Which fictional world would be worse to live in: a society that crushes individual initiative or one that controls facts, history, and even your thoughts?
Which fictional world would be worse to live in: a society that crushes individual initiative or one that controls facts, history, and even your thoughts?
Another odd question. Is this about a fantasy world, or our perception of the world we live in?
Based on my opinion of the authors and their books, I would go with Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged and George Orwell’s 1984.
Both novels offer dystopian views of the world we live in, taken to extremes.
In Atlas Shrugged, Rand explores what happens when individual initiative and the productive spirit are destroyed. The people who create, invent, and produce eventually reach a breaking point, while society becomes increasingly dependent on what others can provide. It is a world where government intervention and the erosion of individual responsibility threaten the very spirit that drives human progress.
See my review on Atlas Shrugged
In 1984, Orwell takes a different approach. The powerful control information, erase facts, rewrite history, and continually change the narrative to keep people silent and compliant. The past becomes whatever those in power say it was, leaving people with no reliable record against which to compare the present. History is constantly rewritten, and even the truth becomes something that can be manipulated.
See my review on 1984
There are some parallels with the world today, whether it is unchecked capitalism, the distortion of facts, or the changing presentation of history, even in institutions such as the Smithsonian. However, people are speaking out. They are questioning what they are told rather than simply accepting everything and looking the other way.
The ability to communicate on a massive scale is another important difference. Neither novel fully anticipates the modern internet and the speed at which information, and misinformation, can spread. That doesn’t mean the dangers these books describe are impossible, but it does make the world we live in more complicated than either fictional society.
So, which would be worse? A society where individual initiative and productive achievement are crushed, or one where the government controls what you can know, remember, and believe?
Given the choice, I think either world would make for a pretty miserable existence.
Which would you find harder to live with: a society that crushes individual achievement or one that controls truth itself? What book would you choose?
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