Are we living in a dystopian Society? 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451 - An Essay — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:001984, Brave New World, and Fahrenheit
- 0:02451 are the most iconic books about
- 0:05dystopian societies and serve as a scale
- 0:07for negative development. Since our own
- 0:09culture is changing rapidly, I thought
- 0:11it would be a good time to actually
- 0:12investigate the question, how close are
- 0:14we to a dystopian society?
- 0:25Before we can make any assumptions, we
- 0:27need to actually define what a dystopia
- 0:29is. The dictionary gives us the
- 0:30following explanation. A dystopia is a
- 0:32community that is undesirable or
- 0:34frightening. Dystopias are often
- 0:36characterized by rampant fear, distress,
- 0:39tyrannical governments, environmental
- 0:40disaster, or other characteristics
- 0:43associated with a cataclysmic decline in
- 0:45society.
- 0:46Distinct themes typically include
- 0:48complete control over the people through
- 0:50propaganda, censoring of information,
- 0:52denial of free thought, worshipping an
- 0:55unattainable goal, the complete loss of
- 0:57individuality, and the heavy enforcement
- 0:59of conformity. It is also a distinct
- 1:01theme that the governing classes are
- 1:02often depicted as shallow, hedonistic,
- 1:05and elitist with a great superiority
- 1:07complex. Only a selected few outsiders
- 1:09will ever get the chance to penetrate
- 1:11those circles. Idealism and agendas are
- 1:14overshadowed and encroach into every
- 1:15aspect of life. Whether it is the Big
- 1:17Brother surveillance system in 1984, the
- 1:20designer caste system in Brave New
- 1:21World, or the burning of books in
- 1:23Fahrenheit 451, the privatized or
- 1:26planned economy either leaves many
- 1:27things to be desired or transcends to
- 1:30mindless consumption. Virtually all work
- 1:32is menial and unsatisfying. Regulations
- 1:35and bureaucracy suffocate any form of
- 1:37inspiration. Access to information is
- 1:39heavily restricted, and any form of
- 1:41thinking differently is considered
- 1:43heresy. Family is barely present, and
- 1:45the state has replaced God as the
- 1:47highest authority in this universe,
- 1:49which everyone has to obey.
- 1:55They've gone.
- 1:57Reality is often so depressing and
- 1:59frustrating, but violence and drug
- 2:01addiction is used to cope with the
- 2:02situation. The latter one is often
- 2:04tolerated, even encouraged by the ruling
- 2:06class, because after all, no one is
- 2:08going to rebel if they have a way to
- 2:10escape into a different reality.
- 2:13You can almost say that the path to hell
- 2:15or to a hellish society is paved with
- 2:17good intentions. Every utopia somehow
- 2:20has achieved nothing but the exact
- 2:22opposite of what was promised.
- 2:27Now, let's see how far we've come and
- 2:29compare certain very prominent scenarios
- 2:31in said books to our most infamous
- 2:33recent events. A totalitarian state has
- 2:35an interest in keeping its peasants
- 2:37stupid, which results in burning books
- 2:39and censoring the internet. Those who do
- 2:41dare to speak up will be ostracized and
- 2:43eliminated, which is also the reason for
- 2:45the surveillance.
- 2:56It is not only information that is
- 2:57heavily censored, but also beauty in
- 2:59every way is getting watered down,
- 3:01because any potential inspiration will
- 3:03lead to wrong think, and wrong think is
- 3:05a menace to the status quo.
- 3:20One of the core elements that shape a
- 3:22human being is the family, a mom, a dad,
- 3:25and the kids. But, the family restricts
- 3:27access to an overbearing government.
- 3:29Welfare feels entitled to do whatever it
- 3:31takes to rebel the man in the
- 3:33relationship and replace him with what
- 3:35some nations would call the father
- 3:37state.
- 3:38Among blacks, the uh and the homicide
- 3:40rates among black males declined by 18%
- 3:44in the 1940s, by 22% in the 1950s, and
- 3:48then skyrocketed in the 1960s, wiping
- 3:50out all that progress.
- 3:52And they they had a different view of
- 3:54the world and their view just did not
- 3:56meet the test of time.
- 3:58One more instance of this kind of
- 4:00retrogression, the family. Again,
- 4:02discrimination and disparities. As of
- 4:041960,
- 4:05this one I just find this one
- 4:07heartbreaking. As of 1960, 2/3 of all
- 4:10black American children were living with
- 4:12both parents.
- 4:13That declined over the years until only
- 4:151/3 were living with both parents in
- 4:171995.
- 4:18Among black families in poverty, 85% of
- 4:22the children had no father present.
- 4:24Close quote.
- 4:27So, it's not the legacy of
- 4:30slavery that destroys the
- 4:31African-American
- 4:33It's the It's the It's the legacy of the
- 4:35welfare state.
- 4:36And by the way, we see illegitimacy
- 4:38rates rising among everybody.
- 4:39Yeah, and and in other countries.
- 4:40And
- 4:42Then you ask yourself what the [ __ ]
- 4:43happening with my kid. Why doesn't my
- 4:45kid love me? Why doesn't my kid have a
- 4:46relationship
- 4:47Why doesn't my kid have a relationship?
- 4:48It's not even your kid. Why It's not
- 4:50even your kid.
- 4:52Not anymore.
- 4:53To better the results of those policies,
- 4:56the government either refers to the
- 4:58coming final victory or simply drugs.
- 5:01Brave New World, Soma, is a potent legal
- 5:04high that is distributed to its citizens
- 5:06every day.
- 5:07continue our series on the opioid
- 5:09epidemic with a look at where the
- 5:11pharmaceutical industry fits in.
- 5:13Correspondent Doug McKelway tells us
- 5:15it's a simple path, really.
- 5:17You just have to follow the money.
- 5:19Previous proprietor in a previous name,
- 5:21then called the Save Rite Pharmacy,
- 5:22could arguably be considered ground zero
- 5:25in America's prescription opioid
- 5:27epidemic.
- 5:28From June to September of 2006, the
- 5:30pharmacist here, James Wooley, ran what
- 5:32prosecutors call a pill factory, raking
- 5:35in as much as $20,000 in cash every day,
- 5:39which may have led to the heroin
- 5:40epidemic here in West Virginia, in Ohio,
- 5:43in Kentucky, and virtually across
- 5:45Appalachia.
- 5:45The euphoric sensation that opioids like
- 5:48OxyContin induce.
- 5:49Your body just gets a warm sensation
- 5:52that makes everything in the world so
- 5:54much better, even though you don't
- 5:56realize that you're destroying
- 5:57everything in your life.
- 5:59And the withdrawal?
- 6:00You lay in bed and you shake and you
- 6:03feel like you could cut your legs off or
- 6:04your arms off and it would just feel
- 6:06better than having to lay there and feel
- 6:08the pain.
- 6:09A hedonistic immature society pumped up
- 6:11on drugs to avoid discomfort will lead
- 6:13to
- 6:15What do I say without getting a yellow
- 6:17sticker?
- 6:18Um they will avoid touchy subjects
- 6:21like cancellation rates. And why?
- 6:23Because it would raise questions.
- 6:25Why is 80% of a certain group feeling
- 6:27left out? Why is another demographic
- 6:29sticking to wine and cats after a
- 6:30certain age?
- 6:32Why is there an overall general rise of
- 6:33extreme insecurity? Who could have
- 6:35thought that all of those policies
- 6:37psychologically damage a human being
- 6:39despite the progress that we've made?
- 6:43Medical science has made such tremendous
- 6:45progress, but there's hardly a head of a
- 6:47human left.
- 6:52Language is the source code of the mind
- 6:54and of the culture. If you artificially
- 6:56narrow the vocabulary, you will also
- 6:58change the world around you. Imagine
- 7:00lacking words for the most fundamental
- 7:02things in your life. In 1984, Newspeak
- 7:04was invented as a sole means of
- 7:06communication. It was deliberately
- 7:08designed to eliminate all contrary
- 7:09concepts of the party. After all,
- 7:11freedom cannot exist without the word
- 7:13freedom.
- 7:15Words can be like x-rays if you use them
- 7:16properly. They will go through anything.
- 7:19You read and you are pierced.
- 7:20Right.
- 7:21So, like there's no word for love in
- 7:24North Korea. There's no word for
- 7:26liberty. There's no word for human
- 7:28rights. So, if you don't know you have
- 7:31the right to have a free hairstyle, if
- 7:33you have the right to travel, how you
- 7:35how do you demand it?
- 7:37Constant shifting definitions are also
- 7:38part of the gaslighting game.
- 7:40Women only know what women are. Are you
- 7:42a cat? No. Can you tell me what a cat
- 7:45is?
- 7:47You want to tell us what a woman is?
- 7:49Language evolves and gains concepts
- 7:50through words and thus bronze with
- 7:52knowledge and awareness of its speaker.
- 7:54Newspeak eliminates words ideas and
- 7:56therefore makes you more dumb and more
- 7:58controllable.
- 7:59Never have so many been manipulated so
- 8:01much by so few. All of this looks in
- 8:04practice can be seen in Fahrenheit 451.
- 8:06In the future, firemen are not
- 8:08responsible for extinguishing fires but
- 8:10for burning undesirable media. Guy
- 8:12Montag never questioned his doing until
- 8:15a series of events turns his life upside
- 8:17down. Torn apart between the popular
- 8:19narrative and his newly acquired
- 8:20beliefs, but he ironically gained
- 8:22through the same media that he sought to
- 8:24destroy a center of his development. You
- 8:27don't have to burn books to destroy a
- 8:28culture. Just get people to stop reading
- 8:30them. Ray Bradbury.
- 8:32If you look at the Latin origin of the
- 8:34word book, it is liber. But liber is
- 8:37also part of the word liberty or
- 8:39freedom. You can always translate it
- 8:41into freedom for reading and those
- 8:43thoughts are not that far off. We
- 8:45literally can read the minds of the
- 8:46writers and gain a look into different
- 8:48times, lives, and mentalities.
- 8:51Just the Bible alone, the book of the
- 8:52books, is restricted or forbidden in 52
- 8:55countries. In fact, everything that
- 8:57inspires you can be considered dangerous
- 8:59by a certain class.
- 9:01There will be in the next generation or
- 9:03so a pharmacological method of making
- 9:05people love their servitude and
- 9:07producing dictatorship without tears, so
- 9:09to speak. Producing a kind of painless
- 9:11concentration camp for entire societies
- 9:14so that people will, in fact, have their
- 9:16liberties taken away from them but will
- 9:18rather enjoy it.
- 9:24Now, how close are we actually to the
- 9:25sovereign society? I guess you know my
- 9:27answer if you watch the video until now.
- 9:29History repeats itself and we are
- 9:31always, I mean really always, just one
- 9:34generation away from tyranny. So, never
- 9:37forget that.
- 9:40All right, guys. Thank you for watching
- 9:41this video. If you think this video was
- 9:43double plus good, then leave an upwards
- 9:45thumb and become brainwashed.
- 9:47I mean,
- 9:48join the patriotic fight against the
- 9:50wrong thing by clicking the button next
- 9:52to my name. That's it for today, and I
- 9:54hope to see you next time. Bye.
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