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1984 was scary. Brave New World I just found a bit wierd.
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"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."--General Sir Charles James Napier -
doesnt this go in CIV III Conquests Turn Tracker thread?
Hi, I'm RAH and I'm a Benaholic.-rahComment
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Neil Postman once said that Americans invoke 1984 as their ultimate fear for the future, without ever noticing that Brave New World had already happened.
Bush's use of Doublespeak and perpetual war notwithstanding, I still thing BNW is the truer of the two books, at least in predicting the fate of the West."I have as much authority as the pope. I just don't have as many people who believe it." — George CarlinComment
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No, Prozac/Zoloft/Ritalin = SomaOriginally posted by chegitz guevara
Actually, aspects of both books are very present in modern life. TV = Soma, and spin = double speak.
It occurs to me that its possible to think of the books as a sequence: the totalitarianism of 1984 becomes possible only after a democratic society gives itself over to the doped-up mass distraction of Brave New World.
But The Handmaid's Tale is better written and scarier than either.
"I have as much authority as the pope. I just don't have as many people who believe it." — George CarlinComment
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I'm not sure the point of 1984 was to predict anything. IRC, it was meant first and foremost as a satire of totalitarian regimes like Hitler's and Staline's.Let us be lazy in everything, except in loving and drinking, except in being lazy – LessingComment
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No, Carisoprodol = Soma.Originally posted by Rufus T. Firefly
No, Prozac/Zoloft/Ritalin = Soma
Its a muscle-relaxant.
We in the US call it "Soma". Brits call it "Carisoma"."I predict your ignore will rival Ben's" - Ecofarm
^ The Poly equivalent of:
"I hope you can see this 'cause I'm [flipping you off] as hard as I can" - Ignignokt the MooniniteComment
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I don't think that I saw either picture. Did BNW include the naked little kiddies experimenting with sex?Originally posted by Zkribbler
On the other hand, Brave New World was a great movie And the nude scenes were stupendous! 
"I say shoot'em all and let God sort it out in the end!Comment
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Both books had a pretty big influence when I read them (long time ago), or least opened my eyes.
They remain books I would recommend to anyone and should be read by everyone.Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God? - EpicurusComment
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I like BNW better.If you don't like reality, change it! me
"Oh no! I am bested!" Drake
"it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong" Voltaire
"Patriotism is a pernecious, psychopathic form of idiocy" George Bernard ShawComment
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I only read BNW, liked it.BlahComment
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The picture was recent--1998--starring Peter Gallager and Leonard Nemoy.Originally posted by Dr Strangelove
I don't think that I saw either picture. Did BNW include the naked little kiddies experimenting with sex?
No naked little kids. But the female lead got very, very naked.
Last edited by Zkribbler; June 11, 2006, 12:19.Comment
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It took me two readings of Brave New World before I started to understand why it was a distopia.
I'm still not entirely sure why the BNW society is that bad.Exult in your existence, because that very process has blundered unwittingly on its own negation. Only a small, local negation, to be sure: only one species, and only a minority of that species; but there lies hope. [...] Stand tall, Bipedal Ape. The shark may outswim you, the cheetah outrun you, the swift outfly you, the capuchin outclimb you, the elephant outpower you, the redwood outlast you. But you have the biggest gifts of all: the gift of understanding the ruthlessly cruel process that gave us all existence [and the] gift of revulsion against its implications.
-Richard DawkinsComment
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QFirony, on so many levelsOriginally posted by Kuciwalker
BNW was just a crapy book.Last edited by RGBVideo; June 12, 2006, 06:23.Comment
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You have got to be kidding, I would rather die than live in a society like that...from an intelectual point of view, but since I am 17 (and not getting any) my hormons kick into "oh yeah" mode before the brain gets a chanche to say "crap". I would probably enjoy it for a few years but then I would prefer death or at least the right to suffer.Originally posted by Starchild
It took me two readings of Brave New World before I started to understand why it was a distopia.
I'm still not entirely sure why the BNW society is that bad.
Have you noticed how the BNW society si forced to sacrifice science in order to create a "utopic" stagnant society. What I don't get is why don't they use the "unused" inventions to reduce or even eliminate the need for Gamas or even as up as the betas and then install a society of alphas (possibly democratic and non-stagnant) where there are only "prime" jobs thus eliminating the posibility of a disaster, like the Cyprus incident.Last edited by _BuRjaCi_; June 14, 2006, 07:43.I'm not buying BtS until Firaxis impliments the "contiguous cultural border negates colony tax" concept.Comment
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