As coincidence would have it, I am currently reading that book right now for the first time. I am over halfway done with it. A very exciting book indeed. It is a scary foreshadowing filled with a cry for humanity and justice. I find myself in suspense and fear for the life of Winston. Today’s world is not as grim as in “1984”. The book should not be taken lightly. Even works of fiction show the full spectrum of humanity and what we are capable of. The good and the bad.
You may want to show examples of the media bias, a precursor to “1984” like events, and their unwillingness to show the true nature of the world rather than sensationalism and rhetoric. Also, you may want to incorporate the public education system. No better way to encapsulate the whole of society than by warping the minds of the young. Global testing scores reveal that America is quite a bit behind in academics, much like the proles in “1984”. All across the internet you see the buzz concerning the events to take place on 9/08/09 when Obama is to address the children of the nation in school and then later in the evening on Nickelodeon and Fox. This seems strangely like it could be the start of the children spies of the novel. Rather than works of fiction, we can look at history to see the efforts Hitler made to impress the youth of the nation in the same fashion.
Reading about lives of the proles in the novel is like seeing a mirror image of western society. The rat race, gambling, drinking, working tirelessly and a sense of being less than human in the eyes of the elite. Notice the media always speaking baldly of southern states in the U.S. and broadly categorizing them all as hicks, religious zealots, and incorrigible bigots. The bias against those who speak out against the government, those who attend tea parties or anyone opposed to government healhcare.
The FDA and FTC have been engaging in an intellectual war. Natural medicines, supplements, herbs and organics have been tossed to the wayside in light of the perceived advantage pharmaceuticals would have over them. Gag orders and myriad legislation inhibit citizens from even hearing about alternative medicines, let alone having access to such treatments. Nearly all non pharma supplements say that “These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA”. No pharmaceutical drug has a problem getting in line for evaluation though.
America has been at seemingly endless war since 1914. Another eerie coincidence we share with the novel. Like the novel, our enemies change from time to time. The feelings never do. Playing on natural instincts of the citizenry towards patriotism, the government drags us along toward any political end they desire. Goldstein was the enemy in the book. His face was everywhere to be seen, his name brought fear, anger and aggression. We fought against Fascism and Communism. The Cold war dragging on without an end in sight. Once it had vanished, peace spread through the minds of the people. It would not last. Less than a decade later America had a new enemy, one that could last as long as the threat of communism. That threat is Islamic terror. Bin Laden, like Goldstein, is the face of the enemy. For our current government to survive it needs and enemy. One that strikes fear into the governed. An enemy with enough perceived power to be such a great threat that we may give up liberties in order to remain safe.
Like the book, we have no way of knowing what the truth really is. Is truth what we see on television or in books or magazines? Or is truth what we feel inside, not as a matter of fact but of instinct. The supreme court has already ruled that the media does not legally have to tell the truth. Since there is no guarantee, we cannot fully rely on only good people to put out truthful news stories. Anyone that has ever written in to the opinion section of their newspaper can attest to, sometimes drastic, changes to the story they had submitted. Sometimes altogether changing the story’s point.
The information age has brought with it capabilities that Orwell could only dream of. Imagine how sinister the story would be if it were written in 1984 and entitled “2012”. RFID chips, computers, cell phones and myriad ways of tracking every aspect of being human. We are much too comfortable to see the predicament we are facing. Because we can buy an I-pod we believe we are truly free. Just so long as we do not interfere with official government business we are left do live out our lives in “peace”.
Composing members:
0
Composing members:
0
