One of the things highlighted in Brave New World is Huxley's fear that what we love will bring about our downfall--Consumerism. Unlike 1984 which illuminates many fear tactics and psychologically oppressive stratagies used by Tyranical governments, Huxley focuses more on the governments of developed countries. Consumerism is generally found in capilist countries, the equivalent of socialism in repressive countries. Although capitalist countries generally have great wealth, they have their own flaws. In our country people have given up their political powers for consumer sovereignty--which smartphone we should buy instead of decisions that truely make a difference. This is one of the fears Huxlely warned about consumerism in Brave New World.
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I definitely agree with your post. The reason why I really like Brave New World is because of the Consumerism element in it. Although, it is not as extreme as they put in the book, the modern world thematically resembles this new civilization. People it seems like are more interested on buying things to uphold the status quo rather than paying attention to politics etc. The two aspects that best stood out to me was how little education workers have and the unconscious conditioning. Workers in modern factories are usually poorly educated and all they know at times is the assembly line. Rather than watch news or read scholarly articles many watch entertainment shows, that do really nothing to raise their intelligence levels. So like Linda, most don't know how to answer the chemical properties of what they are making or who made it, they are secluded in their knowledge. As for the unconscious messages, it is just simply astonishing how much social media almost forces use to buy certain products, in order to find happiness and reach the American Dream.
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