Trey Smith
In my last post in this miniseries, I pointed out the importance of the caste system in Huxley's new World State. One part of the equation that I left out -- I wanted to address it in a separate post -- is the mechanism the ruling elite utilizes to insure that those in the lower castes don't revolt. As the new humans develop in their bottles and beyond, they are subjected to a "hypnopaedic process." Put in the common vernacular, they are brainwashed as they sleep!
In a manner of speaking, what we're talking about here is a form of subliminal messaging. You hammer home a particular message below the threshold of conscious perception and your subjects come to believe that, whatever you've stuffed into their brains, they came up with it of their own volition.
It's quite maniacal, if you think about it. You produce a mass of humans to do all the dirty work that society requires and you brainwash them to accept their shitty lot in life as if it is a self-evident truth!
Boy, it's a good thing that our current society is nothing like Huxley's vision...except that, in many ways, it is.
While we don't necessarily preprogram individuals to think a certain way BEFORE birth, we do a damn good job of it once the baby pops out of the womb!
The socialization process of infants, toddlers and young children could be described as a form of brainwashing. In both overt and subliminal ways, parents and other relatives pass on their beliefs and mores to their young who are just beginning to formulate their own ideas of the world around them. Before most of us have half a chance to develop our own notions, we are provided with a sometimes rigid framework that shapes what we think and experience to a significant degree.
For example, children who grow up in racist homes are very likely to -- surprise, surprise! -- harbor racist sentiments themselves. This is just as true for home environments that are overtly racists as it is in those homes in which racist beliefs are rarely spoken of explicitly, but are implicitly present in the overall attitudes of the parents.
The mass media also is a purveyor of direct and subliminal messaging. We constantly are bombarded with definitions of what the good life "truly" entails. We are told which automotive vehicle makes us more powerful and popular or which toothpaste will attract the best potential mate. It is not uncommon at all for pr firms to manufacture a desire for a particular product when, without their manipulative ad campaigns, no such desire would exist.
Government leaders get in on the act too. When they incessantly tell us that our nation is the "good guy," we automatically come to see any nation or group that doesn't go along with our policies and strategies as the "bad guys." This is where American Exceptionalism is derived from! Since most Americans unwittingly have gulped down the Kool-Aid, they too readily accept the notion that America doesn't have to play by the rules because we're better and more righteous than everyone else!
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