Welcome, America, To Brave New World

      The evolution of humanity has changed dramatically throughout the centuries. Recorded in anthropological and philosophical studies, there are two different types of societies that mark the values and belief systems by how man lived in the world. These two types of revolutions include Altruism¹, the first revolution, and philosophical Humanism², the second revolution. Presently, there has been a prominent rise in humanism and a rapid diminution in Altruism. Humanism in American society states that life is based upon human need and interest. I agree with Postman’s assertion that Brave New World’s society is more relevant than that of 1984 because of the “infliction of pleasure placed on American culture today” and that “technologies will undo people’s capacity to think” (Postman). America’s unstable economic conditions and its plethora of hypnotizing commercials promote that it is acceptable to give into sensual indulgences because they allow one to become happier. People use advertisements to show the rewards and bliss of indulgence: becoming happier and becoming stress-free. Advertisements draw people in through sensual manipulation as a way of convincing them to buy their products. In a troubled world with an unsteady economy enveloped in a rise of unemployment and the plummeting dollar, Americans seek for a way to escape the stresses invading their world. In Huxley’s Brave New World, there is significant evidence of a society once plagued by stresses like death, illness, and instability, from which people have found alleviation through hedonism and sensual appeasement.

      The United States is a democracy. In the twenty-first century, American taxpayers are experiencing financial debt, the fall of the dollar, the end of Social Security, and inflation. These unstable economic conditions cause extreme trepidation on society leading to chaos, fear, and societal instability. Desperate to feel good, United States citizens will seek artificial happiness equivalent to soma in the Brave New World Society. Voters and taxpayers of the United States will demand happiness, and the socialist state will deliver the wants of the American people. This demand alludes to using mood -elevating drugs very similar to soma to become a source of happiness and alleviation. In American society, the rise of over-the-counter drug abuse is on a steady increase because the drugs cause happiness by heightening the sensual responses of the user while leaving them devoid of stress. According to researcher Joe Blow, the percentages of people abusing medications for sensual rushes has been increasing.

People are hooked on benzodiazepines, commonly known as tranquilizers and sleeping pills. They tantalize users with promises of dulling emotional pain, chasing away anxiety and crooning them to sleep. They are very addictive. Benzodiazepines are only a temporary fix--it is often only a few weeks before the positive effects wear off and dependency begins. (strike-the-root.com)

The rise of abusing medication in this generation has been linked with economic stresses, increased work hours, and domestic struggles. The American people have found alleviation through the use of scientifically formulated tablets that ward struggle and bring happiness just like the society of Brave New World and their use of the opiate soma.

The return to civilization was for her the return to soma, was the possibility of lying in bed and taking holiday after holiday, without ever having to come back to a headache or a fit of vomiting, without ever being made to feel as you always felt after peyotl, as though you'd done something so shamefully anti-social that you could never hold up your head again. Soma played none of these unpleasant tricks. The holiday it gave was perfect and, if the morning after was disagreeable, it was so, not intrinsically, but only by comparison with the joys of the holiday. Greedily she clamoured forever larger, ever more frequent doses. Dr. Shaw at first demurred; then let her have what she wanted. She took as much as twenty grammes a day. (Huxley, 154)

This excerpt notes how both the A.F. 632 and American societies correspond with each other. Both societies heavily depend on drugs in order to deliver happiness and stability even to the point of abuse. Harm to the body through drug overdose is no longer deemed as important to American citizens or to Linda in Brave New World because bodily pleasure negates any future consequences. In Huxley’s novel, he takes sensual fulfillment further by eliminating marriage, love, and devotion, the most basic of human ideologies. Through the use of soma, human knowledge and opinion becomes eliminated and they live their lives dumbfounded, conditioned to love their positions in life. Citizens no longer have opinions, morals, or values. They no longer believe in “Moderation in all things”, Aristotle’s philosophy, because the citizens are conditioned to fully engage in every single pleasure they feel. This ensures that the citizens will be content with whatever jobs they are given and will not desire anything greater or wish to know anything. Promiscuous debauching of the society allows for further indulgence, which dominates over the concerns of the people’s knowledge of the divine purpose of man or to the existence of a God.

      The future created by Huxley is certainly the utopia that America is becoming. Advertising today, found in all types of media, strongly promotes sex and indulgence in both luxuries and food. In past generations, people were once very reserved with what they talked about and advocated publicly. For example, sex was considered a taboo and rarely depicted in a movie but was symbolized by a blowing curtain or by other more modest representations. Today, our society has become far more open about the discussion and public display of sex. Sex is vividly and graphically displayed in any movie worth watching or deserving of an Oscar. People want to see a movie with lots of heated debauchery topped off with the all too common post-coital shot in many movies. Sex has become the symbol of success and happiness in the twenty first century. Many advertisements promote that happiness comes not only from sex but also from the very food we consume. Advertisements that persuade people usually come from convincing material that appeals to the senses. Unfortunately, not all burgers are created equal! Would someone want to buy a pack of Shop Rite burger patties when they remember the McDonald’s ad on television? The McDonald’s burger depicted with flame broiled goodness, crunchy lettuce, and spicy onion immediately negates the package of store-bought patties collecting frost in the corner of the shelf. In Huxley’s novel, the controllers of A.F. 632 are parallel to the head advertisers in charge of convincing the American people to buy their product, to buy happiness. In Brave New World, Mustapha draws in his people by advertising happiness and bliss to them by appealing to the senses. He is so successful that he even succeeds to lure in John the Savage who represents a Christ figure into his sensual utopia: “Stupefied by soma, and exhausted by a long-drawn frenzy of sensuality, the Savage lay sleeping in heather” (Huxley, 258). It is here that John the Messiah or second -coming of Christ fails by sinning. John the Savage is persuaded by Mustapha's advertisements of a perfect feel- good world. John sins by having sex with Lenina and she becomes his crucifix. He fails and represents the downfall of Christianity. This is because man is sinful, and it is impossible for man not to give into sin.

      I agree with social critic Neil Postman that America is quickly becoming a Brave New World society. As the United States continues to morph into this new society, we only move closer to the destruction of the human race. In typical utopian societies, the manipulation of pleasure, pain, or other execrable methods is somehow supposed to lead the people of a world of happiness.

¹ The philosophical belief of serving the needs of others before oneself
² Fulfilling individual needs before considering those of others

Source:
http://www.strike-the-root.com/3/blow/blow3.html