Which of these "Dystopian Society" stories did you read/study in school, or for pleasure; and which might reflect on U.S. Society today?

[Josie]

I was interested that you studied The Giver in school. I read it with one of my students not knowing anything about it (there just happened to be two copies on the shelf) and we read a chapter each time and wrote down our thoughts/reactions. Very informal. It was fun.

I read it in college. We had a class where we had to read 50 young adult novels and that was one I chose.

What freaked me out when all was said and done was that all that stuff in their society no doubt started with the very best intentions.

Mmmhm.

 

[nota bene]

I was watching a video regarding guest reactions to Social Media being held accountable for disinformation, misinformation, and shadow banning tactics in light of Elon Musks purchase of Twitter.

One guest commented on how our society is reflective of some of the dystopian societies written about by authors like Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, etc.

So I wondered, how many members of our Forum have read one or more of the most famous of these stories, which one(s), and how closely (if at all) our society is coming to reflect them in reality.

Here is the list:

1. "1984," George Orwell.

2. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley.

3. "Harrison Bergeron," Kurt Vonnegut.

4. "Fahrenheit 451," Ray Bradbury.

5. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding.

6. "Animal Farm," George Orwell.

7. Other, your Title and Author

8. None.

This is a multiple choice list, meaning you can select each one if you have read more than one.

If you pick #7, provide the title(s) and author(s), and why you've added to the list.

Please discuss why you picked the one(s) selected, and how it reflects (if at all) on current trends in US Politics and Society.

NOTE: The POLL itself is asking which you read/studied.

The question for response in discussion is: "Which if any reflect on US Society today?"

1984 offers so many subthemes--privacy, the destruction of language in order to control thought, sterile and joyless sex (remember that Julia was a rebel only from the waist down), children who belong to and report to the state, endless revision of history, the pursuit of power for its own sake....

 

[Captain Adverse]

1984 offers so many subthemes--privacy, the destruction of language in order to control thought, sterile and joyless sex (remember that Julia was a rebel only from the waist down), children who belong to and report to the state, endless revision of history, the pursuit of power for its own sake....

Good point. IMO no one could honestly argue that our society is not being assailed by members who seek to change the meanings of words to conform to their beliefs, feelings, and designs.

Case in point, a SCOTUS appointee who cannot define the word "woman," followed by the many political and social pundits agreeing with the term woman becoming so malleable as to be undefinable.

 

[nota bene]

Good point. IMO no one could honestly argue that our society is not being assailed by members who seek to change the meanings of words to conform to their beliefs, feelings, and designs.

Case in point, a SCOTUS appointee who cannot define the word "woman," followed by the many political and social pundits agreeing with the term woman becoming so malleable as to be undefinable.

And to quote Symington, "In your heart you'd prefer to stick to Oldspeak, with all its vagueness and its useless shades of meaning. You don't grasp the beauty of the destruction of words….Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it."

 

[Nickyjo]

I think some of Trumpism, if taken over the top, could qualify for “1984,” with the chants of “I love Big Brother,” but Trump is more of a gangster than a totalitarian. “Fahrenheit 451” might resemble recent events in Florida.

 

[wist43]

Of course our resident leftists don't get it...

Biden literally forms a Ministry of Truth and these wingnuts don't see anything wrong with it!!!

-----------------------

I saw a clip of some leftist screeching about Elon Musk buying Twitter, speculating that he might squelch one candidate and amplify another, or diminish one party and extoll another...

It never dawned on this bucket of dumb that is exactly what Twitter and the left have been doing for years, lol...

They're so comically obtuse and hypocritical.

 

[Gatsby]

Of the ones you listed, the one that looks most like present-day America is Brave New World. People aren't, for the most part, suffering from heavy-handed censorship and oppression. They are overloaded on information and drowning in trivial bullshit. If only Aldous Huxley could see Twitter.

The dystopia that intrigues me the most is Altered Carbon by Richard Morgan, because I worry that society might evolve in this direction. In Altered Carbon, people are kinda-sorta-immortal because their consciousness can be swapped into and out of bodies at will. As a result, the human body is totally commodified (they even refer to bodies as "sleeves") and wealth inequality is absolutely staggering. In addition, religious fundamentalism - both old and new - has made a comeback after adjusting to the new reality that most people won't die (or at least they'll live a very long time). It's a really interesting dystopian world. The first season of the Netflix show is good too.

Other good dystopian books I enjoyed: The Handmaid's Tale, Infinite Jest, Ready Player One, Neuromancer.

 

[Bodi]

I have read them all as well as a lot more... Honors English.

Fahrenheit 451
1984
Animal Farm
Lord of the Flies

The others just for fun

A Brave New World
Harrison Bergeron
Ender's Game
The Maze Runner
Atlas Shrugged
The Handmaids Tale
Stranger in a Strange Land
The Stand
The Gunslinger Series
The Running Man
A Clockwork Orange
Slaughterhouse Five
Children of Men
The Giver
We
The Time Machine (Might have been Honors English as well.)
Ready Player One

 

[HK.227]

Please discuss why you picked the one(s) selected, and how it reflects (if at all) on current trends in US Politics and Society.

The question for response in discussion is: "Which if any reflect on US Society today?"

Read 5 and 6 in the equivalent to junior high, 2 in Australian high school in a year abroad thing, and 1 during high school.

I would say that of the options given, #2 is the one of the available options that most accurately reflects human civilization, present day America ncluded.
We are indeed divided into easily manipulated groups and we are indeed kept docile, though usually not by methods or conspiracies like described in the book.
But the end results are much the same, and always have been.

Though I suppose we occasionally resemble option #5 and #6, but only when things get out of hand. Too obvious really, to be good solutions.

 

[Surrealistik]

I was watching a video regarding guest reactions to Social Media being held accountable for disinformation, misinformation, and shadow banning tactics in light of Elon Musks purchase of Twitter.

One guest commented on how our society is reflective of some of the dystopian societies written about by authors like Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, etc.

So I wondered, how many members of our Forum have read one or more of the most famous of these stories, which one(s), and how closely (if at all) our society is coming to reflect them in reality.

Here is the list:

1. "1984," George Orwell.

2. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley.

3. "Harrison Bergeron," Kurt Vonnegut.

4. "Fahrenheit 451," Ray Bradbury.

5. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding.

6. "Animal Farm," George Orwell.

7. Other, your Title and Author

8. None.

This is a multiple choice list, meaning you can select each one if you have read more than one.

If you pick #7, provide the title(s) and author(s), and why you've added to the list.

Please discuss why you picked the one(s) selected, and how it reflects (if at all) on current trends in US Politics and Society.

NOTE: The POLL itself is asking which you read/studied.

The question for response in discussion is: "Which if any reflect on US Society today?"

None of these are remotely applicable or similar to modern America.

Also the people who for some insane reason think 1984 resembles or reflects on the States are absolutely ridiculous. China yes, where the CCP has abused Orwell's magnum opus as a guidebook, and exceeded some of his worst nightmares; America, no.

If anything even begins to approach the American condition, it's cyberpunk dystopias like Neuromancer where the rich rule through their megacorporation proxies, the middle class is vanishingly small with egregious income inequality and a society largely divided between haves and have nots to the point of being almost a sort of neofeudalism, tech domineers and infiltrates virtually every facet of life and is often abused by said megacorporations, and the power of government is suborned to bribery, lobbying and rampant corruption, often made to do the bidding of said megacorporations or to look away as they act with relative impunity.

 

[Josie]

How could I forget Ender's Game? I read that on my own.

 

[Slartibartfast]

How could I forget Ender's Game? I read that on my own.

I don't really see Ender's game as dystopian though. The main theme seemed to be creativity in the use of force and the flexibility of the young mind.

 

[MrNiceGuy]

I also liked -

A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
A Boy and His Dog, Harlan Ellison
Do Androids Dream of Electric Shee, PK Dick
Zardoz, John Boorman

 

[American]

Read them all, some assigned, some not.
What's your point?

I think you know.

 

[devildavid]

Exactly.

It's not like the purpose was hidden, or less than obvious.

The intent was to criticize the horrible leftists and how they have made our country into a dystopia. Yes, that was quite obvious.

 

[devildavid]

I also liked -

A Clockwork Orange, Anthony Burgess
A Boy and His Dog, Harlan Ellison
Do Androids Dream of Electric Shee, PK Dick
Zardoz, John Boorman

I read A Clockwork Orange in college and wrote a paper ripping it apart. I got a good grade on that one.

 

[jpevans]

I was watching a video regarding guest reactions to Social Media being held accountable for disinformation, misinformation, and shadow banning tactics in light of Elon Musks purchase of Twitter.

One guest commented on how our society is reflective of some of the dystopian societies written about by authors like Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, etc.

So I wondered, how many members of our Forum have read one or more of the most famous of these stories, which one(s), and how closely (if at all) our society is coming to reflect them in reality.

Here is the list:

1. "1984," George Orwell.

2. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley.

3. "Harrison Bergeron," Kurt Vonnegut.

4. "Fahrenheit 451," Ray Bradbury.

5. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding.

6. "Animal Farm," George Orwell.

7. Other, your Title and Author

8. None.

This is a multiple choice list, meaning you can select each one if you have read more than one.

If you pick #7, provide the title(s) and author(s), and why you've added to the list.

Please discuss why you picked the one(s) selected, and how it reflects (if at all) on current trends in US Politics and Society.

NOTE: The POLL itself is asking which you read/studied.

The question for response in discussion is: "Which if any reflect on US Society today?"

I've read all but "Harrison Bergeron," by Vonnegut. I'll put it on the library list. There are days when America brings to mind Philip K. Dick's, Counter Clock World. While not really like it, it just brings it to mind. When shit goes backwards.

 

[CaughtInThe]

I was watching a video regarding guest reactions to Social Media being held accountable for disinformation, misinformation, and shadow banning tactics in light of Elon Musks purchase of Twitter.

One guest commented on how our society is reflective of some of the dystopian societies written about by authors like Kurt Vonnegut, George Orwell, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, etc.

So I wondered, how many members of our Forum have read one or more of the most famous of these stories, which one(s), and how closely (if at all) our society is coming to reflect them in reality.

Here is the list:

1. "1984," George Orwell.

2. "Brave New World," Aldous Huxley.

3. "Harrison Bergeron," Kurt Vonnegut.

4. "Fahrenheit 451," Ray Bradbury.

5. "Lord of the Flies," William Golding.

6. "Animal Farm," George Orwell.

7. Other, your Title and Author

8. None.

This is a multiple choice list, meaning you can select each one if you have read more than one.

If you pick #7, provide the title(s) and author(s), and why you've added to the list.

Please discuss why you picked the one(s) selected, and how it reflects (if at all) on current trends in US Politics and Society.

NOTE: The POLL itself is asking which you read/studied.

The question for response in discussion is: "Which if any reflect on US Society today?"

The Bible

 

[Josie]

The Bible

How so?

 

[PoS]

Orwell's Animal Farm and 1984 are timeless and hard to beat, but probably the the one sci-fi author who came close to predicting the world as it is now was John Brunner.

His two dystopian novels Stand on Zanzibar (which predicted the EU, the decline of Detroit, the internet, and even an African president named Obomi) and The Sheep Look Up (which predicted the environmentalists as terrorists), are totally amazing. Philip K Dick's A Scanner Darkly (which predicts that the Drug War has failed) is also an honorable mention because I think its gonna happen.

 

[CaughtInThe]

How so?

 

[Rexedgar]

Been a long time ago, I can see parallels in present day US and “Lord of the Flies.”
Lately “1984”

We also were assigned:

Catcher In the Rye - Salinger
Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky

 

[ttwtt78640]

A quibble: Your poll isn't clear about whether we read them or whether we think they apply to America today.

Are you having trouble with what the word “and” means?

The gist of the poll is: which (if any) dystopian society books, which you read, reflect the state of (current) US society.

If you read no such books or feel that (current) US society is not dystopian (to the extent of those books) then choose “none” and move on.

BTW, I chose “none” - hoping that occasional dystopian drifts in US social policy will be corrected long before we become as dystopian as some famous books on the subject depict.

 

[devildavid]

Been a long time ago, I can see parallels in present day US and “Lord of the Flies.”
Lately “1984”

We also were assigned:

Catcher In the Rye - Salinger
Crime and Punishment - Dostoevsky

I took Russian Literature in high school and read "Crime and Punishment". I loved it. I read somewhere afterward that Columbo was based on the detective in that novel. I just found a link to an article verifying it.

https://currentpub.com/2021/12/22/crime-punishment-and-columbo/

 

[Josie]

I mean … do not steal and do not kill are the only things our government regulates. Maybe bearing false witness to a point. How do you see that as part of our society in a dystopian sort of way?