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1984
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As I see current politicians attempt to rewrite history, creating an alternate set of facts to replace the ones they don't like, all I can think of is "Orwellian." And when a media outlet becomes the arm of a political party and creates an alternate reality for its viewers, all I can think of is "Orwellian." I read this novel in high school, not as asssigned reading, and I still think that the fate of Winston and Julia is one of the most crushing denouements in all of literature.
I agree completely. I can think of only one example of your second section and I think it's positively demonic.
I have not really taken part in any of these discussions, but I was reading 1984 a little bit ago, and I thought I would jump in.I find the most interesting thing is how far past 1984 we have all moved oh so willingly. Instead of some sort of government boogeyman, we give away ourselves.
Gmail (which I love by the way), facebook, smart phones that no and track where we are...etc...these are the forces of control now.
I just wonder when it was 1984, and when it became this other thing all together.
Also I think we're really headed towards 1984 with the constant war state we've been perpetuating, I know that at least in America we've been continuously at war ever since World War II and although the enemies change, just like in 1984, and although the world has yet to merge into three large countries I feel like, this too is coming. 1984 also really mirrors a cold war thinking where larger countries took satellite countries into their sphere of influence, so much so that only a few countries- the major super powers-were controlling everything. Even today many of those influences remain! Also our world has become one edited by the media. During the time of the Vietnam war news camera's actually went into battle, and people "at home" received live footage of the war. Since then this practice has been outlawed, so now people only know what the government wants them to know, they only know what newspapers tell them. Although in the US they way our information is edited and monitored may not be as blatant, in many other countries social media is closely monitored by the government so much so that there are actual sanctions against certain sites. I love this book and could go on for ages, so I'll stop here.
Right after reading '1984' I read 'A Brave New World' by Aldous Huxley. The world we are living in now has elements of both of the worst parts of these two texts. The over abundance of information in Huxley's world intermingles with the surveillance and thought-police of Orwell's.
I had to read this book for summer reading in high school and it's the only book I ever read for school that I read again all the way through.
I just finished it a few weeks ago. I was positively horrified, but then again, I've read a lot of these dystopian type books in the past year. I think it's still a bit out there, but I can see bits & pieces of it that are in today's society. With things like the Witness Protection Program, when the man in the book, I forget his name, was talking to the higher up guy he worked with & was telling him about being given a whole new identity, etc, that's been happening for a long time now.
message 11:
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Kelly Maybedog, Big Kahuna, Ministry of Illicit Reading
(last edited Aug 18, 2012 08:40pm)
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rated it 4 stars
I have it on my Nook but I despite having spent most of the past 30 years reading mostly science fiction, haven't been into it for the past few months and have been primarily reading urban fantasy. (I know, I know.) I'll read it some day.
Although I'm not through it yet, I'm loving this book! There are so many things to ponder and compare with our everyday lives. I have found myself countless times zoning out while reading(in a good way!). Also, I am in awe of the timeless quality of this book. To think that an author came up with these ideas so long ago that could still happen in our future is amazing! I can't believe this book was banned. In my opinion, it should be required reading.
Agreed that we are living in 1984 territory. With Dept. of Homeland Security (an organization that didn't even exist a decade ago) at $50 billion/year, Patriot Act, NDAA and ACTA/SOPA laws being proposed and re-proposed under different names, then workarounds via other countries (Canada's Bill C-30 and various International Agreements that USA, Canada, UK and Europe are putting together) to enact and enforce surveillance over communications of their own citizens, it's definitely on the agenda. Don't forget that most communications are digital now (including your landline), which means they get ported over the Internet, which means they can get rerouted to a country where you have no civil rights, where communications specialists can monitor your information at will and then hand it over to your government. That's the perfectly legal workaround, but it's a pain to do...so it would be much easier just to change the laws under the guise of 'national security' and/or 'protecting children' and install monitoring and recording systems on the phone and Internet servers.
Google: 'H.R. 1981' (USA) or 'Bill C-30' (Canada) and consider that if one country does it, because it is the Internet, everyone online will potentially be affected.
This would track all your activities using communications of any kind, logins, passwords, banking information, anything that appears on your computer screen, as well as phone calls, texts, tweets, etc. including private conversations with your doctor or family members, whomever.
It isn't a conspiracy -- at all. These are real laws being proposed by the various governments at this time -- you can look them up and read them for yourselves if you like. If you have been wondering what those Anonymous guys have been fighting against...that's a big part of it.
Welcome to the future. Orwell was simply off by 20 years.
When the Patriot Act was in the works I would always say "1984 isn't that far away." I got that from the National Lampoon album "That's Not Funny, That's Sick." It was funny, Bill Murray actually said that line. But the way things are going, no, it's not funny at all.
There's not only the government, there's also corporations. Everything we do on the internet is tracked, it seems like, and sold to marketing companies. Ever see the movie "Brazil?"
Jennifer Government is a humorous but revealing take on this subject combining both the government and business sorts of controls. Funny in a scary sort of way. It takes place in Australia so it has the international angle there, too.
kelly: i realized i have so many things/ideas swirling around my head about the world around me. i always wonder if i feel the same way or if one day someone else will agree with me. at a time in the book when thoughts were controlled, it was rebellious and freeing at the same time two do two "taboo" things. write and think. it kind of made me realize that a journal is a rare thing indeed. it seems like we tell our most private and honest feelings to a piece of paper; as if it was safer than telling a person how you feel.
In addition to government surveillance, we have the potential for a sort of 'Junior Spies' network made possible by our rather too casual use of technology. Check out this link: www.nytimes.com/2010/10/17/magazine/1...
It is interesting to note that in pointing out the danger of 'Little Brother' surveillance, the author seems unaware or unconcerned about what governments might be doing. The NYT slogan "All that's fit to print" could be paraphrased as "All that the government explicitly or implicitly deems fit to print."
Anjali, that's a strong revelation and journaling about it is brilliant. Norman, that's not within the scope of the article. To bring that in would quadruple the size of the article at least. I wouldn't make any assumptions either way on the author's or the NYT's opinion of government surveillance based on that one article. The subject was little brother not big brother. :)
Kelly - In the opening two paragraphs Kirn suggests that 1984's "GREAT MISTAKE (caps mine) was to emphasize the villainy of society’s masters while playing down the mischief of the masses." He also concludes that the use of technology and the media (in 1984 the telescreens) to "keep[...] the population passive and the leadership firmly in control" is... "a quaint scenario, grossly simplistic and deeply melodramatic."
Yes, the article's main purpose was to discuss the advent of 'little brother' in our lives, but Kirn seems all too ready to dismiss the potential or reality of the 'Big Brother' tactics that David delineates in a post above.
Hello! I just started reading this book and it is scary that we seem to be heading in this direction. I've heard great reviews about this book, but I have to wonder...is it all inner dialogue? Or does it pick up at some point? It's an interesting read so far, but I'm just curious as I'm only about 20% in (wish I could give you a pg.# but kindle does %).
We were required to read this book my freshman year of high school, and needless to say I despised this book. We all did in my class at the time, we found it dull and never-ending, yet strangely quotable (high school freshmen running around yelling "Big Brother is watching you!", we even made a top ten list on why Winston should have just given in to Big Brother, the #1 being Big Brother's mustache was cool). I re-read it after seeing it on this page, and I realized that we didn't like it because in our heads it wasn't far from the posh private school we were attending and gated communities we grew up in. It's interesting to see how ingrained 1984 is in our culture, even if it was banned/questionable material. We describe our government as "big brother" when they do something we deem over protective and unnecessary; or when conspiracy theorists get mad at everybody that doesn't agree with them they throw around the quote "ignorance is bliss". random personal tidbit: I love making references to "2+2=5", and have since reading this in high school.
Banned Books
Books mentioned in this topic
1984 (other topics)Little Brother (other topics)
Jennifer Government (other topics)
Authors mentioned in this topic
George Orwell (other topics)Cory Doctorow (other topics)
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