Reflections on Brave New World VII: Thinking Is Such a Headache!

Trey Smith

The previous post in this miniseries dealt with a futuristic aspect of society -- casual sexual relations -- that would horrify today's fundamentalist Christians. This post deals with an aspect that this same group would embrace wholeheartedly: anti-intellectualism.

This part of the plot is brought out through the character Helmholtz Watson. Helmholtz turns out to be too intelligent for his own good. Though he was conditioned like everyone else, Watson still searches for meaning in this rather meaningless futuristic society. In fact, he wants to engage in a very subversive activity: He wants to write poetry!

I think most of us can agree that a non-thinking society would be easy to control. If people are conditioned to do what they are told and never see a need to question it, what could cause conflict and strife?

In my estimation, this forms the basis of fundamentalist religion. The folks on top of the pyramid are the only ones allowed to think deeply and their deep thoughts predominantly pertain to the best ways to manipulate the masses into transferring to them as much earthly riches, power and status as possible. By convincing the masses that critical thinking is evil, you create a sea of mindless adherents who would never consider challenging this myopic worldview.

So, you cast religious dogma as incontrovertible fact and you malign science and philosophy as apostasy! You convince people that anything that might broaden their minds is the work of the devil/evil spirits. In time, if this strategy works, you can mold the faithful to punish and self-censure themselves if an unorthodox thought happens to leak into their heads.