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248. Who was right, Orwell or Huxley? Ext_link

Submitted by Alex O'Byrne

Discussion

Saha-Mayousha Jones commented 26 days ago

thanks for the link. i left a comment on the site where i was lead. great topic, although i dont feel as though its really up for debate. why does everything always have to be about cliched forms of competition. huxley v orwell - the battle washes out the meaning and depth and context of both of these seminal works. i think respect and lessons learnt are really what is needed. not who was "bigger" so to speak.

Alex O'Byrne commented 23 days ago

Yeah I saw another discussion about how this illustration presents a false dichotomy. I agree it doesn't have to be one or the other, but instead it's more likely that a combination of the ideas of these great men have been realised.

I liked it because a lot of people - in the UK anyway - like to go on about 'big brother', how things are 'just like 1984', whereas its the dynamics of Huxley's ideas that seem more prevalent to me in todays intense consumer culture.

Whatever mix of these two ideas is right, it's impressive that over 50 years ago these authors had the foresight to see where our post-industrial society would eventually lead.

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