Mind Control and The ‘Conspiracy Theory’ Meme. Echoes of George Orwell and Aldous Huxley
We are able to see the architecture – the structural patterns – of each kind of mind-control regime. This can help us recognize precursors – signs that such a future is coming our way.
Dystopian predictions
In 1984, George Orwell paints a picture of a dark, gray world. People are afraid to say anything contrary to the official party line, and surveillance is universal. Even thinking contrary to the party is a crime, and thoughtcrimes may be treated by radical psychological intervention. Information is closely controlled by the party media, and the historical record is routinely edited, so as to conform to the latest party statements.
By contrast, in Brave New World, Aldous Huxley paints a colorful, superficially pleasant world. Personal freedom of all kinds is encouraged, even to the point of being a cultural imperative. In the book a young boy is referred to a therapist, because he doesn’t want to play sex games with a girl classmate. An adult character is considered aberrant, because he is drawn toward a monogamous relationship. Drugs and distractions are readily available for mood enhancement.
Central to Huxley’s world is the abolition of the family. Sex never results in pregnancy, and embryos are grown in a production process, based on selected seed material. As part of the production process, an embryo can be fed or starved, at various stages of its development, so as to create classes of people (alphas, betas, etc) with differing levels of intelligence and skills. Quotas are set, regarding how many people of each class are going to be needed, and should therefore be produced.
Various kinds of conditioning are then used on infants in order to get them to accept their class, along with its prerogatives and restrictions, as being best for them. Children are raised on a communal basis, with no concept of parents, siblings, or family. From embryo to adulthood, the state has fine-tuned control over the development of the person, and of their thinking. In the resulting society, people behave as they were programmed to behave, and can’t imagine things being any different.
In Orwell’s world, wrong-thought (thought crime) is detected and suppressed. In Huxley’s world, wrong-thought is unlikely to arise. Orwell’s world suppresses the individual; Huxley’s world manufactures the individual. In both cases, mind control – control over what people are able to think – is the strategy of the regime, as its means of social control generally. Orwell explores a brute-force approach to mind control, while Huxley explores a scientific approach.
The novels are useful because they each take one of these basic approaches to mind control, and follow its consequences to the end. If you really want to suppress what people think, you’d need to do A, B, and C. If you really want to program people, you’ve got to start when they’re born and do X, Y, and Z. We are able to see the architecture – the structural patterns – of each kind of mind-control regime. This can help us recognize precursors – signs that such a future is coming our way.
Echoes of Orwell
“Escaping the Matrix: How We the People Can Change the World” — Moore talks about the first half of his book which focuses on the issues of hierarchy and manipulation of the people with lies…
Play Audio.
TRT: 28:00
Date: 2007-01-22
http://www.suesupriano.com/article.php
“Escaping the Matrix: How We the People Can Change the World” — Moore talks about the second part of his book which focuses on how we can build a more localized, democratic society…
Play Audio.
TRT: 28:00
Date: 2007-01-21
We live in a world of stories
Growing up in 1950’s America, I believed all the stories about the American Dream, American Benevolence, Prosperity via Capitalism, and Bringing Democracy to the Free World. That all sounds so quaint now, after Vietnam, 9/11, Guantanamo, torture, targeted killings, economic collapse, and all the rest. Nonetheless, it took me many years to unravel all the old stories, about how the world works, and to begin piecing together stories that match the facts and make sense.
rkm: Greetings from Ireland
Included in this posting:
1) West Coast tour this Fall
2) Some comments on current events
3) My Electric Universe videos
4) Feedback re/
Degeneracy and Fundamentalism of Western Media Control
Not The Grub Street Journal 
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