Saturday, March 24, 2007

Big Brother Is Watching You

George Orwell was a prophet. He is best known for his books critical of communisim, fascism, stalinism and totalitarianism. It seems as if everything he wrote in his dystopic novel Nineteen Eighty-Four has come true today. The world seems as if it has become his science fiction novel and is now Oceania and Eurasia. There are now surveillance cameras or "telescreens" everywhere in our society, showing political propaganda which have built in cameras and microphones to watch over the citizens. Everything the people do is targeted by the telescreens. Even in their homes people have telescreens,some of them are even talking to us and it is one big surveillance state. Our civil rights are diminishing with each passing day in the name of "security". Is there now a totalitarian government bent on totally manipulating and controlling everything,including thought and emotion?" Are you familiar with the terms "Newspeak","Oldspeak", "Doublethink","Two Minute Hate", "Groupthink", "Thought Police", "Goodthink", "Crimethink", "Telescreens", "The Inner Party", "The Outer Party", "Minipax", "Minitrue", "Miniluv", "Miniplenty"", "Joy Camps","Proles", "Comrades", "Room 101"? These are several terms used in George Orwells book that can easily be applied to our life today. Orwellianism is around us everywhere. Here are some passages and excerpts from his book: "Who controls the past, controls the future, who controls the present controls the past","2+2=5, If the Leader says of such and such an event, "It never happened"—well, it never happened. If he says that two and two are five—well, two and two are five, if everybody believes it, does that make it true? Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four, if that is granted, all else follows". "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Stregnth", "It's not a matter of whether the war is not real, or if it is, Victory is not possible. The war is not meant to be won, it is meant to be continuous. Hierarchical society is only possible on the basis of poverty and ignorance. This new version is the past and no different past can ever have existed. In principle the war effort is always planned to keep society on the brink of starvation. The war is waged by the ruling group against its own subjects and its object is not the victory over either Eurasia or East Asia but to keep the very structure of society intact." Is Big Brother, some mysteriuos figurehead like person who sees and knows everything but never appears in person watching us?
And what does this have to do with a No Police State?



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2 comments:

BillyWarhol said...

wow*

Horrorshow groodies like i ain't viddied in a long time*

we were so Lucky that our English teachers in High skool gave us excellent books like 1984, Cat's Cradle, Catch-22, & a Day in the Life of Ivan Dinesyovitch?? and many more* (i just remember him saving/hiding that piece of bread & savouring every tiny morsel)

U have some excellent points here & dare i say it all might be coming to pass*

It's a fine line re: Police States*

Peace*

Anonymous said...

Wow, scary huh? No doubt about it we are there.