Source: Brownstone Institute
by Bert Olivier
“Because we have a need to understand the world around us – some more than others – most people, myself included, tend to look to George Orwell’s 1984 (published in 1949) as the right model in terms of which one should understand the present drive for suppressive control we see all around us. However, that perspicacious social theorist and universally cognisant thinker, Zygmunt Bauman (Liquid Modernity p. 53) would have us reconsider this, where he offers a revealing comparison between Orwell and Aldous Huxley’s (Brave New World; 1932) alternative visions of dystopia which, in Huxley’s case, one might be forgiven to misidentify, at first, as utopia. Moreover, Bauman’s insights serve as a valuable heuristic as far as comprehending the dystopia-in-the-making of today is concerned.” (07/01/24)