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caio · 4425 days ago · link · · parent · post: Huxley to Orwell on why Brave New World is more realizable than 1984
Would you say one could also make the argument the proles in 1984 also lack free will? Or would it be more correct to say they don't know they're being oppressed or they don't feel the oppression?
I'm don't think I'm too qualified on this. I've read 1984 once a long time ago; I'm much more familiar with BNW. But I think you're correct that they lack free will and are oblivious to the fact. Where I think the governments differ is in intent. Big Brother (or whoever is actually running the government) is a strongman whose main goal is to hold on to power, proles lacking free will is the best way to maintain power, so it is imposed, but robbing of will isn't, I don't think, the goal, its just a side effect. One the other hand, the world government sees themselves are a benevolent force, robbing the people of will for their own good, under the guise that free will doesn't really exist anyway, so why not just adjust the experience of the individual? (See alpha0's post above for a more eloquent explanation that I could come up with).
So maybe both groups truly lack free will, but I think intent separates the governments qualitatively.