Government Censorship and Control in Brave New World

Imagine a society in which its citizens have forfeited all personal liberties for government protection and stability; Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, explores a civilization in which this hypothetical has become reality. The inevitable trade-off of citizens’ freedoms for government protection traditionally follows periods of war and terror. The voluntary degradation of the citizens’ rights begins with small, benign steps to full, totalitarian control. Major methods for government control and censorship are political, religious, economic, and moral avenues. Huxley’s Brave New World provides a prophetic glimpse of government censorship and control through technology; the citizens of the World State mimic those of the real world by trading†¦show more content†¦The World State forbids the citizens from experiencing any negative emotion, for fear of losing control. Soma, Latin for sleep, renders its users to a coma-like blissful state, which Congdon describes, borrowing the statement from Huxley himself, that soma allows the citizens to,â€Å"periodically escape from the pressure of routine and worldly cares†(Congdon). Citizens are conditioned to use the drug at the slightest challenge to the cultural norms, preventing any thoughts of rebellion or contempt against the government. Moreover, the World State explicitly harvests this â€Å"religious emotion† through requiring the citizens to prescribe to their own self-made religion, Fordism. As practitioners of Fordism, the citizens of the World State revere real world Henry Ford as their savior. Huxley utilizes satirical comparisons between Christianity and Fordism to illuminate that today’s government utilizes Christianity in a similar way, to quell the masses. Huxley uses obvious parodies such as switching â€Å"Our Lord† for â€Å"Our Ford† and cutting the tops off all crosses so they resemble T’s, a reference to Ford’s Model T car, to bring the truth to light without explicitly stating the fact. The followers of Ford also attend regular â€Å"Solidarity Services.† These services are comprised of twelve individuals sitting around a table while they sing hymns and ingest soma until the climax of anShow MoreRelatedBrave New World Loss Of Individuality Analysis90 6 Words   |  4 Pagesfuturistic novel Brave New World, published by Aldous Huxley, depicts a totalitarian government, which is a â€Å"political regime based on subordination†¦ and strict control of all aspects of the life and productive capacity of the nation.† This government succeeds in securing stability with the use of biotechnological and socio-scientific techniques. 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