| Product: |
Nineteen Eighty-four - George Orwell |
| Date: |
12.10.02 (1050 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Brilliantly written, A masterpiece of literature, A powerful satire on what society is becoming
Disadvantages: Not everybody has read it - and the ones that have paid no proper attention to the issues it brought up, It's a shame society has become just like this
I put the paperback down on the table, and feel a sense of despair coming over me. "This is it" I think. "This is it". Every time I walk down the street, I feel this despair and isolation. Can a book, just 300 pages of words, really change your life so much? Every time I pick up a newspaper, and read the first few headlines, it comes back. Every time I talk to people, it comes back. Orwell has created a shocking satire, that is still potent and life-changing (possibly even more so), read today than when it was first published in 1949.
Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four is a masterpiece of British literature. There. I said it. This wonderful book was originally published in 1949 and represents one of the most famous (infamous, perhaps?) of Orwell's many novels. It is one of the most mind-blowing looks at how a totalitarian society would run and how it would affect individuals.
The novel is all about Winston Smith, a member of Ingsoc - the party that controls Oceania - one of the three nations on the globe - Eastasia, Eurasia and Oceania. It documents how the Party has control and influence over every element of life. Media and ideas come from the Ministry of Truth. War is rather ironically dealt with by the Ministry of Peace. Policing and control of citizens by the Ministry of Love. Supplies and food is controlled by the Ministry of Plenty. The official language of Oceania is Newspeak.
Reading through Nineteen Eighty-Four is a very interesting experience, especially today, to see how much Orwell has got right, and how many of his predictions are going to be proved right in the future. Newspeak is slowly becoming English - we have words like modem and pixel, the begginings of a 'newspeak' brought about by technology. We have 'txt msgin' - a very minimalist language used by mobile phone users to save having to use long words.
We have 'Reality Control' - just look at the Secret Service,
MI5, the CIA, FBI and GCHQ. In "ye olde" days, you could have a private conversation without it being picked up, read about or watched. Nowadays, we have bugs, tracking devices, lie detectors, restricted access to strong encryption ( http://www.pgpi.org though if your interested...). Look at how we still don't have a proper Freedom of Information Act. Every aspect of us is under scrutiny. We have to watch out very carefully if we want to keep our privacy in these connected times.
We have a Ministry of Truth. Corporate interests are merging. Be it AOL/Time-Warner having a wide control of peoples media interests. Be it Rupert Murdoch with hsi wide news and sports interests. Sky, anyone? Slowly media and entertainment interests are combining and the "nasty" things are getting harder to find. Instead of that we get "mock nasty" things like rap music...
But most of all the thing that is most shocking is the idea of the 'telescreens', a two-way television. Jill Scott said it best when she said "Direct TV - am I watching it, or is it watching me?". Orwell's 'telescreens' are the future of technology. Scientific research has proven that TV is a platform that can be used for mind control - the repetitive nature of advertising, the relaxed, almost trance like state people go in to when watching the TV. The telescreen is 1984's version of opium or "Soma" - a brain control drug that disables people from thinking. The 'comrades' are exercised using the telescreen, and I quote...
"'Smith!' screamed the shrewish voice from the telescreen. '6079 Smith W! Yes, you! Bend lower, please! You can do better than that. You're not trying. Lower, please. That's better, comrade. Now stand at ease, the whole squad, and watch me.'"
Am I watching TV, or is TV watching me? A fine question indeed. With the introduction of modern tele-visual te
chnology, such as interactive and digital TV, we are demographically tested every single day. TV literally is watching us all. And feeding us all with a mind-control drug - "Be like the people on TV. They are a good way to be." TV is a slow-acting 'upper'.
But most of all, the prevailing idea of controlling others through constant wars. Just look at the US. Whenever the government of the United States needs a reason to do something unconstitutional, or unpopular with the "thinking people" (about 1 or 2 percent of the population), they dress it up with the pretence of a war. Look at the "war on terrorism". What's that done? Killed hundreds of innocent civilians. Or say the "war on drugs" or whatever bogeyman they come up with next. At the same time, we are seeing the individual rights of Western countries erode and evaporate from our eyes. And people don't care. Why? Because they're out there, be it in Afghanistan, the Middle East or at home, fighting these mock wars.
In Orwell's world, more citizens die in wars than soldiers, and the wars have no effect. It is "perpetual warfare" which keeps people in support of the party. Bush is atteampting to create the same thing. Look at the wars he created in Afghanistan, and soon Iraq. Look at his desire to control the situation of war without having Congress decide on actions as well.
The ideas of "War is Peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength." all have potency today. Peacekeeping today seems to involve a lot of fighting. Freedom is being manipulated to corporate and government aims. Ignorance is strength? Just look at any of the cynical Institute of Directors-style "A-Levels are too easy. We need more plumbers." whingers. They are complaining because more people are getting educated, not just the toffee-nosed twats. The country would be stronger if we were uneducated. Why? Because Blair would b
e able to support Daddy Bush's many wars and other crap ideas. Because capitalism would be able to use people for it's own nefarious purposes of "screwing them over and stealing all their money" (hence Robert Maxwell, Enron, WorldCom etc.)
Ignorance is Strength. Why? Censorship. I don't know how many different books have been censored because of over-zealous governments trying to "protect" their citizens from the truth. An open flow of ideas and speech is one of the basic tenets of democracy, yet in Britain we still don't have a legally protected right to free speech. In the US, people's Constitutional right to free speech is often blocked by the government, the Police and numerous other groups.
And finally, the violence used to control people can be seen. Just look at any of the independent news releases ( http://www.indymedia.org ) and read (or watch in some cases) the violence used against peaceful protestors at political rallies and demonstrations - especially at Jo'berg at the moment, or last week in Portland. Why are people being sprayed with tear gas and shot at with rubber bullets because they have their own ideas? Because Ignorance Is Strength.
When you combine these sentences - "War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength." it makes an interesting comment - it makes a lot of today's politics seem very similar. We are living in a "soundbite" culture. Is it because people's attention spans are so shortened that they couldn't take in a whole paragraph? I would think so. The key principles are always listed in these short ideas because every "comrade" can understand these. Today, the "bullet-point generation" need things split up in to "bitesize" chunks for them to understand it.
I have so-far only looked at 1984 from a socio-political standpoint. In terms of literary standards, it is also flourishing. Orwell
's brilliant descriptions depict Winston Smith's world perfectely. "In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs, hovered for an instant like a bluebottle, and darted away aain with a curving flight. It was the police patrol, snooping in to people's windows. The patrols did not matter, however. Only the Thought Police mattered."
The novel flows powerfully and majestically, shocking and suprising the reader at every turn. Orwell cleverly merges personal language with descriptions, such as above. This extends the idea of rebellion - it is as if combining fact and opinion was a mental blow to Ingsoc. His descriptions are extremely vivid and powerful. Through this combination of good narrative, and characters thought and speech, he creates a fantastic read.
Welcome to 2002. The new-born of 1984 are now adults. Look at the world we've given them.
As a side note - why is it that on dooyoo's Books section, the "Where did you buy this?" not include libraries. I read most books from the library rather than buy them...
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