i've been saying this for some time and now an individual puts it in writing, clearly;
This month, George Orwell’s legendary novel Nineteen Eighty-Four turns 70 years old, and the warnings contained within the story are now more
relevant than ever. Orwell’s predictions were so spot on that it almost
seems like it was used as some type of accidental instruction manual for
would-be tyrants.
In the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four,
there is an all-encompassing surveillance state that keeps a watchful
eye on everyone, in search of possible rebels and points of resistance.
Censorship is the norm in this world and is so extreme that individuals
can become “unpersons” who are essentially deleted from society because
their ideas were considered dangerous by the establishment. This is an
idea that is very familiar to activists and independent journalists who
are being removed from the public conversation for speaking out about
government and corporate corruption on social media.
Orwell is famous for coining the term “double-speak,” which is a way
to describe the euphemistic language that government uses to whitewash
their most dirty deeds. For example, in Orwell’s story, the ministry of
propaganda was called the Ministry of Truth, just as today the
government agency that was once known as “The Department of War,” is now
called the “Department of Defense.”
There was also never-ending war in Orwell’s story, the conditions of
which would change on a regular basis, keeping the general population
confused about conflicts so they give up on trying to understand what is
actually going on. Some of these predictions were merely a recognition
of patterns in human history since the idea of “unpersons” and war
propaganda is nothing new. However, Orwell had an incredible
understanding of how technology was going to progress over the 20th
century, and he was able to envision how technology would be used by
those in power to control the masses.
The technological predictions made in the book were truly uncanny, as
they give a fairly accurate description of our modern world. Orwell
described “telescreens,” which acted as both an entertainment device and
a two-way communication device. This type of technology was predicted
by many futurists at the time, but Orwell’s prediction was unique
because he suggested that these devices would be used by the government
to spy on people, through microphones and cameras built into the
devices.
Unfortunately, just like in Orwell’s book, people in the modern world
are so distracted by entertainment and the divided by politics that
they have no idea they are living in a tyrannical police state. This
police state was also a strong deterrent in the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four,
because although many of the citizens in the book had a positive
opinion of “big brother,” it was still something that they feared, and
it was a force that kept them in control. Of course, this is not much
different from the attitude that the average American or European has
when confronted with police brutality and government corruption.
Many of the ideas about power and authority that were expressed in Orwell’s classic are timeless and as old as recorded history; but
his analysis of how technology would amplify the destructive nature of
power was incredibly unique, especially for his time..........https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/1984-turns-70-years-old-in-a-world-that-looks-a-lot-like-the-book_05132019
No comments:
Post a Comment