Is the book 1984 coming true?

[gevorg]

argh!

 

[NoStateofMind]

I think that I am not wearing a government issue jumpsuit, and my television does not serve as a two way monitor of my everyday activities.

No you aren't wearing their clothes on the outside but your allegiance is the clothing you wear in your mind and thats the ownership. Your TV may not be a two way monitor but every phone call, email and text is recorded and sifted for key words. Not too far from it.

Opponents of the Bush Administration are free to hold protests against the President

in free speech "zones". Cant protest anywhere where secret service is and IIRC its 1 mile away. Kinda hard to get your point across when they cant even hear your voice.

...we still have free elections...there are currently numerous investigations on Republican lawmakers who have stepped over the line for the ethical conduct we expect of our elected leaders.

Great. We get to elect new masters. A slave is a slave no matter how loose the noose. Try not paying homage (taxes) to the God (government) and find out how fast you're placed in harms way. You will be caged like an animal until you submit. Bow to your god!

To suggest our society mirrors that of 1984 is a bit of a stretch. Sure there are some parallels in terms of how that society utilized war to keep the masses in check, but even those are leaps of faith.

Is it not a leap of faith to conclude these abuses are not happening? The leap of faith one must make to allow aggression and brute force in the name of government but simultaneously denounce neighborhood gangs. They are acting the same way but one is acceptable and one is not. Why? Its okay for some beltway bandit to rob, lie and force you into slavery. They spend your money without your consent and require you to pay it back whether you agreed to it or not.

I'm sorry but we definitely are quite close to the book 1984 and it is no accident.

 

[NoStateofMind]

necro thread!

 

[blankslate]

For a long time I've suggested that the book was off by about 100 years and should've been named 2084... but maybe it was only off by 50 years after all.

 

[IronWing]

The movie Brazil was more spot on.

 

[drebo]

I'd say we are closer to Brave New World.

You could certainly throw in a little Fahrenheit 451 and we've got a pretty accurate portrayal of the modern world...in addition to a whole high-school English class!

 

[GoPackGo]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xos2MnVxe-c

 

[hal2kilo]

The extent to which we have lost our personal freedoms, and are under constant observation (think highway cameras, cell phone tracking, spyware on computers, etc) is pretty mind boggling. So far such intrusions have been pretty innocuous to 99.9% of us, so we don't realize what we have lost.

But since 1984 was written in the 30's, which each president our government has become more of an imperial presidency situation (with the possible exception of a temporary post-Watergate backlash). Someday in the not to distant future these two trends could combine to drastically change our society to a totalitarian one. The growth of the one party system certainly isn't helping democracy either.

:thumbsup: +

 

[Jaskalas]

If you want to see 1984, go download a documentary on North Korea.

We are desperately and rapidly trying to emulate North Korea.

Drones to track all movement 24/7 over important locations. All cellphones as .gov listening posts. North Koreans only wish they had the tech we do, to impose totalitarianism as much as we're about to do.

Check out the modern facial recognition on your smart phone... there'll be a permanent google-style database of when and where your photo has appeared, and with who.

 

[xj0hnx]

7 years like whoa

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

7 years like whoa

Yeah it's old but it's interesting to see how far we've come. The op seems to be against a 1984 society then endorsed one who's accelerated the slide. I guess it wasn't that important after all.

The Brits, those pro orwell tikes, are looking into how they can monitor every electronic communication be it phone or internet and keep a record of it. The only difficulty is technical and that's merely time and money. Of course the Brits don't care because it's for the good of the social order.

At least they are open about it. Obama and Feinstein are making sure you can never know along with too many other politicians. The Republicans will say it's bad and the Democrats will say it shouldn't be then both sides will defend them.

No surprise.