Pleasure over Terror

There are arguably many similar characteristics between Brave New World and 1984—the characters, the divisions in the state, the destruction of the past, and the limits on scientific and technological advancements. However, these two dictatorships seek to control their people in two very opposite ways. The terror used in 1984 seemed to be proven as the driving force in any future dictatorship through the rise of Hitler and Stalin. The two men rose to world power through their use of fear and through the forced loyalty of their people. Nevertheless, the world saw the fall of both Hitler and Stalin Russia and the use of pleasure in Brave New World appeared to withstand the test of time. And now it seems that pleasure is the most likely source of any future dictatorship’s power.

With the rise of both scientific and technological advancements, the conditioning and genetic engineering of Brave New World are already being seen in today’s society. The brutality and atomic threats of 1984, meanwhile, have begun to decline.

From the perspective of 1948, the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four seemed very probable; but from the perspective of 1959, much less so. Soviet Russia after Stalin is no longer quite the brutal and terroristic state it had once been, and so, assuming that no atomic war intervened to destroy all calculations—and mankind—“it now looks as though the odds were more in favour of something like Brave New World than of something like Nineteen Eighty-Four” (13). (Conclusion: The Two Futures)

The end of the Cold War marked the decline of atomic obliteration, and although the U.S. is still threatened by nuclear advancements in North Korea and Syria, those threats are still drastically less than those of the Cold War. The real source of power seems to be coming from the area of science. Parents may screen their children for diseases such as cystic fibrosis and the debate of producing a completely genetically engineered child has begun. Governments have the knowledge needed to completely condition a person, but have morally refrained from doing so (at least publicly). The ability to completely rid the world of disease is on its way and with it travels a source of power—power from pleasure. Any future government will be able to harness that power to rid its country of pain, disease, and hardship. But Brave New World serves as a warning against any government using it to create a dictatorship.

Huxley argues it takes too much effort to fully produce terror within a population. He “makes the point that terror is a less efficient administrative tool than pleasure; the stick less a guarantee of stability than the carrot.” The inner party in 1984 works hard to produce fear within the outer party members. Thought police patrol throughout the city; the telescreens are always on and watching the party members, and the reader sees how long O’Brien must torture Winston before he finally submits himself completely to Big Brother. Despite all of this effort to produce terror within the population, it is still not completely effective. There are still people like Winston and Julia who purposely disobey party rules. There is this innate desire in them to rebel against the government that is trying to suppress them. And, yet, the government in Brave New World is trying to suppress its people, so why do not more citizens rebel? The answer is because the people of Brave New World do not know they are being suppressed. The Brave New World government has granted them pleasure; they are content with their lives because due to genetic engineering and conditioning they do not know anything else. Even Helmholtz does not purposely rebel against the government. Instead he is merely trying to find what else there is to life. He knows he has more potential, but just does not know where to find it. Because power from pleasure is more effective and easier to administer, a future dictatorship would use such pleasure over terror to control its people.

Additionally, any future dictatorship above all will want stability. Stability is key to how long a government will last and how much it will grow. Therefore, the search for power should be based upon what source will produce the most stabilizing effect. “The lust for power can be equally well satisfied by inflicting a humiliating pleasure rather than a humiliating pain; and the power of pleasure has the advantage of being more stabilizing.” Pleasure has this ability to be more stabilizing because the governed people will be content with what they have. They will not want more in their lives and will go through each day performing the same tasks over and over again without questioning their existence. The people of Brave New World find additional pleasure through sex and daily rations of soma. Sex is their outlet for their emotions and because they cannot stay committed to one person there is no fear of finding love. Soma on the other hand is an outlet from emotions and clouds any problems or worries the people may have. Today’s societies already have the scientific knowledge for contraception and hallucinogens and it is only a matter of whether a government decides to take advantage of these things, in addition to conditioning and genetic engineering, that they will be able to control an entire population.

While it appears because of scientific and technological advancements and because of a desire for stability that a future dictatorship would seek to use pleasure to control its people, there is still potential for the use of terror. It is important to realize, though, that the complete destruction of the past is necessary for either source of power to completely work. If a population has knowledge of the past, then there is the possibility of a rebellion for the way things were. The use of pleasure, however, would lower the risk of other rebellions due to contentment within the population, thereby making it a more desirable source of power.


Source:

Conclusion: The Two Futures: A.F. 632 and 1984