Every day Huxley is proven more correct than Orwell because through the magic of SOMA (addictive phones hitting dopamine rushes), people can be surrounded with the truth and completely ignore it, and as you said, pay for the privilege of being lied to because it feels nice. (And oh man, that’s a major industry on OnlyFans, being lied to because it feels nice)
Huxley understood our desires could break us more than our hate.
I can’t find it, but I recall an interview with Zizek around when Snowden dropped his leaks, and it was about how it really changed nothing, and he was noting how the revelations of torture during the Iraq War had changed nothing either. He thought disclosure was a moot point now, society was checked out. He was right.
In 2019, Giorgio Agamben gave a week of lectures in Berlin. In the middle of it, he suddenly paused and said: “I hope that everyone in this room realizes that all political action has become impossible.” He meant that political action is no longer possible because we are governed by economic powers.
It seems to me that they were both right. If I didn’t know better, I’d be inclined to think that the wealthy and powerful used their works as a roadmap instead of a warning.
The fascist jocks think Orwellian tactics will work because they get to run around hurting people in the process. The fascist nerds think the Huxley addiction to distraction will work because they get to sell billions of dollars of ads in the process.
They’re both fascists though, and something is going to have to happen to change that.
Yeah, more like this guy was right.
Every day Huxley is proven more correct than Orwell because through the magic of SOMA (addictive phones hitting dopamine rushes), people can be surrounded with the truth and completely ignore it, and as you said, pay for the privilege of being lied to because it feels nice. (And oh man, that’s a major industry on OnlyFans, being lied to because it feels nice)
Huxley understood our desires could break us more than our hate.
I can’t find it, but I recall an interview with Zizek around when Snowden dropped his leaks, and it was about how it really changed nothing, and he was noting how the revelations of torture during the Iraq War had changed nothing either. He thought disclosure was a moot point now, society was checked out. He was right.
In 2019, Giorgio Agamben gave a week of lectures in Berlin. In the middle of it, he suddenly paused and said: “I hope that everyone in this room realizes that all political action has become impossible.” He meant that political action is no longer possible because we are governed by economic powers.
They were both right. I wouldn’t say either was more right actually. If you merge both of their worlds, you get pretty close to what we’re living in.
The “Amusing Ourselves to Death” comic does a good job showing how Huxley did a better job predicting the future.
It seems to me that they were both right. If I didn’t know better, I’d be inclined to think that the wealthy and powerful used their works as a roadmap instead of a warning.
The fascist jocks think Orwellian tactics will work because they get to run around hurting people in the process. The fascist nerds think the Huxley addiction to distraction will work because they get to sell billions of dollars of ads in the process.
They’re both fascists though, and something is going to have to happen to change that.