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> This response came out unexpectedly negative. Because for most people whether or not they drink isn't a moral decision, and comparing it to a drug from Brave
by rfrank 10y ago
> This response came out unexpectedly negative.
Because for most people whether or not they drink isn't a moral decision, and comparing it to a drug from Brave New World is a wee bit of a stretch.
- groovy2shoes 10y agoHmm. My mind flew right over Brave New World and went for the Rig Veda: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soma Though, in context, I think your interpretation is likely correct.
- jcoffland 10y agoI drink and I don't see that comparison as a stretch. Our society regularly endorses drinking as a way to deal with your shitty life. This is just like the soma in Brave New World.
- scythe 10y agoExcept in Brave New World, soma is used to maintain a lie (which you're punished for refusing to believe) that life isn't unpleasant. In the modern world, alcohol is used by some people to cope with the common-sense fact that life is unpleasant. One of the central themes of Brave New World is the collapse of realism and individualism in the attempt to maintain perfect order (and thus, ironically, control over reality). It's hard to leave that out of any conception of soma, especially when you consider that the pretentious fuck complaining about his coworkers taking "soma" really isn't all that much more enterprising or self-aware than anyone else, in the first place.