The intellectual equivalent of a ham sandwich.

Posts tagged ‘humor’

Dystopians and Sex

Not long ago I finally read 1984 by George Orwell. It’s the age old charming tale of a dystopian future.

Here’s what struck me though:

Dystopian novels and sex seem to go hand in hand.

  1. Brave New World – Everything is regulated by the government, people who are created and controlled by the government are encouraged to have sex with whoever they please. People are not having sex to procreate, but instead as a recreational act (it’s a distraction).
  2. A Clockwork Orange – Some of the citizens in the country are out of control (which includes raping people), to counter this the government has devised a way to, basically, brainwash you to be good. Your self control is no longer there, you are “good” by force … To demonstrate this, the brainwashed man is put near a woman to show that, look, he’s not trying to attack her.
  3. 1984 – Life is incredibly regulated and, as part of that regulation, the government pairs you with a spouse. Sex is seen as a tool to create new citizens for the government. Sex is not seen as an enjoyable act, and as part of the main character’s rebellion he meets a woman who enjoys having sex.

It is interesting, and probably no accident, that these very well-known novels have such an “animal” or raw thing (sex) as something that is highlighted to demonstrate the government’s absolute control. After all, if you could control something like that, what else can’t you control?

It’s just crazy to me that sex is shown (at least in my opinion) as an example of control in such very different ways.

The other thing to notice is that the authors are all British. What is it about Brits and a sex-oriented dystopian future?

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Du Jour of the Week

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Attn: Ellen (10/2/13)

Front

Ellen139a

Back (apologies for my handwriting!)

Ellen139b

The text of the postcard is

Dear Ellen,

Ah yes, the delightful tradition of learning how to cop a feel by practicing on a snow woman. Belgian kids, huh? Those little tikes.

Sincerely,
DumbFunnery.com

Why am I doing this?

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Attn: Ellen

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Silver Linings of the Government Shutdown

  • Kids today know what the word furlough means.
  • That group of college guys who wanted to film a scene in D.C. where everything looks deserted for their zombie movie have a chance.
  • In an act of solidarity with government workers on furlough, employees across the United States will reduce productivity by 50% (time spent sitting around complaining about the government).
  • You can figure out which coworkers don’t pay attention to the news by listening for statements like: “There was no traffic this morning by [government facility]! It was weird but so nice!”
  • Video game playing government employees have a chance to win while playing games online because they will flood the servers were their moderate skill levels will be ok (as opposed to playing at night when you get destroyed by younger folks).
  • With only essential personnel working, paranoid schizophrenics can finally relax because until the government is back up every movement and thought of theirs will not be tracked.
  • It gives us a reason to question if our up-til-now perfect government might have flaws …

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