Hey there! I hope everyone here has heard of Mr. Orwell's book, 1984? Well, I just recently re-read it and I saw how much of it reflected to our lives and society. I'm just going to name some points because I got this blistering headache at the moment. Big Brother, all seeing, all controlling, all powerful, and yet he doesn't show his identity! Who does that remind us of? Hmmm.... Doesn't he sound like that one guy who gets prayed to each Sunday in churches? Someone named God? Yeah, Big Brother is another way of describing God. George Orwell found a way to dumb down society to an even more totalitarian point of view for the masses, and yet people enjoy the book more than realizing the reality of the world... And for Mr. Orwell to come up with this before the technology boom, well, he must have had some help from our green friend. Another point is the Two Minutes Hate, and how it resembles church on Sundays... haha Reinforcing loyalty in followers, discouraging the wrongs and advocating the rights, laws, rules, etc. Also, we see invasion of privacy in many contexts, such as video and sound surveillance in 1984, using "telescreens" and children spies. However, I can bet that 80% of the world's population are unaware of such a thing of video and sound surveillance in cities/schools/workplaces/homes. I can also bet that 90% of the world's population cannot see beyond the propaganda. That is my little comparison of the night. Cheers!
I really enjoy reading prophetic novels. Tying in similarities with our present day situation can be quite eerie at times, especially with stories like 1984 and A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. The sad thing is, unless something incredibly dramatic happens, our civilization's destiny seems to be correlated to the ones portrayed by these prophetic authors. Keep on reading!
I've read a bunch of texts by him in English class when I went to high school, all of them related to imperialism. That man really knew humanity. I also watched the "Animal Farm" cartoon from 1954 - I know it's probably different from the book, but in the big picture it's probably more or less the same; animals taking over a farm only to make the same administrative mistakes that humans make. Reminds me a little of "Lord of the Flies".
Although the typical depiction of God certainly fits the description of an authoritarian monster, I don't think Big Brother was a metaphor for God specifically. Big Brother was the general representation of men controlling others with fear-mongering. I agree though, Orwell was genius. There's no telling where we would've ended up if he never wrote.
funny, i think the 2-minutes hate best corresponds to professional sports in our form of society. the CIA had a heavy hand in this version - they turned the message on its head and made it into a pro-capitalism, pro-imperialism propaganda piece Animal Farm (1954 film) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 1984, animal farm and brave new world are MUST read for everyone. (if you don't like reading, they can be had as audiobooks, too!) and "doors of perception" by huxley is very good and quite on topic for this board
As long as we're plugging the prophetic, people may want to check out Neil Postman's 1985 nonfiction book Amusing Ourselves to Death. In it he argues that Huxley's Brave New World has come to pass in that we are allowing ourselves to be distracted to the point that we tolerate absurdity. Amusing Ourselves to Death - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I'll definitely check out Neil Postman, thanks! Isn't it insane how similar we are to such "fictional" realities? Not literally, as of yet, but there are so many obvious assocations between our world and those written by Orwell, Huxley, and the likes. Just like the people in A Brave New World, we are socially constructed at birth and brainwashed; societal norms and expectations are embedded within us before we can even talk! We're basically social tools at birth. During our entire youth, we're fed information to grow up a certain way. That sure as hell sounds pretty similar to hypnopaedia. We can learn a great deal from these prophets, but how do we really change what's going on?
by becoming aware of the process, like you yourself have done. once you know how to spot "programming" it's much harder for it to work.
Title has peeked my interest. Description has sealed the deal, clicking link. Indeed. First step of programming has to be the drug war, for sure.