Wednesday, June 15, 2011

A Perfect Society-2

"And that," put in the Director sententiously, "that is the secret of happiness and virtue-liking what you've got to do. All conditioning aims at that: making people like their unescapable social destiny." (Brave New World, page 16)


Brave New World begins with an idea to create a perfect society where everyone has a specific purpose and everyone accepts that purpose that was laid out for them. For me, this idea is frightening because it's difficult to visualize a world where I wouldn't get to choose what kind of person I want to be, it would already have been decided. It really amazes me that the author had this vision back in the 1930's because I can not even visualize it happening now. 


I'm still a little confused on why this "perfect society" is necessary and how it came about. The Director and his colleagues feel that more can be accomplished and achieved if everyone filled a specific role in society and did their job appropriately. However, I think power and greed is also a huge aspect that is leaking into these experiments. And whose to say that there won't be a rebellion from the people? And is anyone going to take a stand against the Director thinking that all of this manipulation might be wrong? I guess only time will tell.

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