I love this one more than the Teamwork one. No Different. This is why I like Sasunaru and asuka-sama.
So... we are reading The Crucible in English. It's a decent book; it's about the Salem witch trials. And it is an allegory of McCarthyism. I liked the intro to the book. It pointed out how it is no longer pertinent as an allegory. But its remarks on human nature are what make it pertinent to society, now. VERY Basically, when someone is accused, that accused person denies it. When the accuser does not accept this, the accused admits to a little bit of it and then exposes others so that the blame is shifted from themselves. It is society against the individual on a societal level. It also spoke on the change in the colonial times from submission to the big ruler to the gaining of personal power. This is illustrated in the accusers who can now attack whoever they want with a simple accusation (libel/slander).
What was it I wanted to say? Oh yes, I don't hate you. I just want to save you. jk
Really though, I wanted to discuss Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. So yeah, i saw sth the other day that compared Brave New World to 1984. Where 1984 is about subjugation through power, BNW is about subjugation through pleasure. I haven't read 1984, but I have read part of BNW because my older brother is lazy and had me read it to him... We were in the car and he coerced me into reading it--blackmailing me about how he drives me to school everyday (a school to which he went as well and which i had to go to... but anyway, i read parts of it a year or two ago). So, the sex and drugs and whatnot in BNW are meant to tame society--keep it down. This can be seen to have come true at least in America where fast food, television, and even the internet (e.g., facebook and other tedious sites/programs) are tying down the people. These things supposedly keep the population from their potential. It's true for some--while not true for others. I just thought that was kind of interesting.
I'm listening to "Satellite" by Rise Against. Have a good day, folks. Enjoy the porn, the literature, and the music.
'Brave New World' is a certainly a book to have read coz people quite often refer to it by title or to something in it - particularly when discussing political ideas or what a particular despotic leader is up to.
ReplyDeleteThere's a series on tv in many countries called 'Big Brother'.
Oh yes, Aldous Huxley has a lot to answer for.
Of course it works best if you can take your mind back to the world as it was when he wrote it and 1984 lay sometime in the future.
Three cold war classics. It will be interesting to see what your generation makes of them. BNW and 1984 at their heart are the rejection of a collectivist vision, they reflect the strength of individualism in English-speaking culture.
ReplyDeleteSex, power, subjugation - the common theme today.