Comparison Between America And Brave New World

The common comparisons of surveillance, technology use, social conditioning, totalitarianism, and manipulation of language between America and 1984 and Brave New World have an erroneously negative effect on the average American’s perception of the government. Frequently used as political rhetoric, correlations between the negative aspects of these dystopian novels allow politicians and political journalists to impose a sense of distrust of the government, the fear of an Orwellian or Huxleyan society as a result of their opposition, and general pessimism about America as a whole onto their audience. Because the most frequent comparisons are relatively ill-informed about how these elements of society in 1984 and Brave New World differ from their
real American counterparts, those who make these comparisons are using them more as tools for fear mongering to undercut their opposition. Nearly half of survey participants felt informed enough to say that these comparisons have negatively affected their perception of the government, so clearly the people who are making these comparisons are having their desired effect on their audiences (Appendix A). NSA surveillance, participation in wars overseas, certain aspects of Donald Trump’s policies, “alternative facts”, incessant technology use, and basic social conditioning are all reminiscent of their respective elements of Oceania and the World State, but there is no definitive evidence that suggests that America is doomed to become a dystopian nightmare. The pessimism that comes as a result of these comparisons is unneeded, especially in the midst of all of the other problems that modern America faces. After learning that so many of these comparisons are incorrect, I am somewhat ashamed of journalists and politician for using these comparisons to scare impressionable citizens who do not know any better.
Many people’s only knowledge of 1984 is the fact that Big Brother is an omnipotent overlord who has the power to erase his opposition from existence and most people do not have any knowledge of Brave New World at all, meaning that when an individual hears a comparison between America and either novel, he or she does not have all of the relevant information needed to make an informed decision about the accuracy of the
comparison. In light of the newfound knowledge that I learned by writing this thesis, my next course of action will be to analyze the comparisons made between America and other dystopian novels, including Fahrenheit 451 and The Handmaid’s Tale, because these books also have gained popularity in recent years, especially with regard to technology use and women’s rights.
I believe that these comparisons may be similarly inaccurate to comparisons between America and 1984 and Brave New World. Perhaps there are aspects of all of these novels that exist in modern America that account for the popularity of each novel in recent years, which is something that I would like to explore further and learn more about.
If I had unlimited time and resources, I would be to encourage people who have not yet read 1984 and Brave New World to read at least one of the novels so that they can become more aware of the inaccuracies of the comparisons made in the media. In reading 1984, I realized that the societal makeup of Oceania was quite different than the impression of the society that I had based on the comparisons that I had heard in the media. If others become aware of this fact, a form of political rhetoric used to demean opposition could be eliminated and the function of the government could become less
convoluted.
Through this thesis, I have learned a lot about the power of political rhetoric and how effective it is at altering people’s perception of the government. My perception of the media has changed relatively dramatically as well, because of how inaccurate I found the common comparisons to be, especially after reading 1984 because the way that society functioned was so drastically different from the perception that I had from the ubiquity of allusions to the novel in popular culture. I have also learned a lot about myself; I learned that I am enthusiastic about finding the truth about inaccurate political rhetoric and that I am capable of writing a lot. When I was writing my paper initially, I was unsure if I was actually going to be able to write twelve pages about my topic because I was having trouble finding articles that related to my research question, but I ended up being able to find a plethora of information from both my survey and various articles that helped me write a cohesive and comprehensive paper.