Legolas: It's been rather quiet around here lately.
Umbriel: Yes, our person has been reading a lot lately, first Lord Of the Rings, then Harry Potter and then miscellaneous science fiction. The last one was Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" It was rather scary.
Legolas: Maybe you are too young for it...
Umbriel: No, it was scary because it was written in the thirties, and so much of it seems like today's world.
Legolas: Yes, it said: "One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them." The people in the book were conditioned to believe they must consume stuff all the time, occupy their time with idle amusement, and never just be quiet alone and think. And all the commercials today do exactly the same thing, they try to condition us exactly the same way as people were conditioned in Huxley's book.
Umbriel: But if you know that it is only conditioning, you can choose not to believe it. The same goes with everything you are told to believe.
Legolas: Exactly. We still have freedom to choose. I have understood why I was given the choice between coming here and going to Elf Reform School. Those that end up in the reform school have made too many bad choices. But I can still try to make my own future, to become something instead of just wasting my time in idle amusement. If one does not progress, one regresses.
Umbriel: That sounds very wise.
Legolas: I'm still not interested in technology or how things work and I do not want to know everything. But I may learn to make music or write or paint something.
Umbriel: That sounds good. This world needs arts, too, not just science and knowledge.
