There is no denying that there are many negative forces at work in today’s society. We have court battles, battles on land belonging to neighboring countries, gang wars, crazy people walking into fast food joints and throwing machine guns at random, police brutality, overpopulation, starving people, AIDS, cancer, pollution, resources every day. increasingly scarce, abusive and neglectful families, so many people trapped in material priorities, drugged from crack to Valium, from Ritalin to Prozac. We have destructive emotions like selfishness, fear, misery, envy, depression, jealousy, mistrust, hate, racism, and anger. Just thinking about all the negative influences around us is depressing. Pass me the Prozac, please. It is easy to overlook the existence of positive elements in our society. We need to know both extremes to have something on which to base our standards. There needs to be a balance. Yin and Yang must coexist. This isn’t to say that the scales can’t tip one way or the other, and in a world where the scales seem to tip to the bad side, who wouldn’t want to add a little weight to the good side?
There have been and continue to be visionaries among us. The definition of utopian is “ideal, but impractical.” the utopia in a brave new world he boasted of physical comfort and “happiness” ensured by genetic manipulation and postnatal conditioning. The inhabitants of this new world were essentially slaves, bound not by literal chains, but by mental ones.
On the subject of happiness, John tells Bernard, “Well, I’d rather be unhappy than have the kind of fake, lying happiness you had here.” The happiness of the new world was not TRUE happiness since it was conditioned. Just as someone who has been hypnotized to walk around clucking like a chicken may think he is a chicken, he is No actually a chicken. Similarly, a woman regularly abused by her partner, who is told that she is “useless” and “stupid,” eventually comes to believe it, whether it is true or not. Someone who is told that she is happy often enough to believe that she is actually not happy, has simply been brainwashed into believing it.
Based on his research, Abraham Maslow, a philosopher of humanistic psychology, formed the theory of “self-actualization.” He discovered that in order to obtain happiness, we must first satisfy the “needs” at the bottom rungs of the ladder in order to progress to the top.
Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs” in ascending order: 1) Physiological needs (hunger, thirst, shelter, rest) 2) Safety needs (protection from disease, elements) 3) Love (receiving and giving love, affection, trust, acceptance , family, friends) 4) Esteem needs (esteem, respect for others and for oneself) 5) Cognitive needs (knowledge, understanding, curiosity) 6) Aesthetic needs (art, nature, balance, order) 7) Self-actualization ( successful development and use of personal talents and skills).
According to Maslow’s theory, the Brave New Worlder does not have the potential to be happy. They couldn’t get much further than the second rung of the ladder. They were denied love because of the “terrible dangers of family life.” His cognitive needs were not met. They could be brainwashed, but they wouldn’t really learn anything. The example given was that of the little boy who could remember in his sleep teaching the statement that the Nile River is the longest in Africa, but not knowledge which river in Africa was the longest. They had no independent thought. In fact, they did not have most of Maslow’s characteristics of psychologically healthy people: “an objective perception of reality, independence, a need for privacy, empathy, resistance to conformity, democratic characteristics, or an acumen to be creative.”
Today’s society is slowly but surely getting closer to being more and more controlled. Big business and the government are two powerful forces united, driven by money and power. We are still giving fingerprints as a form of identification; Will DNA be next? Our expenses are monitored. We have credit and debit cards; even our paper money contains a metal strip, for tracking. We are constantly being watched by cameras at every corner of the street, highway, park, work, shopping. The whereabouts of the animals are tracked by microchips that have been implanted in their bodies. Are we next? What about cloning?
Like “orgie porgies,” “feelies,” and “soma,” we’re given distractions to take our attention away from realities like these. To keep independent thinking at bay, we are given Ritalin, Prozac, TV “news,” soap operas, talk shows, and the Internet. Advertising gets down our throats. Catchy melodies that remind us how much we need this or that. The power of suggestion is strong. Mass production necessitates mass consumption. In a brave new world the phrases “Finishing is better than mending”, “I love new clothes…”, “The more stitches, the less rich” were drilled into their heads. Another form of distraction in a brave new world It was the constant groups of people, of strangers. This is similar to our life in the city. Masses of people lose individually, making them easier to lead. Churches have known this throughout history.
In a brave new world, the controller told John of his nine-year war and how the masses were “ready to control even their appetites at that time. Anything for a quiet life.” Are we heading towards a new society? A society that is slowly and methodically reforming itself to better serve the needs of someone in a position of power? Will we soon be willing to give up our liberties for physical safety as in the brave new world?
