Huxley and Orwell

What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one. Orwell feared those who would deprive us information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism. Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance. Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy.

Neither have come to pass at this point. What we are seeing now is the usual story of people getting bored with comfort and beginning the process of destroying then rebuilding society. At the moment people are not so much made useless by distraction as by fear; fear of poverty and loneliness to be precise. Everything seems very complicated at the moment so people are unsure of what action to take, there is so much to lose by failing. However, the human brain is very adept at cutting through bullshit distractions and focusing on the things they find worthwhile. All it requires is one person to give us a direction to work towards, to promise us that there can be more to the world than this, and our society will have an effective uprising against the oppressors.

The human is more restless than Huxley gave it credit for. We can't be satisfied with frivolity for long. We need to feel that we are living dramatic, meaningful lives. The powers that be in the western world recognize this, and that is why you are seeing a rise in traditional methods of control like oppressive police and military and focused, epically dramatic propaganda. If either vision comes fully to pass it will be Orwell's. Humans can be oppressed by force for centuries, so long as their fed enough. But we get bored and destructive when we have nothing to work towards that feels meaningful to us.