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Jul 31, 2015PearlyBaker rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
This piece by Huxley was just alright for me. I thought it came of as a little egocentric, elitist and preachy at times. I do find it interesting however that he wrote this piece in 1965 just twenty years after his Novel and how hauntingly true some of it is today. Take for example the war on terrorism in comparison to this sentence, "Permanent crisis justifies permanent control of everybody and everything by the agencies of the central government." Or how about while writing this in 1965 Huxley stated that, "In the democratic West there is economic censorship and the media of mass communication are controlled by members of the Power Elite." Even more true today 50 years later. Huxley also speaks of mankind's need for distraction in modern society and entertainment long before the internet, iPhones, Facebook, memes, the Kardashians and twitter. However in the end I think while he got many things right in his summation of the future he also allowed his own sense of self-importance to block reality. In a letter written to George Orwell he was convinced that his theory of narco-hypnosis would be more accurate than Orwell's Jack Booted surveillance state. Though not even Huxley could have imagined a President as evil as George W. who would use fear mongering to roll out policies of preemptive strike, the DHS, TSA and the loyal, tranquil sounding Patriot Act.