Romney says “Orwellian” about stem-cell research. Doesn’t he mean “Huxleyan”?
“BOSTON (Reuters) – Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a 2008 Republican presidential hopeful, said on Thursday his administration’s new restrictions on stem cell research are aimed at heading off an “Orwellian” future.”
http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=healthNews&storyID=2006-09-01T161039Z_01_KNE158193_RTRUKOC_0_US-STEMCELL-RESEARCH.xml&archived=False
Orwell’s _1984_ is about the government controlling the people by controlling and manipulating information, so “Orwellian” would be apt for the current U.S. regime, not stem cell research.
I’m guessing that Romney meant to refer to a future akin to Huxley’s _Brave New World_, not _1984_. I don’t see that as being accurate either, just less completely off-base. Any comments? Do you agree or disagree and why, please.
The second part of my question is about the use of language — Romney uses this dark word “Orwellian” to paint SCR with fear and mystery. How do you see that?
Oh, and should a prospective Presidential candidate get points for attempting a literary reference, even if he got the wrong one?
Given the underwhelming response to this question, it appears that Aldous Huxley is quite out of fashion. That’s a loss, he’s a great writer who’s well worth reading.
correrafan
March 19th, 2009 at 2:36 pm #
I agree with you, but Gov. Romney has probably never read either book. Almost everyone knows “1984″ and “Orwellian”, but not everyone has read or even heard of Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”. “Orwellian” is a word to use when you want people to get afraid. Just think, in a 100 years, we might all be hearing the euphemism, “Bush-ian” like we now hear the word, “BOO!”