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, maniacs walking into fast food joints and throwing machine guns at random, police brutality, overpopulation, starving people, AIDS, cancer, pollution, resources 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 positive elements in our society. We need to know both extremes to have something to base our standards on. 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 on the bad side, who wouldn’t want to add a little weight to the good?
There have been and continue to be visionaries among us. The definition of utopian is “ideal, but impractical.” utopia in A brave new world it boasted of the physical comfort and “happiness” ensured by genetic manipulation and postnatal conditioning. The inhabitants of this new world were essentially slaves, bound not by literal but mental chains.
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 real happiness since it was conditioned. Just as someone who has been hypnotized into clucking like a chicken might think he is a chicken, he is not actually a chicken. Similarly, a woman regularly abused by her partner, who is told that she is “worthless” 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 “self-actualization” theory. He discovered that in order to obtain happiness, we must first satisfy the “needs” at the bottom 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 oneself) 5) Cognitive needs (knowledge, understanding, curiosity) 6) Aesthetic needs (art, nature, balance, order) 7) Self-realization ( successful development and use of personal talents and abilities).
According to Maslow’s theory, 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 enthusiasm to be creative.”
Today’s society is slowly but surely getting closer to being more and more controlled. Big business and 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 on 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,” distractions are provided to divert our attention from realities like these. To keep independent thinking at bay, we are given Ritalin, Prozac, television “news,” soap operas, talk shows, and the Internet. Advertising gets in our throats. Catchy melodies that remind us how much we need this or that. The power of suggestion is strong. Mass production needs 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 the heads. Another form of distraction A brave new world They were 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 freedoms for physical security as in the brave new world?