Fighting the Homogenous Regime of Dull Diversity

Clearly it is not science but rather scientism which is central to the society depicted in Aldous Huxley’s 1931 science fiction classic, Brave New World.  Toward the end of this dystopian novel about a hedonistic global order comprised of shallow, self-absorbed clones, one member of the ruling elite admits that he and his fellow rulers are deeply suspicious of any sort of intellectual exploration.  “Science is dangerous,” explains the World Controller, “we have to keep it most carefully chained and muzzled.” True, the elite constantly bombards its biomanufactured subjects with propaganda about scientific achievements, yet what slogans like “Science Is Everything” actually refer to is not science as traditionally understood but a kind of god, an absolute authority figure which demands unquestioning obedience to the status quo in exchange for the creature comforts of advanced technology.  Science as the pursuit of truth has long since been banished by the soft-totalitarian global government, since such truth might provoke reflection about the ultimate nature of the cosmos and thereby destabilize society.

I found myself recalling all this as I read James Kalb’s new book, Against Inclusiveness: How the Diversity Regime is Flattening America and the West and What to Do About It (Angelico Press, 2013).  (more...)

Fighting the Homogenous Regime of Dull Diversity