"My study of literature has led to my experience of investigating how the masses are controlled by the powerful. Three books come immediately to mind when exploring the concept of utopian literature: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, 1984 by George Orwell, and Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. Much has been done in analyzing these works and I don’t presume to offer new information to this mountain of literature. However I do intend to give a brief overview of how they reveal our current state of oppression.
Each book has a unique twist on how a totalitarian regime comes to fruition, and how it becomes tolerated by the populace, and the logical conclusion reached. Though they differ greatly, they each espouse a specific piece of the truth of modern society and the illusion of our freedom. Each reveals a part of the truth, and when these truths are woven together, the tapestry of our current reality comes into focus.
Writers have differentiated between Huxley and Orwell’s works by stating that Huxley’s book shows us that we will be suppressed by what we want, through our pleasures, where Orwell shows that we will be suppressed by what we fear. Where 1984 shows that people will not be allowed to read, Brave New World shows that people don’t want to read. In Fahrenheit 451, Bradbury seems to take a page from both by showing that books will finally be outlawed because of popular support of such laws: people will stop reading in favor of empty entertainment, and when they reach a majority, they will outlaw them out of fear of others, the minority, being smarter than them, the majority.
The two (apparently) opposing views of Huxley and Orwell, can be likened to two political parties, an example of the Hegelian Dialectic at work in the fabric of our society. People often mistakenly believe that the synthesis arriving out of the tension of thesis and anti-thesis of the Hegelian Dialectic is a solution “somewhere in the middle.” This is not true. The synthesis in our society is actually the tension itself, a distraction from truth. The tension becomes the illusion of reality and if it is done well, the truth and reality is ignored.
The views of Huxley could be equated with a liberal mindset in politics, attempting to convey a message of hope that is at once permissive and even hedonistic. Promiscuous sex, drug use for the slightest inconvenience, vanity, empty entertainment are all distractions from the drudgery that we are conditioned to love. Orwell offers the conservative version where freedom is exchanged for safety from an ever-vigilant enemy. Lies are truth, truth is a lie. Slavery is Freedom, freedom slavery. Non-conformity is punished. Severely.
Bradbury, in Fahrenheit 451, shows the marriage of the two. The majority of people give up reading of their own volition, much like Brave New World. They then impose their will on the minority by voting to burn books. They re-write history and severely punish and oppress anyone who does not conform, in a much more ham-fisted manner than in 1984. Bradbury shows how both views are not opposites at all, but work in concerted effort toward the same end.
These examples show that the mechanism of control of the masses is two-fold: First, they appeal to the appetites by serving up distractions laden with sex, sports and empty entertainment. Many people are happy as long as they are not required to think. The second arm of the mechanism of control is oppression, coercion, and violence. We see images of black clothed police officers, reminiscent of 1940’s Germany, breaking up protests. We see them holding down individuals, and then shocking them with a taser after they have been subdued. Not only are these people being oppressed, but a very clear message is being sent to the rest of the population – obey.
Where are any of these values and belief-systems not espoused by our current society? The mindset of our population is systematically split. Opposing viewpoints are offered up, point / counterpoint, democrat / republican, all offered up as the only two choices of thought. No where has this been more damaging to our society than in the insidious phrase that mainstream media news calls “fair and balanced reporting.” Securely sitting high astride this fence of false objectivity, the major media is in the comfortable position of equivocation, without the weight of truth. They offer two sides of a story instead of doing their jobs and investigating, verifying and then objectively reporting “fact.” Instead we receive talking points and the ever-ubiquitous sound byte. This tension of opposites perpetuates itself as the illusion of reality, the lens through which the world is allowed to see the perceived choices of its population.
Anti-depressant prescriptions are at staggering levels. Nests of surveillance cameras watch our every move. And none of us does a thing to change this state of affairs. No one except for a select few independent investigative journalists and talk show hosts whom the mainstream ignores, no one raises an alarm. No one steps out of line. No one speaks out. No one questions the authorities who are tasering people who have already been thrown down. No one questions the “official sources”. Why?
For fear of standing out from the crowd. For fear of being different. An old Japanese proverb states: “The nail whose head stands above the board is the first to get hit.”
It’s time. It is time to raise your head above the board. It is time to raise your voice in defiance of tyranny. It is time to question authority. It is time to stand in harm’s way. It is time tell our friends in our local and state police departments, “we are not going to let you taser that boy who is asking questions. We are not going to let you lay hands on someone who is making someone uncomfortable by asking questions, for raising their voice in defiance of tyranny. I don’t think we are going to let you arrest us today. Wearing a badge does not make you right. Wearing a badge will not shield you when they are done using you.”
There was a time when I struggled to encourage non-readers to become readers. I still do, however I am resigned to acknowledge that there will always be people who will obstinately refuse. People know and take refuge in the bliss that is ignorance. In attempting to awaken the sheeple, these particular individuals will always react with negativity, anger, ignorance and many times, violence. It took many years for the words of a favorite psychology professor of mine to sink into my skull, but I now accept that “you should never try to teach a pig to sing. It’s a waste of time and it annoys the pig.” This last statement was not intended in reference to our friends in the police force, but is used in reference to the pigheaded everywhere – if they choose ignorance, do not force them – they are the ones who will end up on the spit.
When they make that choice, make no mistake, they are then the enemy. You will have so shook the foundations of their illusions that they will do anything to preserve it, anything to avoid facing a reality where they and their worlds are anything but perfect. They will feel attacked, they will fight you, they will smile at your teeth and stab you in the back, they will work to besmirch your reputation and write you off because your thoughts are not lockstep to their own. Your thoughts do not fit into a pigeon hole in their paradigm, so you do not fit into their lives.
This is the point in the movie where Neo learns that anyone can be an agent.
Know this. Everyone’s mind is under constant attack; some are just tired and have succumbed, others enjoy it. They are addicted to not knowing anything, addicted to ignorance. For others, the illusion is all they have, and they will fight to keep it. The fear of the unknown is simply too strong.
People are however beginning to wake up, which means one very important fact – one of the methods of control is no longer working. People are not buying into the lies and deceit. This will lead to the only other recourse they have – brutality, coercion and suppression.
Expect more protesters being beaten. Expect more surveillance. Expect more innocent people being knocked down, held in submission holds, and after they have been subdued and are immobile, being shocked with a taser. Expect more lies.
But do not tolerate it.
Call the news, tell them that you demand the truth. If they refuse to give it, shut them off. Cancel your subscription and enjoy a free mind and a free life without a television. Businesses, pull your advertising from them. Citizens, when you see an officer of the law violating someone’s rights, and it is clear that they are violating the person’s rights, stop them. Wearing a badge does not automatically make someone right. The vast majority of people in law enforcement are highly intelligent, fair minded people who believe in justice. That is the reason they became police officers in the first place.
If you are one of those people doing that job, and a co-worker violates a citizen’s rights, stop them. Before you place your hands on a member of the community, be sure that you are not wiping your ass with the Constitution. It is a document that protects you as well. When you get in your cruiser to patrol, look at where it states “To protect and to serve,” and ask yourself a question. Ask yourself the question, whom? Whom do you protect? Whom do you serve? Is it the powers that be? Is it the councilmen and councilwomen who promote others around you through nepotism? Is it the council manager who is looking over your shoulder as you try to do your job? Is it your police chief who plays politics instead of showing leadership? Is it the business owners, the members of the chamber of commerce, who donate money to the political campaigns of those just mentioned?
Or is it your wives, your husbands and your sons and your daughters? Is it your mothers and your fathers, and your cousins and your best friends? Or is it everyone’s wife, everyone’s husband and everyone’s sons and everyone’s daughters? Is it everyone’s mother and everyone’s father, and everyone’s cousin and everyone’s best friend?
Whom do you serve and protect?
Stand up for what is right, even if you are standing alone."
17 Oct 2008, 4:09 pm
