Back in the days of leg warmers and Walkmans, when the Soviet Union and Communism was the ultimate foil to Reaganomics and the word preppy was an accusation, I found myself plopped into an environment of institutionalized introspection. Like other schools at the time, my 9th grade literature requirement was to read and compare "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley and "1984" by George Orwell.
In my nubile mind I reckoned that of the two scenarios, one nightmare was particularly garish and troubling and I equated the misanthropic misery of the Orwellian novel with the former Soviet Union. However, The Brave New World painted by Aldous Huxley's seemed perplexing almost benign in a befuddled sort of way, like waking up from a stupor, with a massive headache. We were certainly living in the New World but Brave seemed ironic as an adjective, mind numbing seemed more appropriate.
Certainly, in my youthful understanding "1984" was not the future I wanted to participate in but BNW was a melange of mediocrity, ego, and mindlessness that seemed to mollify contempt, a recipe for mind control. Fast forward past the fall of the evil empire and we are on the fringe of a new paradigm and perhaps an excellent opportunity to review our comparison of these futurist tales of doom. I loved this info-graphic by famed cartoonist Stuart McMillen and would love to hear your insights on the topic, enjoy.
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