Propaganda In Brave New World

When dystopias are mentioned, books like Aldous Huxley's A Brave New World come to mind, but no one ever thinks of modern, popular religions. The goal of these books are to warn the modern society of what could go wrong if it keeps behaving like it is by exaggerating the flaws of the modern society. Scientology is a fairly new religion that has gained many followers over the past decade because of its illusion of a utopia, but it is also exactly what Huxley and Orwell are warning about in their books. Like A Brave New World, The church of scientology started off with good intentions, but over time all the rules and beliefs have turned out to be corrupt and unfair. Utopias like in A Brave New World and Scientology often become dystopias because

An important characteristic of a utopia is the use of propaganda to control the citizens. Throughout A Brave New World, the citizens are given tablets of soma from before they have the freedom to deny it, forcing them to rely on the drug. The government uses soma as propaganda by altering the mind and forcing everyone to believe they are happy. Even after they have the power to speak up, they believe the director when he says, “swallow two or three half-gramme tablets, and there you are. Anybody can be virtuous now. You can carry at least half your morality about in a bottle” (Huxley __). Now that everyone is hooked on the drug and the government constantly tells them how great it is, no one wants to speak up, letting the government control them with this drug. Along with the whole community taking soma, citizens are also expected to conform to expectations and not individuals. In The World State, it is very often to see groups of identical twins and think it is completely normal. Although these twins are identical, some will grow up to be Alphas, while others will be Epsilons. In these different classes, each individual is expected to conform, by wearing the same color as their class and having the same job. Alphas are considered the highest, but “Alphas are so conditioned that they do not have to be infantile in their emotional behavior. But that is all the more reason for their making a special effort to conform. It is their duty to be infantile, even against their inclination " (Huxley 98). This situation shows how even Alphas, the highest class are forced to conform to unattainable perfection. Alphas are programmed to be mature, but at the same time it is their job to act childish, and they are punished if they do not meet the expectations of their class. The