“Orwell feared that what we hate will ruin us. Huxley feared
that what we love will ruin us.”
I’m finding it difficult to disagree with either Orwell or
Huxley, because I am a victim to both of their statements. In occasion, there
are times when I am so overwhelmed with anger or stress that I am blinded by
the redness seeping into my vision. Similarly, there also have been times that
I’ve had tunnel vision from loving something so much that it affects my judgement and my priorities (ex. Watching trash reality television instead of studying for APs…aka
right now, oops).
The problem here is not about loving or hating…it’s about
self-control. So I may be a hypocrite (Keeping up with the Kardashians is
playing in the background as we speak), but love or hate is not something we can
prevent ourselves from feeling. Love and hate may be on the extreme sides of
the emotional spectrum, but it’s harder to stay balanced in the middle than to
fall to the edge. It is a superpower to be able to stay level headed, even with
the world of media circulating around us, constantly trying to tell us what to
think or how to feel.
I had the same problem pretty much all of yesterday. Your exploration of the more personal side of the conflict was very unique. We focused on discussing the outside influences that have arisen in class, but you instead focused on what we should be doing about the outside influences, exercising self-control. Well done!
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