Huxley Predicts the Future

I don't often post on politics in this blog. There are plenty of other sources for that. But I'm reading a short little tome by Aldous Huxley called Science, Liberty and Peace, and though it was published in 1946 its major points have some frightening parallels to today.

Here's one long piece:

"There is also another way in which the preparation for war is useful to the holders of centralized political power. When things go badly at home, when popular discontent becomes inconveniently articulate, it is always possible, in a world where war making remains an almost sacred habit, to shift the people's attention away from domestic to foreign and military affairs. A flood of xenophobic or imperialistic propaganda is released by the government-controlled instruments of persuasion, a "strong policy" is adopted toward some foreign power, an appeal for "national unity" (in other words, unquestioning obedience to the ruling oligarchy) is launched, and at once it becomes unpatriotic for anybody to voice even the most justifiable complaints against mismanagement or oppression."

Here's the kicker:

"It is difficult to see how any highly centralized government could afford to dispense with militarism and the threat of foreign war"

This is only one of many points where Huxley hits home in this essay. This book might be very difficult to find. It was published by Harper & Brothers Publishers in New York and London. But if you can find it at a library or something it is well worth the reading. But be afraid, be very afraid.