The Book Club: Brave New World by Aldous Huxley with Sen. Ted Cruz | The Book Club
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 20 ก.ค. 2024
- Sen. Ted Cruz joins Michael Knowles this month for a very special episode of The Book Club! They discuss Aldous Huxley’s dystopian novel Brave New World and why it is an indictment of tyranny and totalitarianism. Don’t miss it.
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@PragerU! People, we need your help! @Classically Abby needs your help, she is a pro-life voice being absolutely RAPED by degenerates on this platform!
I wonder if these books such as 1984, Brave New World & Animal Farm etc inspired the movie Equilibrium?
@@Ryo-sj8wn
. Me
Get Ross Douthat to discuss Robert Nisbet’s _The Quest for Community_.
What a pair of hypocrites you both are. You both need to reread that book and then hold a mirror up to yourselves.
“...most men and women will grow up to love their servitude and will never dream of revolution.” - Aldous Huxley, Brave New World
Yep
AYN RAND is better
Ahh I see. That's from his letter to George Orwell, no?
@@UnknownAutist-pb6ml No, it's from the text of Brave New World
MC Goku In which chapter?
Brave New World is like 10x creepier than 1984.
and infinitely more applicable to life
1984 is a Hell heck a book. Definitely applies to 2020.
Agreed.
@@James-il3tq Hell heck
@@James-il3tq I agree and I'm not taking anything away from 1984. But when you compare the ideas behind the two books you can see one is about being beaten into submission by the state vs the state conditioning you into not wanting to leave it's grasp before you're even conscious and then giving you drugs to keep you docile and happy.
Before you're even "hatched" (or whatever the term that was used) the state has determined what you're going to do and made it so that you'll be happy doing it without even considering any other options by medicating your fetus.
1984 is about how the state is going to force you into submission using force along with destroying history and contorting the language that's being used so you can't do wrong think.
Brave New World... why would you want to do anything else? You take a Soma vaction whenever you're upset. You're basically bred for your job. The idea of freedom is to do what you were made for. To consider any other form of life is alien to these people. They don't have to use force. They don't care about history. Language isn't controlled because there's nothing to remove.
One is dark and foreboding. The other is people almost begging to not be removed from their shackles. The optimistic language of BNW is far more disturbing to me than darkness and dystopia of 1984. People haven't just been broken, they want it that way.
I didn't know Ted Cruz to be such a vivid storyteller. I recently read the book and enjoyed this conversation immensely. The parallels between Brave New World and our current reality in the United States is quite chilling indeed.
It is only when we have renounced our preoccupation with "I," "me," "mine," that we can truly possess the world in which we live. Everything, provided that we regard nothing as property. And not only is everything ours; it is also everybody else's.
Communism indeed destroys families. This story of my family in an unknown communist country. My father became the opposition in the early his career, his two brothers stop speaking to him since then. This is not some rare occasion, this is very common communist country.
That story about Castro and the candy sent chills down my spine...
I knew another Cuban woman who told me that when she was a school girl Castro’s people came in and did the same thing, but with ice cream instead of candy. Then they told them that God doesn’t provide but Raul Castro does. I guess that was a common tactic.
@@dreamweaver1603 Of course that it is true! Ask any Cuban American from Miami that came to this country in the 60’s when the Revolution took over all the Institutions in Cuba; they will tell you stories like that and more terrific. That is why the majority voted for Trump ! It is Déjà vu for us.
@@spencercabana6082 I hope we’ve got enough people to fight it here. I do worry about 20 years from now because the younger generation doesn’t seem to understand.
That just shows the depravity of Man ...They have No Fear of God in before there eye’s...to do that is evil
@@dreamweaver1603 Whoa, that was a real thing? The teacher in James Clavell's "A Children's Story" does the same thing. Something about how the "leader" can provide candy, but God can't. Creepy. 😬
As an English teacher, I’m really impressed with Senator Cruz here. The level of nuance and attention to detail in his analysis of the book is stunning. He could honestly be a great English teacher. Bravo.
God help your students if you’re an English teacher.
@@_horl_8543 lol you assumed that she wasn’t a good English teacher because of her analysis of Senator Cruz, simply because of your political beliefs.
@@samuelarmstrong5862 or because I’ve read a lot of Huxley’s work, including’Brave New World Revisited’, and seeing someone who deeply misunderstands his work hurts me to see
@@samuelarmstrong5862 I’m not even American. I don’t have a stake in American politics. But I know propaganda and misinterpretation when I see it.
@@_horl_8543 what was propagandized in this video and what did they misinterpret? Can you give an example?
Huxley and Orwell were influenced by Yevgeny Zamyatin, who wrote "We" in 1920-21 and had it smuggled out of the Soviet Union to be published. Zamyatin lived it.
And Ayn Rand's "Anthem".
I hated that book and that dystopian utopia, but whenever I hear it analyzed I find new details about the progressive dream that terrifies me even more.
Brave New World's Utopia is where Contraception and unbridled sexual encounter is a thing and taught at a very young age, cloning is a norm and heavily controlled by the state, with matching caste system, and where religious folks are put into the museum.
Aging is only evident on the religious folk while mortal youth is still in the other side, and the state is creating a faux and ubsurd social experiments that is nonsense and illogical in our modern society, but makes sense in their context.
That's how I feel about 1984. I haven't read it in years, but every book review makes me empathize more and more with Winston.
Ayn rand is way better
How the hell is the setting of Brave New World the "progressive dream"? It's a world of Eugenics, Imperialism, Consumerism - all things Progressives are against.
@John Forbes Dude... are you alright?
Brave New World Revisited is even more relevant. Huxley refined the concepts.
The chapter, propaganda under a dictatorship, describes the left methods and tactics and goals perfectly.
Brian Anderson our think our ugly present is already full 1984 with overtones of BNR. The future will not be anything like what books have read. Time to pray.
@@BigMac4459 I think it's going to be more like Idiocracy mixed with an authoritarian gobalist agenda.
@@ericb2103 The Left is strongly opposed to both Propaganda and Dictatorship, but go off I guess.
@@FunnyLittleFella You wouldnt describe PC and cancel culture propoganda?
The part when John wants to see his dying mom and the kids are playing around her death bed is one of the most profound part of any books I’ve read
If Ted Cruz could be this relaxed and was able to portray this side of him better, I think more people would see that he’s a legit presidential candidate. He’s brilliant and genuine. Too bad most people don’t see that.
Maybe cause "most" people are just not that tuned in or of good thinking quality when it comes to politicians or the other serious matters of life.
So true!
Trump was more likely to beat Hillary. Ted Cruz was my first pick for president and I told people so before Trump got the nomination. Many conservatives really like Ted Cruz but Trump had that confidence and ability to cause a movement that Ted didn't have. Build the wall, drain the swamp, MAGA. Ted wasn't strong enough to dismiss Trump. Ted is more level headed than Trump and if Ted got elected he would never been impeached since he wasn't controversial. I am still a fan of Ted Cruz, but I like what Trump accomplished.
People vote for their bank accounts, nothin much you can say
@@chrisjohnson7994 They vote their emotions. A great leader works hard at instilling them, reality doesn't matter.
Once again I recommend Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451. A great book on the cancel culture.
Cancel culture? Sureee buddy. Having consequences for your actions is cancel culture
@@theworld6710 You don't under stand that the cancel culture is about censorship not consequences for actions. Banning a TV show because some people are offended that a CAR has a Confederate Battle Flag on the roof is censorship. It was okay for 0ver 35 years.
LadyCathryn slavery was okay for many years as well? Just because something was tolerated before means it needs to be tolerated now. Times change. Also the confederate flag is that of a terrorist group who got their ass beaten, we don’t need it
@@theworld6710 Read Bradbury's book *and the other dystopian books) to understand what cancle culture is about. People were not offended by Dukes of Hazzard until some college miseducated baby decided the flag was offensive. (which by the way portrays law enforcement in a bad light)
LadyCathryn The flag is offensive. It represents a terrorist ground that attempted to suppress blacks
So interesting what you are saying about beauty (flowers). I have been observing for some time how beauty is being taken from us. I first noticed many years ago how buildings tend to be getting uglier--offensively ugly! There used to be a pride in craftsmanship and details--glass door knobs, etc. Fashion is trending downhill. Even the human faces! When I was young in California, almost everyone was attractive. I almost never saw anyone who was truly irredeemably unattractive at any age, and now, some 50 yrs later, it's not at all unusual. Even simple things like Kleenex boxes. They used to be gorgeous, with big cabbage roses or interesting geometric designs--almost too beautiful to throw away .... but now they are practically hideous! They HAVE to be doing this on purpose!! I think it's because beauty brings refreshment to the soul. The Evil behind this trend doesn't want us to have ANY respite. But Jesus told us to "Look UP!"
@Floral T Shirt "Are you talkin' to me? You talkin' to me?? . . . " Okey doke . . . . Floral, you've got to be kidding me! You DON'T have to agree with me, but by being so ugly with your words, you actually prove my point! We STILL live in a society, even if you don't want to play! There's no need to be so unkind to a total stranger. I pray that you WILL find that Jesus IS very real. Just because you have chosen to believe a lie, doesn't make it so. Just like our current situation where the Fake news has christened Slow, demented Joe, the 46th President, it doesn't make it so.
As psychologist Jordan Peterson says, when you aim to make everything beautiful around you you are aiming up. They don’t want people aiming up.
The only beauty that is allowed is the beauty that fuels consumerism where you pay a premium to obtain a beautiful object rather than create it yourself
And here in our time 05/2022
An eco-maniac attacked "the Mona Lisa" by Davinci, smearing it with cream.
As an Artist this is Repulsive, the concentrated study Davinci did and the amazing things he discovered of our natural world (ie. the human body, Birds in flight/ movement of horses, even the ripples as well as the movement of water & The way Light / Shadow play upon everything.)
@@csteward2194
Why did he do that?
Did he provide a response when interviewed?
@@csteward2194I had a decent mushroom trip . This was the first thing I thought about . I think the lack of testosterone in men has a big role to play . Everyone I know watches porn religiously , leading to weak men .
I knew that Sen. Cruz was a gifted orator and incredibly intelligent, having argued several times in front of the Supreme Court, but it was a pleasant discovery to learn that he has a poetic bent.
I’m really glad my English teacher forced me to read this and 1984. I never cared as a teenager but it has taught me so much as I’ve revisited them and looked at the world now.
Feeling so grateful to Prager U for making this video. I read BNW about a year ago and it blew my mind how exactly it described where we are today. It makes me feel a little bit crazy to know that this book forecasted the present day so well, but even with that information made available to us, we haven’t been able to avoid it. In all the times I’ve raised BNW in conversation, not once have I heard back any awareness of its relevancy and value. So this book club video has done nothing less than increase my sanity! Thank heavens that some people ARE having this conversation! How do I find people who get this in my real life?! I crave these kinds of connections, so I don’t feel so isolated in my awareness of things like modern society being an enactment of prophetic fiction.
Read it in high school, who knew it'd be so relevant today.
Definitely relevant. It warns us against not only USSR totalitarianism, but also the much more dangerous, "Capitalist democracy" of the USA which controls through mind control rather than force. It's creepy how much this book predicts the horror of Trump! (Huxely and Orwell were socialists until they died and admired Karl Marx)
@@kevinmager7103 not true for Huxley. He rejected Marxism in Eyeless in Gaza. Obviously Brave New World is a rejection of anti individualist governments as well. Huxley was very interested in some sort of combined world religion. He came yo see religion as necessary, which conflicts with Marxism. Huxley was way too interesting of a thinker to embrace any philosophy someone else made up. I don't know about Orwell. Obviously he saw the problems in Marxism so for whatever that's worth
@@MicahMicahel Eyeless in Gaza is not a rejection Marxism, but a rejection of using violent means to bring about revolution. It was only published 4 years after Brave New World, he didn't have a complete conversion. There are a lot of socialists who read and appreciated Marx but didn't think violent revolution could bring about positive change. Camu is an example. He was a socialist, a pacifist, anti-nationalist, and anti-capitalist his entire life. His books are not for the right and never will be. You don't have to agree with everything Marx said to be a Marxist. But even if he wasn't a Marxist, Huxley clearly believed capitalism leads to the manipulation of people by corporations through advertising and other means. He often has the message that a society is not free if it is capitalist, it is manipulated. The right hates that message, Huxley is not for the right.
@@kevinmager7103 Brave New World is a rejection of centralized control over our lives and the whole notion of a utopia. Marxism is a utopian idea. Huxley was against the notion that utopia can be possible and in typical fashion his last novel was a utopian novel... but the utopia was more of an anarchic idea of it where the utopia is small and not possible with modern technology. Huxley would've been horrified of Marxism if he saw the technological potential we now have.
You are trying to squish him into a space he is actually opposed to being in. He was an individualist, not a collectivist. It's been a long time since I've read him but I would say he was a more of an anarchist, of the Michael Malice variety. The sci fi author you'll be more successful with appropriations is H.G. Wells who wrote a couple socialist utopian novels I haven't read.
Huxley didn't agree with H.G. Wells's utopian socialist beliefs and that was his starting point... his motive to write Brave New World was to upend H.G. Wells.
Also Huxley became spiritual in his last years and that's a no no for Marxism.
Also he took mescaline on his death bed.
@@kevinmager7103 "predicts the horrors of Trump!" Lmao that comment aged like milk. How you enjoying the Biden regime? Jackass!
It’s a great read! We should make every high school kid read this and 1984! And some others!
Capt. Nemo I read it in high school. I believe my daughter read it in high school just a couple of years ago. I know she was also assigned 1984 one year in high school as well.
Huxely and Orwell were socialists.
1984 and Fahrenheit 451 were books I was assigned to read in high school and I loved them, very enlightening
@@kevinmager7103 yeah, this video twists some of the books points a little
Jarrett Sitton - Screwtape Letters, Animal Farm, Atlas Shrugged to name a few.
I have this book, but hadn't read it.. maybe I should.
Finish it in the next 27 hours
th-cam.com/video/AVVjg3FKugg/w-d-xo.html
Yes. Yes you should.
Like now.
Add Animal Farm, 1984, Atlas Shrugged, The Fountainhead, and Thomas Sowells Basic Economics to your list.
🤦♂️
This Book Club idea is great. It would be great to know what title is coming up for the upcoming episode.
"Sexual libertinism means 'we want LESS love.'" That's valuable insight for young men & women who are starting to make profound decisions for their lives.
I haven't read this book, but I certainly would like to. The analysis alone made me look back and feel so lucky and thankful for my humanity. Thank you, kind sirs.
Whatever you do, do not watch the made for TV version, which sucks even worse than most novel adaptations.
If you haven't read the book then leave here. Go buy it and pay very close attention to the semi-moron. Accurate here.
I just Audibled this book for the first time, and the thing that horrified me the most was the sexual play. Children in their society are taught to act out sex acts pre puberty in order to encourage the notion that sex has no real meaning and deter loyalty.
The only thing Huxley got wrong was the orientation. Pride parades are hyper sexualized, and I see kids at them. Books are being distributed to kids to normalize LGBTQ relationships. I see sexual play entering our schools. I'm not religious, but I intend to send my kid to Catholic school specifically to avoid this stuff.
@@grumpimachor2275 why would Catholic school be a grave mistake?
@@SpockvsEgon in france it has been reported over 150 000 cases of pedophilia connected to the latin church over the last 50 years. And that is france alone.
The underground Human traffickers do it and way worst, having children kill other children, having dress like the Roman days and other acts
This one of the problems with modern society, they don’t see the full perception
Catholic School generally is a good idea. But be careful, there are all kinds out there. Lots of socialism being taught.
Senator Cruz, here is my critique. I did not like the lengths you went to against Donald Trump during the 2016 primary. I especially did not like the way you used your Christianity as currency in that bid. With that said, i really appreciate the way you have been a solid ally to the Constitution, the Nation, and President. You have not just made Texas proud. You made America proud by just doing your job as a Senator. You have set good example. Thank you Senator Cruz. I still remember your sleepless fillabuster that the news media mocked you for. I was proud of you.
Yes, I remember that Sen. Cruz was the only one to stand against Obama Care! Still remember him reading Dr. Seuss to his kids from the floor of the Senate. I agree with what you said almost verbatim, he has done a great job to date in standing up for America.
@@quenta.sential8845 I hope he continues to do so! :)
@@budahbaba7856 What lengths are you talking about? Did he make false accusations against his family or resort to name-calling?
This may not be the only place we can watch you two interact, but you two so need to do this again!
Freedom starts with freedom from sin.
Thanks Ted and Michael.
Funny I read the girl's name like Sen. Cruz said. I read this book in my attempt to self-educate when I was 19. I was totally scandalized by this book. So glad to hear you discuss it.
Had to pause to comment. Brilliant discussion, especially when Ted is discussing the part about the promiscuity not being about screwing but rather about not loving because if you love what would you not do for your loved ones. My favorite Prager U Book Club discussion so far! Phenomenal!
I didn't realize a book club could be so engaging. Thanks! ^_^
I am so glad that you decided to have this book on The Book Club. I read this book for the first time just a couple years ago and did not find it easy to understand but that was before I became aware of all of this dystopian stuff in our own present day society. I still have the book I think so I may reread it if I can find the time. I think that Sen. Cruz is the perfect person to tell of the things his grandmother and parents experienced under Fidel Castro's Cuba. Thank you again. Praise God. Selah
I like Ted more each time I see him. Michael, I have always loved you
Read this is highschool AP English, I want to read it again now hearing this two decades later. It's great! Thanks for book clubbing it.
Great book. Good work, Mike. Cruzer is the man.
I always toss in an oblique reference to BNW in my books and while it sails over most of my readers heads, every so often one catches it and DMs me. Makes my day when that happens. Huxley's book is grossly underrated IMO. Should be right up there with 1984 and Animal Farm.
And today's Soma is likes on an IG/Twitter post.
We had to read this book in R.N. school in 1987...I keep thinking of this book in what's happening in our society today!
That story about Communist Cuba and his grandmother was chilling...
I didn't know this about him. I have a whole new respect for him now.
Great Show
Thank YOU
Gentlemen🗽
Whatever happened to “I may not agree with what you say but I will defend with my life your right to say it.” ?
Brynne Muir - cute.
...Unless it’s “No Platform for Fascists!”
Mediterranean Diet - Free speech is free speech for all. In a free society it’s all voices not just some.
Tessy Murdock Free to call for an end to free speech paradox.
Mediterranean Diet - it may appear to be a paradox, especially since we have become so complacent in this tyranny. “No platform for Fascists” means we all better get out to counter this, Fascists included. For free speech to survive citizens must remain educated and must have access to information.
I have become a huge fan of Senator Ted Cruz over the last few weeks. Thank you, sir, for all you are doing for freedom and our country.
THE ISLAND BY ALDOUS HUXLEY !
It’s very interesting that they don’t mention how the savage reservation is broken although the have all the “freedoms” of family, Christianity, and conservative ideals... Huxley purposely includes this to show that both spectrums lead to different types of pain.
Thank you so much for this. This remains on my grade 11 reading list. A great, insightful discussion.
I read "Brave New World" when I was in high school in the 70's, but I didn't read it in Literature class. I read it in Sociology class. Most of my classmates dug the book, but I was horrified by it. The promiscuity, the atheism, the self medicating all made me feel really bad for the characters in the book. Even though it has been many years since I last read it, listening to these two gentlemen discuss the book brings back much of a revulsion I felt on reading it as a teenager.
I’ve read 1984 and Brave New World these past few months along with other dystopias (currently reading Animal Farm) and I found these things to be common in all of them
1- family is distorted/destroyed
2- speech is controlled
Karlie McKinnon hmmm and BLM say they are against the nuclear family....🤔
Lorraine Swartzentruber exactly. Scary stuff
The Left deliberately equivocate or distort the meaning of ordinary words (“genocide”; “woman”; “inclusion”; “equity”;”fairness”) and invent new terms for political signalling (“whiteness”; “person of colour”; “cis-normative”).
I love Ted Cruz so much now! This was so awesome. I read this 20 years ago, now I'm reading it again. Awesome job guys!
This book is more applicable than 1984 change my mind
I don't know that I can change your mind, but I see more current parallels to 1984. Examples: language is controlled and manipulated to control perceptions. History is erased or rewritten to favor the party. People are encouraged to rat out those who do not comply. While there are plenty of drugs around in real life, there is nothing analogous to soma which is the perfect designer drug with deliberate dose dependent effects.
It’s not. Mass government surveillance is pública knowledge around the world. Bioengineering children and over-stratification of society hasn’t started. There’s still class mobility and relative educational freedom. Go read the Bible, Shakespeare, or even Mein Kampf whole you can. We’re still free!
Cats of Sherman yes but brave new world also erases history and it doesn’t censor language but it programs people to essentially not desire to speak out against society. A dystopian utopia is more realistic the powers that be know that destroying the very place they live isn’t gonna work out for anyone so they keep people enslaved in other ways. yes 1984 still applies but a dystopian utopia makes more sense than a full on bleak dystopia. The nanny state of brave new world is more applicable than the harsh dictatorship of 1984
I don't view it as a competition, 1984, brave new world, animal farm, Fahrenheit 451, atlas shrugged.....they all tell the same story, just different aspects and viewpoints of it. Cautionary tales meant to be heeded, and not followed like a textbook.
Because this is corporate and scientifically engineered totalitarianism and Tierney which is what we are going through today corporations are doing it on behalf of monopoly power
Please continue this show!
This is the best one of these so far.
Demolition Man
Edgar Friendly:
You got that right. See, according to Cocteau's plan, I'm the enemy.
Cause I like to think, I like to read. I'm into freedom of speech and
freedom of choice. I'm the kind if guy who wants to sit in a greasy
spoon and think, "Gee, should I have the T-bone steak or the jumbo rack
of barbecued ribs with the side order of gravy fries?" I want high
cholesterol. I want to eat bacon, butter and buckets of cheese, okay? I
want to smoke a Cuban cigar the size of Cincinnati in a non-smoking
section. I wanna run through the streets naked with green Jello all over
my body reading Playboy magazine. Why? Because I suddenly might feel
the need to. Okay, pal? I've seen the future, you know what it is? It's a
47-year-old virgin sittin' around in his beige pajamas, drinking a
banana-broccoli shake singing "I'm an Oscar-Meyer Wiener". You wanna
live on top, you gotta live Cocteau's way. What he wants, when he wants,
how he wants. Your other choice: come down here, maybe starve to death
I just found out that Sandra Bullock's character in that movie was named Lenina Huxley. Mind. Blown.
I just found out that Dennis Leary is a plagiarist
navy2af Me too. Critical Drinker?
scottydu81 lol, me too! Somehow I’ve been getting all these Bill Hicks recommendations and saw one about how Leary stole all his early routines from Hicks.
@Jade Runner
I have no answer. If it is any consolation Paul asked a similar question 2000 years ago
"15 I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. 16 And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. 17 As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. 18 For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature.[a] For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do-this I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it."
Paul's Letter to The Romans 7:15
Braving the New Horrible Normal.
Finished reading it last night. Huxley was ahead of his times back in 1931 when he wrote this book. Excellent review, gentlemen.
How odd, I just finished reading this book three days ago. I often hear that we're entering the world of 1984, but Aldous Huxley didn't think that was sustainable, and believed that we were hurtling toward Brave New World very quickly, where stability is maintained through bread and circuses.
Brandon Wilks like the hunger games. In a world of socialism and communism Individualism is destroyed and the state controls everything. You cannot speak your mind freely and soon you cannot think at all. You follow. You take a knee. You blindly apologize for your white privilege. You believe the media that is government controlled (or controlled by the left) and only there to tell you what to think and how to behave. Life itself-embryos-can be engineered to get the kind of people needed in the society. No one needs property or things because everything you need will be provided by the government. Big Brother is watching you through the TV. If you ever speak or do anything out of line your children will report you. When you see what is going on in this country right now I don’t see how you cannot think of these books by Huxley and Orwell and be afraid. Watching BLM members asking white people to kneel before them and apologize for their whiteness and have it be taped so they can get credit from the boss. No one sees anything wrong with this when the white girl is actually out there in support of these racists. Racism is the crudest form of collectivism and BLM surely fits the bill. Read Animal Farm again and watch Fox to see what is going on in the cities. CNN doesn’t want you to know. It might ruin Governor Cuomo’s “we’re all in this together” moment. Thank you again Ted. You surely know more about this than many.
@@marilynmysak5889 Uhhh, neither 1984 nor Brave New World are about Socialism or Communism. They're about authoritarianism - the setting of Brave New World is quite explicitly Capitalist. Furthermore, nobody is making white people apologize for being white. Maybe you ought to be critical of where you get your information from, lest you become that which you seem so passionately against. BLM doesn't have a "boss", they aren't racist - in fact they're the exact opposite, and racism has nothing to do with collectivism. You need to take a critical look at yourself my dude.
@@FunnyLittleFella You are a fool if you think BLM people destroying other peoples properties is not racism. What an idiot.
Surprising Ted brings up 1984, brave new, and animal farm. Those books were needed for my high school summer reading as well as Lord of the Flies!
Suggestion: add "Fahrenheit 451" . . .
Read this book last week. Great Timing.
I never noticed the Lenina thing until right before Ted mentioned it. Can't believe I missed that.
I read this book, 1984 and Farenhight 361, way back as a teen in the 60s!!! So good to know that as we are living in such a dystopia these great books are coming back!
The only one I'd add to the list of must reads is: The Politics of Obediance, The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude, by Etienne de LA Boetie... it explains how we got to this moment ... though it was written by a young French college student 500 yrs ago it is so alive today!
They’re called “Feelies” because people who are caught up in ‘feeling’ are not ‘thinking’...
If Cruz ever runs for president again, will Knowles be his running mate lol
Won't be old enough I don't think
@@ectanker6813 it was a joke
@@maybetoby That's what I got told last comment. I only said it because a Cruz/Knowles ticket would be great, but I don't think he will be 35 before the election, otherwise I'd actually love to see it. But what is keeping Knowles out is also keeping AOC out now so maybe it's good to have it.
I remember when we read this and 1984 in high school in 2002, our teacher asked us which world we would rather live in and the class unanimously said Brave New World. The teacher was shocked and asked why and the majority of the class said they didn’t see anything bad about it and that it seemed pretty great. Im not a wise man so I couldn’t have known how foreboding that was at the time but I do remember thinking “that’s weird, I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be a dystopia.”
I read this book when I was 13 (1968) and just recently bought it to read again. I have been comparing our society to this book for some time. I wish more people would read it.
Uuuuh, Huxley and Orwell were socialists. Orwell even fought for anarcho-socialist syndicate in Spain. Huxley thought that capitalism was just as terrifying as totalitarianism because of its use of advertisements as propaganda and the need for even more propaganda to sedate the working class into not asking questions. Huxley wrote,
"Certain educators, for example, disapproved of the teaching of propaganda analysis on the grounds that it would make adolescents unduly cynical. Nor was it welcomed by the military authorities, who were afraid that recruits might start to analyze the utterances of drill sergeants. And then there were the clergymen and the advertisers. The clergymen were against propaganda analysis as tending to undermine belief and diminish churchgoing; the advertisers objected on the grounds that it might undermine brand loyalty and reduce sales."
But Capitalist propaganda is just as controlling as a totalitarian state:
"In a capitalist democracy, such as the United States, it is controlled by what Professor C. Wright Mills has called the Power Elite. This Power Elite directly employs several millions of the country's working force in its factories, offices and stores, controls many millions more by lending them the money to buy its products, and, through its ownership of the media of mass communication, influences the thoughts, the feelings and the actions of virtually everybody. To parody the words of Winston Churchill, never have so many been manipulated so much by so few. We are far indeed from Jefferson's ideal of a genuinely free society composed of a hierarchy of self-governing units -- "the elementary republics of the wards, the county republics, the State republics and the Republic of the Union, forming a gradation of authorities."
While he did despise the the totalitarian government of the USSR, remember that Karl Marx believed the goal of communism was to dissolve the state, not give it total power. Lenin, for complicated reasons, decided authoritarian control was necessary for a time. Obviously, Lenin was mistaken. Nonetheless, Huxley even names his character in this book "Marx" after Karl Marx (who he was a fan of).
The biggest irony is that PragerU is the kind of pseudo-intellectualism that is essentially the kind of propaganda Huxley was warning us about. They just did an analysis of a book without any understanding of its deeper meaning or the intellectual history that grounds the works meaning. PragerU pretends to offer analyses of literature, philosophy, economics, etc, but none of the contributors have the sufficient level of expertise to formulate accurate analyses. For example, Ben Shapiro's analysis of John Locke gets some openings arguments right, but utterly fails to draw the correct conclusions. He ignores the vast majority of Locke's philosophy and cherry picks small parts he can use to manipulate you all into agreeing with his ideology. In sum: unsubscribe from PragerU and Ben Shapiro is a sophist.
Kevin Mager that part never get. Ok Orwell list is sort anti comminist but again does not mean he was anti socialism it could be anti stalin
Thank you so much for pointing this out! It pains me to see this comment drowned out in a sea of stupidity
Orwell was looking for an alternative to the English class system and bought into the socialist fantasy of the time---but he kept noticing the reality, though he never heard about the gulag. Had he lived longer, he may have moved to a more American point of view.
I love the book club. It’s still political, but kind of a break from the endless world of today into the minds of the great authors and their works
It was very good. Senator Ted Cruz, I am a fan. Thank you!
This was excellent. Thank you to all who helped make it.
Once upon a time, people argued whether 1984 or Brave New World would be the one to actually happen. No one expected it to be both...
In keeping with 1984 and Brave New World, I would recommend "Future Shock" by Alvin Toffler. Another depressing book, but an interesting analysis of the future, leading to a discussion of how to avoid depression and fragmentation of a person's life and soul.
@True Contrarian I don't mind these books with a depressing view of the future, as long as there is discussion of how we avoid such a sad society (or how to live with hope in a sad society). "Powershift" is the third book in the series but I never read that one. The full title of that book makes me think it would be very contemporary.
I haven’t read animal farm or brave new world yet, but watching/reading 1984 around 10 years ago was plenty for me to see the parallels with our society. I have both of those books, and hope to read them soon. I’m too busy building greenhouses and caring for food animals in our current society, so that I can be prepared for the one that’s obviously coming. Teaching my family too.
I just finished the book this morning. Enjoyed listening to this podcast. Great book with interesting topics and themes. Can’t wait to read more by Huxley.
Soon Americans will be using the "Don't talk about it and we the Hague won't prosecute you for it" the same way the former surviving Yugoslavians still do.
Simply because the court cases will take longer than any of us has time left to live.
I've listened to 3 minutes and already I LOVE it! 🤣
Deep deep worries!
United we stand!
And if we don't . . . we are F...KED!
Absolutely BRILLIANT! Thank You Gentlemen! 💥
I think it was about 20 years ago I coined the term 'Brave New 1984'. I'm pretty proud of that. It is the most succinct description of the state of the modern world I can come up with. Of course you have to have read both books to get it. It's perfect really. But this is just philosophy. Real truth is spiritual truth. So many of us just don't want to see the world, the state of man, as God sees us. That's truth. So many young people you see on 'conservative' website comments are finding good philosophy but are still entangled within worldly philosophy and their hearts are littered with gross, even prurient and debauched thinking. Theirs only one path to real Truth. No amount of man's philosophy can discover it. Set your minds on things above as Paul of Tarsus explained. You will find Truth.
Finally! A book I've actually read instead of just heard a lot about. This was the first book my book club read. It was probably our most spirited discussion.
The show is pretty interesting too. It adds a newer, fresher layer of technocratic domination, and I'd like to see their commentary on it too
I love this show. Keep them coming.
amazing ep!
Great discussion! Came over from Sir Roger Scruton's Hoover Institution discussion on How to be a Conservative. It seems from here, the rest will be history for me.
I never knew Ted Cruise was so intelligent. We need to keep him in Washington.
kathryn bender well yeah
This comment aged poorly... I hope he doesn’t get eaten alive.
it’s in my top 10 fave books. (once you get past the 1st chapter!!!) brave new world and 1984 + animal farm
Ted is fantastic. A very intelligent guy.
Cruz attended two private high schools: Faith West Academy, near Katy, Texas; and Second Baptist High School in Houston, from which he graduated as valedictorian in 1988. During high school, Cruz participated in a Houston-based group known at the time as the Free Market Education Foundation, a program that taught high school students the philosophies of economists such as Milton Friedman and Frédéric Bastiat.After graduating from Princeton, Cruz attended Harvard Law School, graduating magna cum laude in 1995 with a Juris Doctor degree. While at Harvard Law, he was a primary editor of the Harvard Law Review, an executive editor of the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy, and a founding editor of the Harvard Latino Law Review. Referring to Cruz's time as a student at Harvard Law, Professor Alan Dershowitz said: "Cruz was off-the-charts brilliant." At Harvard Law, Cruz was a John M. Olin Fellow in Law and Economics.
This is such a good book, I remember reading it in high school and this was probably the only book from then that stuck with me. Its funny going back to it now because i was a libral back then and mow im conservative
“When I was a boy television was called books!”
Great Birthday gift! Thanks!
How can we find out about the next book so we can read it beforehand?
Please do Animal Farm next or Lord of the Flies! :) Also, really enjoyed your discussion!
I read that book last year. The response to Covid, the legalization of weed efforts. Wow
Great analysis I just finished it today December 2020. I also read it as Senator Ted Cruz .
The moment you realize you’re older than Ted Cruz. I am only a year older, but I had a man tell me back in 1992 when Bill Clinton got elected that he was officially old because his dad told him you are old when you’re older than the president lol.
I’ve never forgotten that conversation. My day has not come yet!
Hey! Jus' wait a doggone minute. You said that in BNW, that the word "mother" is an obsenity. That is sooo funny. In the Congress of the former Home of the Free and the Brave, a new bill has been proposed banning the use of the words mother, father, etc. They must have read the book! That is so funny! 😂🤣😳
People like to claim this book as a look into the future of capitalism. What people don't seem to realize is that those who advocate capitalism have a shared set of values that directly conflict with those of the governing powers in the book.
I thought the same thing when I see different companies pushing Leftist propaganda: "Didn't your company benefit from capitalism why are you pushing an ideology that conflicts with that?"
Danielle Ward which companies, out of curiosity? It should speak to the fact that it ISN’T leftist propaganda, shouldn’t it?
Really? What values? Your values are frankly irrelevant to this if capitalism does parallel the things seen in the book. Communism is a CLASSLESS, STATELESS SOCIETY. “Communist totalitarian” is an oxymoron. So if it WERE describing communism, it’d be wrong. However, the criticism of capitalism is very pertinent. The permanent, ever-expanding lower class brainwashed into accepting their position in life with no question. Never question the hierarchy, just work harder and harder! I mean, modern masculinity (never complain, just buckle down and work through it, work harder) is like 100% capitalist brainwashing. How is this not the thing criticized in the book?
@@mycroftholmes3725 waaaaaaah waaaaaaaaah capitalism bad!!! I have to work harder for the things I want and I hate it! Cry me a river man.
@@mycroftholmes3725 Communism can only be achieved when humanity is turning into LCL
I’m surprised Amazon hasn’t banned this book yet!
Excellent quickie discussion of a great piece of literature. Just reread both Brave New World and Fahrenheit 451. Just started a reread of Animal Farm.
I'd love to hear your takes on "Short story of Harrison Bergeron' by K. Vonnegut.
Yes! This book club MUST do a show on this short story. Can you hear us, Michael?
Great to see PragerU engaging with some classic critiques of consumer capitalism! Keep that marketplace of ideas flowing!
I read this book one summer, somewhat out of boredom, but probably also because a teacher had mentioned it. Possibly also because I was a fan of the band "The Police" at the time. One song, "Wrapped Around Your Finger" refers to another Huxley novel, which my dad would have certainly been horrified to know I read at the age I did. Lol I found this book a much more worthwhile read. It opened my eyes wider to underlying movements in society.
Excellent Book Choice!
Doing this podcast and showing us the “real” Ted who jokes and laughs and is a smart ass makes him so personable that he should easily become the 2024 candidate and our president!
Except his analysis of this book is completely backwards, Huxley was a socialist. As against USSR authoritarianism as he was US capitalist propaganda. He saw them as two sides of the same coin, and he would have viewed you as a conditioned capitalist drone.
Aldous Huxley would loathe PragerU
I started reading the book a little before you guys posted this and waited to finish the book to watch this. Great video