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| Wikipedia |
I recently re-read Brave New World, Huxley’s
dystopian vision of a future in which humanity is managed to produce an optimum
number of various classes to fulfill various functions. At the bottom are the
Epsilons – capable of little more than serving as an elevator operator but
programmed to be happy in that function.
Then this morning, I heard on NPR a snippet of a program. Climate
change, it said, is projected to have the effect on the world's population of
lowering life expectancy and intelligence—children’s brains don’t develop well
in conditions like famine and pollution. (See Flint, Michigan. See also THIS article.)
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| NY Times |
And it occurred to me--perhaps those plutocrats who are pushing the horrific policies of the Republican Party—gutting environmental protections to boost corporate earnings--are playing the long game here, as surely as the managers of Huxley’s future poison the Epsilons in (artificial)utero to stunt their development.
Safe in their climate-controlled gilded towers, the plutocrats don’t fear the effects of climate change. Their children will always eat well. And if the masses grow slowly weaker and dumber and even more malleable, well, someone has to clean those gilded towers and service those air-conditioners. And Fox News can be relied upon to tell the masses how very happy they are, in this brave new world.
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| LA Times |
7 comments:
Matters not if there's an actual, conscious conspiracy or not -- the result will be the same. And even those who have the money to obtain a decent education are being brought up to think of higher education as training for a career in jobs that pay well, i.e. finance and the sciences. The humanities don't pay well. The moneyed classes might collect art, might even indulge in reading literature and attending theatrical or musical performances, but the population as a whole are being denied the very soul of their culture. :(
So true -- the push against higher education in genera and the humanities in particular is yet another troubling manifestation of this.
A bit of a somber awakening to read this this morning. It may be true...the disparity of our system, our civilization, and perhaps it's eventual decline. But I am hopeful when I see young people pushing against the errors they see, and working to educate themselves and their children. I support their efforts in any way I can.
Oh dear, when you put in that way . . .
I have also thought of Dune where a rich family owns a planet and all that is within it. As our rich people get richer and the rest of us don't.
Very troubling.
Actually I never read this one "Brave New World Revisited", I should.
Is it OK to post this link on FB?
Sure, Sally -- I already posted it there on my page.
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