Brave New 1984

Pivoting to 1984 from Brave New World will end badly.

What happens when the poor, dis-empowered, dispossessed, and disengaged can’t afford to distract and escape through doom scrolling, gaming, and streaming? What happens then?

They will be angry. And the ones who are more likely to be violent and take actions to express their displeasure beyond boycotting, protesting, and marching are those who voted for the situation we find ourselves in. 

They are also people who believe the unbelievable. To buy into conspiracy theories. They are more apt not to apply critical thinking and use reason and logic. 

The dystopian reality up to this point, since the 1980s and Reagan’s neoliberalism, could be likened to the novel by Aldous Huxley, Brave New World. The people who use BNW as a cultural slur have most likely never read it, and it shows through their ignorance and biases. But it is the controlled reality we have been living in. It is Bread and Circuses - what the ancient Roman Elites used to control their populace. Keep them fat and happy, and they will be too distracted to suffer any pain of loss of property, person, or pleasure.  Their basic needs are being met as they are entertained while they surrender their rights for carnal pleasure and full bellies. Sure, their peasants and slaves and their slaves’ slaves were treated with disregard and were commoditified and were not seen as a threat. As long as the entitled and privileged were happy Status Quo could be maintained.

In Brave New World, the people took SOMA to feel good and forget. Well, the poor and the middle class here in the States have been fed soma and led to believe what the Corp. class wants them to believe so that they keep consuming and feeding their selective desires. Unbeknownst to the citizens, they and their data are the product. Meanwhile, during their hypnotic slumber, their pockets have been picked, their freedoms sacrificed, and their souls and morals have been monetised and manipulated to help construct their future enslavement. 

Now, amid fascism and the death of democracy, the Corp. class, the tech bros, and the oligarchy and their ilk are going to have all of us switch canoes midstream mid fascist takeover. Genius! Like no one is the wiser, and no one has been paying attention. So, now, instead of living a BNW existence, they want us all to live in fear like it is 1984. Because that will work?

Fear and Pleasure, to my experience, tend to be at opposite ends of the spectrum of emotions. However, maybe they are banking on the Horse Shoe Theory of things to make it happen. It will be difficult to instill fear into people when they are angry, pissed off, and trending towards violence. When those who have been lied to are personally affected, and a light goes on and they realize they have been duped and taken advantage of, they will be moved to action. Because, and not for nothing, they are more likely to accept themselves as victims. 

The country is logistically too big, and only those 40% who have to wake up, and at the risk of becoming WOKE, you know, empathetic and compassionate, will have to quiet their cognitive dissonance and finally believe their lying eyes. 

In Summary, buckle up, it is going to get Uglier, yet there is hope.