Brave New World Government

Government: this word is used to define the system that maintains the state and her people. This system is run by officials who, hopefully, have the nation’s best interest at heart; but these best interests for a country often find themselves conflicting in their particular perspectives. In the novel Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, the government has chosen to preserve the interest of state and this dystopia is the result of mankind choosing the wrong faction in the conflict of interest.

To clarify, the principles, theories and arguments presented here in are democratic in orientation and not communistic, because the arguments aim toward freedom and rights. Those in control in Brave New World have misguided the nation’s populace into dystopia, they have lost the people’s interest, they have disregarded the people’s respect and they have effectively stolen evolution. There will always be a great conflict for those with the misfortune of being leaders: to preserve the state or the people.

A decisive argument will skip the moral ethics and get right down to the primary idea: a nation is only possible through her people. This being said, it becomes logical that the right course of action for any leading party is that of the interest of the people; the interest of the people has been touted by many famous political icons throughout the ages as the most vital of a nation’s concerns. In fact “the nation’s concerns” is directly related to the concern’s of her people. This idea, being understood, it is absolutely impossible in a utopian setting that there would be dissatisfaction.

A good leader must make sure that their people are provided for, and this can be done simply by meeting the needs of the nation. If the nation wants for nothing, it can be assumed that order would automatically be ensured amongst her people. In Brave New World, the World Controllers have implemented human conditioning and predestination, these methods have indeed assured them that they operate within the nation’s best interest. In fact, one can say that by brainwashing the people they have stolen control and not earned it, and the ‘utopia’ in Brave New World can be defined as a controlled dictatorship.

This is but another example of how the State has failed the people. Any ruler worth his salt must first earn the respect, or alternatively fear, of his subjects in order to reign successfully. Respect earns the ruler the trust of the people: this trust then allows for orderly conduct amongst the citizens of the country. Earning respect can be achieved by conducting one’s self honorably and proving one’s capabilities. Huxley presents another technique of acquiring respect by employing “hypnopaedia” as means of earning respect and gaining control over the nation. “Of course they don’t.

How can they? They don’t know what it’s like being anything else. We’d mind, of course. But then we’ve been differently conditioned. Besides, we start with a different heredity”(Huxley,5). Brave New World’s Henry foster shows us how conditioning effects a person’s values. The citizens do not respect the controllers, they merely adhere to the rules. Though this does not mean that they are dissatisfied, in actual fact they have no sense of dissatisfaction unless it stands opposed to their hypnopaedic prejudice. “What a hideous colour khaki is,” remarked Lenina, voicing the hypnop? ic prejudices of her caste”(Huxley,4). Essentially what Huxley has wrought is a world of mindless drones with no sense of self, which is quite possibly the worse outcome for mankind, to become enslaved by a system they created and lost control over. There is one major variable that needs to be considered in keeping order in a nation. People change, things change, nothing will ever remain the same for long, and a good government should be as adaptable as the people. If one is to properly maintain order, one must be able to conform with society and trends.

These changes and trends are how mankind has learned and developed, and will continue to do so. As stated, government or those in power, must too be able to move forward or to risk losing control and becoming obsolete. This is quite possibly the biggest flaw in Huxley’s Brave New World: mankind now controls and predestines the people that inhabit their world, and the price for this control has become progress. A society built on the basis of ‘Community, Identity, Stability’ will never be able to face the ever changing, fickle nature of humanity. In order to preserve control they must therefore eliminate evolution.

They have stolen evolution’s format: the world and mankind will forever be stuck in the small cage of Brave New World, and in essence this eliminates anything that is truly either brave or new. In conclusion, it is safe to say that Huxley’s utopia went about achieving its status in the wrong way. Mankind has lost its free will to the controlling powers of a system. This system cannot be called government, as it is more akin in characteristics to slavery. Man no longer has freewill and order is kept not through respect and intellect, but via degeneration nd conduct. The former sections of this essay present strategies and techniques used to maintain order in a society of individuals. Finally, it may be argued that the Brave New World protects society by locking them in a cage of ignorance; however, this is at the cost of freedom, and this is unacceptable. Mankind needs be free in order to progress as has been explained. Protection is all well and good but not at the cost of freedom: humans must be free to make mistakes in order to evolve, grow and create. Societal order must still be maintained, but not abused.

Those in charge are well within their right to impose laws and rules, as long as these laws keep within a reasonable parameter. Protection is one thing, enslavement is another; if protection must come at the cost of freedom then it is not worth it, and I am sure that those in Brave New World, if given the chance, would choose freedom. Huxley’s utopia is a future that we should hope is never realized, it would bring us to ruin. If we must place faith in those in control, let us hope that they possess the qualities presented in this essay, and have the ability to lead a world of free people forward and beyond.