Huxley writes to Orwell

Wrightwood. Cal. 21 October, 1949 Dear Mr. Orwell, It was very kind of you to tell your publishers to send me a copy of your book. It arrived as I was in the midst of a piece of work that required much reading and consulting of references; and since poor sight makes it necessary for me to ration my reading, I had to wait a long time before being able to embark on Nineteen Eighty-Four. Agreeing with all that the critics have written of it, I need not tell you, yet once more, how fine and how profoundly important the book is. May I speak instead of the thing with which the book deals — the ultimate revolution? The first hints of a philosophy of the ultimate revolution — the revolution which lies beyond politics and economics, and which aims at total subversion of the individual's psychology and physiology — are to be found in the Marquis de Sade, who regarded himself as the continuator, the consummator, of Robespierre and Babeuf. The philosophy of the ruling minority in Nineteen Eighty-Four is a sadism which has been carried to its logical conclusion by going beyond sex and denying it. Whether in actual fact the policy of the boot-on-the-face can go on indefinitely seems doubtful. My own belief is that the ruling oligarchy will find less arduous and wasteful ways of governing and of satisfying its lust for power, and these ways will resemble those which I described in Brave New World. I have had occasion recently to look into the history of animal magnetism and hypnotism, and have been greatly struck by the way in which, for a hundred and fifty years, the world has refused to take serious cognizance of the discoveries of Mesmer, Braid, Esdaile, and the rest. Partly because of the prevailing materialism and partly because of prevailing respectability, nineteenth-century philosophers and men of science were not willing to investigate the odder facts of psychology for practical men, such as politicians, soldiers and policemen, to apply in the field of government. Thanks to the voluntary ignorance of our fathers, the advent of the ultimate revolution was delayed for five or six generations. Another lucky accident was Freud's inability to hypnotize successfully and his consequent disparagement of hypnotism. This delayed the general application of hypnotism to psychiatry for at least forty years. But now psycho-analysis is being combined with hypnosis; and hypnosis has been made easy and indefinitely extensible through the use of barbiturates, which induce a hypnoid and suggestible state in even the most recalcitrant subjects. Within the next generation I believe that the world's rulers will discover that infant conditioning and narco-hypnosis are more efficient, as instruments of government, than clubs and prisons, and that the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging and kicking them into obedience. In other words, I feel that the nightmare of Nineteen Eighty-Four is destined to modulate into the nightmare of a world having more resemblance to that which I imagined in Brave New World. The change will be brought about as a result of a felt need for increased efficiency. Meanwhile, of course, there may be a large scale biological and atomic war — in which case we shall have nightmares of other and scarcely imaginable kinds. Thank you once again for the book. Yours sincerely, Aldous Huxley

Open Gate Sutton Place

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Evil Adam Lanza

The Sandy Hook shooter, Adam Lanza, was severely mentally ill. His mother, Nancy Lanza, who also was butchered by her son, proved unable to find appropriate treatment. Instead, according to press accounts, she kept him isolated in a windowless basement for long hours each day, where he played violent video games. No one is willing to confront this painful truth: Our culture’s obsession with video games, especially those that glorify mass killing, senseless brutality and bloodlust, is desensitizing our youth.

Adam Lanza was a deranged individual who spent countless hours in a virtual reality slaughtering imaginary human beings. He also lacked necessary medical treatment — including medication. His life was a combustible mix, ready to blow at any moment. The results were predictable and ominous: Someone was going to get hurt. The only question was who — and how many.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/20/why-the-left-hates-guns/#ixzz2G6o7jmsS

Marxist Chicago Teachers Union VP

CHICAGO TEACHERS UNION VP BUSTED PARTICIPATING IN MIDWEST MARXISM CONFERENCE

Sharkey: What our union has done, is work very hard to build a coalition between people who work in the schools and depend on the public schools and the people who go to school, the students and community …And, uhm, I think the fact that we’re dedicated to that is reflected in the fact that there’s been broad support for the things we're trying to do.

Proft: Where do the revolutionary movements fit into that coalition? I understand that a couple weeks ago that you appeared at the Midwest Marxist Conference at Northwestern University to talk about the important support that Chicago teachers get from revolutionary movements’ use of the strike weapon. What’s the alignment with Marxist organizations and revolutionary movements?

Sharkey: Ha, ha, ha, look guys, I mean, thanks...

Proft: That’s a legitimate question. That’s actually just happened. That’s actually true. That’s not McCarthyism.

Sharkey: Thanks for the 1950s McCarthyism.

Proft: It’s not McCarthyism.

Sharkey: Uh, uh, well look it, the, the, the um—every time that unions or social movements have raised issues about what’s fair and what isn’t in base and equality, people have branded them as communist. I, I know…

Proft: Wait a second. You spoke? Did you, or did you not, speak at the Midwest Marxist Conference?

Sharkey: I… [pause] No I did not speak at the Midwest Marxism Conference.

Wolf: You were there though.

Proft: You didn’t?

Wolf: You were there.

Sharkey: Uh.

Wolf: You were there. We’ve got you on video there. Why were you there?

Sharkey: Uh. I’m allowed to attend a Marxist conference, like I’m allowed to [inaudible]…

Wolf: Do you subscribe to their beliefs Mr. Sharkey?

Sharkey: Eh. Look, look guys, I mean, if you want to have me on as part of a, uh, uh, witch-hunt…

Wolf: It’s not a witch-hunt. What do you believe?

Proft: You attended this conference, I’m just asking you what value you derive from this conference and how you see revolutionary movements as so described to connect to the teachers unions, that’s all. It’s not a witch-hunt. It’s something you did.

Sharkey: Ah, uh, look gentlemen; I’m not sure where you’re going with…

At that point Bruce Wolf was forced to cut the interview for a commercial break and thanked Sharkey for the “lucid interview.” (Listen to the full interview here)

During the conference, a heavy focus was placed on the relationships between revolutionary organizations, including the International Socialist Organiation’s intervention in the Chicago Teachers’ strike.

In a breakout session about Marxism and education, Sharkey participated by discussing what he referred to as an interesting dilemma regarding the challenges facing a revolutionary movement isolated by geography and chronology in relation to the lack of other concurrent revolutionary movements:

It’s very hard to have a huge struggle in Chicago over the set of things that are being pushed—education reform, or frankly workplace reform—and not have that struggle taken up anywhere else.

Just in the same way, it’s hard to have you know, if one freight way, has got wages that are $10 an hour higher than their competitors. Guess what! The logic is that high wage place gets smashed down, and that’s the logic of the market. And it’s only when you start to generalize that there could be some alternative to that, that you have the ability to push back…

The magic of struggle is just how easy it is to generalize those lessons. Whether it’s Wisconsin or Occupy or the CTU strike.

Sharkey then went on to joke about class discrimination lawsuits over what is considered appropriate attire for female teachers in schools.

This occurred at the same all-day event where, upon being labeled as “not in solidarity” and recognized as a Breitbart News correspondent, I was forcefully removed by a group of teachers, social workers, and others members of the ISO attending the Marxism conference.

WLS radio’s follow-up coverage of the Chicago Teachers Union’s presence at the conference (they were even selling CTU t-shirts in the foyer) provided some additional light on the collaboration between the ISO and CTU leadership.

That is more than local mainstream media provided; two days later, after Sharkey’s appearance at the Midwest Marxism conference, I attended a protest being led by the CTU, ISO, and many leaders of socialist and communist organizations headquartered in Chicago. While there, I questioned Mr. Sharkey about his participation in the conference and the ISO’s celebration of their coordination with the Chicago Teachers Union during the teachers strike, but Sharkey refused to answer any of my questions.

Continue reading here: Breitbart News

Elephants pay respects to dead human

Lawrence Anthony, a legend in South Africa and author of 3 books including the bestseller The Elephant Whisperer, bravely rescued wildlife and rehabilitated elephants all over the globe from human atrocities, including the courageous rescue of Baghdad Zoo animals during US invasion in 2003.

On March 7, 2012 Lawrence Anthony died.

He is remembered and missed by his wife, 2 sons, 2 grandsons and numerous elephants.

Two days after his passing, the wild elephants showed up at his home led by two large matriarchs.

Separate wild herds arrived in droves to say goodbye to their beloved man-friend.

A total of 31 elephants had patiently walked over 12 miles to get to his South African House.

Story continues here: daretoexplore

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