophocles, Hitler, Peter, and Orwell are just some of the few men in history that have tried to predict the future, with may of them predicting the downfall of civilization. But, although many of these great thinkers have come startlingly close to the stark reality in which we live. Many have argued the opinion that our culture most resembles that of Orwell’s creation, but I disagree for a number of very important and relevant reasons.
First, Orwell feared that censorship would be rampant in society, with government controlling every single printed piece of paper. This is certainly not so, especially with many journalistic companies printing negative opinions of the government. Plus, why would the government really have to censor articles in this day and age? A poll done by the Associated Press showed that over thirty percent of teenagers thought our current president was Al Gore, and I would bet anything that the typical high school senior has no idea what 1984 and Brave New World are. I fear that within the next two generations the literacy rate will take a dramatic fall off of its current perch, just as Huxley has suggested - people will not want to read anymore.
Furthermore, how do most people generally spend most of their time? Pleasuring themselves. Our culture is no longer immersed in trying to better itself. It is mostly concerned with “playtime,” or, if we do better ourselves, it is usually in a form that exerts more physical pleasure. In Orwell’s vision, there was no pleasure. People were driven by fear and unmercifulness. While, in Huxley’s revelation, society was driven by pleasure, much like ours is today. With crack, cocaine, pot, smack, ludes, horse, and Whiffy Puff whipped cream, we are a people that thrives on the “10-minute high.” Just as drugs are to us, soma was to Huxley’s world.
Another aspect of Orwell’s world in which we do not share is that of warfare. True, we are always in constant conflict with another country, but do we really purposefully wage war? I do not believe we do. In fact, I would go as far to say that we prevent war more than anything. For example, the spy plane incident in China was not very good. ...