Conditioning Utopia
Conditioning Utopia The majority of Americans believe they live in a state of utopia due to the many freedoms they enjoy throughout everyday life. ... In the book 1984, by George Orwell, the author illustrates a chilling depiction of how the prerogative of the state could come to dominate the lives of individuals through cultural conditioning with the use of propaganda. In the story the main character is a man named Winston who lives in a city called London, one of the provinces of a utopia called Oceana. ... ” History has shown how leaders have used their power to restrict the freedom of its citizens by conditioning them to believe that leaders had the peoples’ best interests in mind when extreme levels of control were needed to protect individuals from making decisions that may cause harm to themselves, or others. ... One critic accurately best describes this type of conditioning in a review of 1984. ... Oceana could be called an anti-utopia, creating a complete state of misery and despotism for individual. Orwell created a chilling depiction of how the power of the state could come to dominate the lives of citizens through cultural conditioning. ... They believe that through cultural conditioning, they have created a utopia free from moral sin, crime, and corruption, but as Orwell has clearly illustrated, this type of totalitarian governing is extremely dangerous.