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To counteract the increasing collectivism and propaganda in modern life, Huxley calls upon us to “educate ourselves and our children for freedom and self-government” (109). This education must focus on true facts and values, including:
- individual freedom, based on the fact of human diversity and genetic uniqueness
- charity and compassion, based on the human need for love
- intelligence, which makes the other values possible
Heredity and the function of genetics is just as important as culture, so we must affirm the importance of individual human beings, not merely their social environment. We must resist the modern tendency to iron out the diversity of human life in favor of uniformity. Education for freedom must be built on a proper understanding of language and its correct use, so that concepts are clearly understood and irrational propaganda rejected.
In the concluding chapter, Huxley restates the threat to freedom, then makes prescriptions to combat the threat and reform society.
Huxley recalls the importance that individual freedom has always had in our legal system. Yet freedom from physical constraint is not the only kind of freedom. Freedom of the mind is also important, and this is being threatened today. Mental slavery is particularly insidious because its victims have become desensitized and are unaware of their state.
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By Aldous Huxley