Man Controls and Saves All
Or do they destroy all?
"What man has joined, nature is powerless to put asunder."
Our dystopian society
In Brave New World, the government is in control of everything, from the natural given rights of a government power like making laws and enforcing it to unnatural government powers like creating babies in test tubes and conditioning them from an early age to be fearful and conform. Even though our government is not that extent nor should the people ever give them that much power, the government still has a strong grip on the people. Through different programs like healthcare, they are able to control and sway the people to do what they want to “better the society.” They also have their ear on everything. Edward Snowden brought it to people’s attention not many years ago by revealing the NSA scandal of how they can listen to any American phone calls without any consent and even take information from big companies like Yahoo. They take away the people’s right of privacy, then they go and put restrictions on what citizens can know about what may be going on around them. It makes citizens become oblivious of what’s going on and keeps them in a bubble. Then, they even make sure that the government looks good through propaganda, so people may be more lenient and let them do what they want. The government knows how to work their own system like how a high school student would do to their parents to get in least amount of trouble.
America has been constantly changing as technological advances increases. It has been consuming the lives of many and we are becoming dependent on it. Quite frankly, if technology disappeared for even a day, the world would be in an uproar and chaos would be at every corner. Similar to how Huxley’s society were so dependent on the role the government had conditioned them to, we are flying towards that way with our gadgets. It’s impairing us from the simple things like being able to converse continuously and work through the awkwardness that it may bring. Also, people has fear of the outside world because of terrorism and other conflicts that are happening. We probably believe we are better and safer to stay in put in our society and country then go out and explore other cultures. We are stuck in this one-sided mindset and afraid to get out of the comfort zone.
Against GMPs
Throughout the past hundred years, our society has advanced technologically very quickly and scientifically. With these advances, we have grown to become a stronger nation and bring longer life spans with no discoveries of medicine and machinery. They have been helping us a great deal and it is something to be extremely thankful for throughout our lives, but if it goes out of proportions, it will bring unnecessary danger into our world. For GMPs (Genetically modified people), if that were to come about, my stance would be against it.
For GMOs (Genetically modified organisms), we have them in today’s society. They have helped us tremendously through modifying the size to feed more and making it grow quicker to produce more which would be more money running through our economy. This sounds nice and beneficial for a country that is trying to maintain its high position and compete with rigorous competition, but it is very harmful. They can bring dangerous side effects that we may not be ready for at all because “by mixing genes, genetic engineering unleashes a host of unpredictable side effects” and it can also “[produce] new toxins, allergens, carcinogens, and nutritional deficiencies” (10 Reasons to Avoid GMOs). This may not be the exact result of what it could be for GMPs, but there are huge risk factors that will probably come about it. This defies the law of nature and may kill us all.
With GMPs, it could potentially save lives and bring happiness to others. This will most likely provide babies for people in want of one, need a spare body part, or something of that sort. It may lead into a dystopian society because parents may start choosing what exactly they want in their children. It “should carefully and thoughtfully apply the tools of human genetic engineering to treat medical conditions in people, but we should not use them to manipulate the genetic traits of future children” (Genetically Modified Babies). Just staying away from this idea as a whole will be easier and not be such a hassle to deal with all these technicalities or moral issues that may arise.
Hidden Identities
The song talks about how a man is hiding from the world. He may have an alter ego type personality where he has this fake front that the common people know, but deep down, he knows that it’s not his true self. His fake identity is heartless and cold like a robot, but that is not who he is or wants to be. Though he may want to reveal his true self, he is scared and rather conform because it’s his familiar comfort zone where it won’t chaotic and will be in his control. His brain has full control over his emotions and feelings. With his brain, he leads to a more logical sense because it would make sense to not bring chaos and stay where he is. After seeing and sensing that it seems wrong and dehumanizing, he doesn’t seem to have a choice until the very end where he has the courage to step out and not be afraid. There were times of slip-ups and his true feelings would be revealed and through those moments, he realized that this alter ego was a defense mechanism from dealing with all the emotional issues he may have had from feeling different from others around. In Brave New World, nobody reached the point of where Mr. Roboto felt of accepting his individuality, but Bernard knew he was different and wanted to conform as much as he could to be accepted and be like the others. He probably has emotional issues that he doesn’t know how to deal with, so he uses John the Savage to gain fame and acceptance from the people. When it backfired on him, he understood that he’s different and it’s ok to be that.
Works Cited
"American Dystopia More Reality than Fiction." CBSNews. CBS Interactive, 1 May 2012. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
Columnist, Star-Ledger Guest. "Why Have We Become the United States of Dystopia? Opinion." Why Have We Become the United States of Dystopia? New Jersey Online, 09 Aug. 2014. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
"Institute for Responsible Technology." - 10 Reasons to Avoid GMOs. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Apr. 2015.
Utopia:. Dystopias: Definition and Characteristics (n.d.): n. pag. ReadWriteThink, 2006. Web. 2015.