As C.S. Lewis notes in his preface, That Hideous Strength is a “fairy-tale,” set on the grounds of fictional “Bracton College.” On this time-honored, quasi-mythical campus, a fierce battle between antiquity and “progress” ensues — one that pits scientific (ir)rationalism against basic ethics. Alas, this label of “fairy-tale” does not bear its standard connotation of puerility; rather, it denotes a cautionary tale — one which parallels certain contemporary truths.
Ryszard Legutko explores these very realities in The Demon in Democracy, exposing the setbacks of both totalitarian systems and the crypto-liberal-democracies of the modern era. For instance, the EU in its current form (in Legutko’s skeptical view) exists as a bloated bureaucracy — a haughty group of unelected, unaccountable officials which collectively “knows the final goal, [that goal being] imperative for the whole process to be carried out” (Legutko 70). He criticizes this sanctimonious outlook, therein questioning the actual validity of their futuristic thought process.
Likewise, the “National Institute of Coordinated Experiments” within That Hideous Strength embraces a comparable system (or lack thereof) of values. They too view themselves as the arbiters of an impending (and inevitable) Utopia, guardians of truth who will bring to fruition “a new life, the awakening of new vision, the stirring of dormant impulses” (Lewis 35). This self-righteousness and self-assuredness mirror Legutko’s interpretation of the EU attitude — that their imagined future is also seen as a destined outcome which must be ensured through gradual means of social conditioning. Both organizations rely on subtle changes, which eventually serve to normalize an emerging status quo, simultaneously wearing down potential dissenters. In a hidden, puritanical way, both are attempting to seize control by minimizing human thought processes.
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