The USA’s citizens are entitled to their right to vote. The citizens determine their president as well as other members of their government. Oceania’s totalitarian government gives its people no right to determine who runs their country. Big Brother is the dictator; interestingly it is unclear whether Big Brother was even still alive or was ever alive at all. Unlike Big Brother the USA see’s their president quite often giving speeches and making public appearances in the flesh, as well as in the media.
Readers are often angered by the ending of 1984 because of Winston’s betrayal of his previous life for the acceptance of the party. This is a semi-appropriate ending because of the impossibility of going against the party because of their total control of all people’s lives through the use of fear, which had not been accomplished by any authoritarian regime before the rise of the party. The novel’s ending was semi-appropriate because it stresses a society where all people are equal, but on the contrary makes it so that people must give up all of their freedoms and have all of their aspects of life controlled to conform to the standards of the society. The party controls people’s lives off of three founding philosophies “war is peace, freedom is slavery, and ignorance is strength. (Orwell 26) War is peace refers to the fact that if the party always frames another enemy to direct all hate towards.
The “Thought Police” are similar to how the government uses our private surveillances such as, phone records, emails, and wiretapping to know what we talk about and whom we talk to. Another example Orwell says, “The command of the old despotism was ‘Thou shalt not.’ The command of the totalitarians was ‘Thou shalt’. Our command is ‘Thou art.’ No one whom we bring to his place ever stands out against us”(255). He explains how in 1984, their depositions are less accurate than the original ones in our government. There are more similarities between our two societies, including lack of privacy, brainwashing, lack of concern for others that we do not associate with, and most importantly, the lack of creativity and thinking for one.
Is it possible that totalitarianism - where all freedom is removed - could be a reality? This question posed to readers' when studying George Orwell's 1984. Sadly, the answer is “yes”. Orwell renders modern day London, now known as Airstrip One; the capital of Oceania, as a city divided into zones where the masses: also known as the Proles’ have no rights. The single party in power led, by Big Brother, controls mass media and uses the fear of death, to create obedience.
1984 v. 2014 The NSA is watching you. In June of 2013, Edward Snowden, an intelligence contractor for the National Security Agency, revealed just how much Americans were being spied on by their government. He told of a few programs that allowed the NSA to collect information from cables that phone and internet signals ran through, sending shockwaves throughout the country (Smith). This brought many Americans to ask the question, “Are we living in 1984?” 1984 is a book by George Orwell that depicts the life of Winston Smith and his struggle to deal with the strict government of Oceania. This government watches and controls its citizens through telescreens, endless war, Doublethink, and Newspeak.
The power now rest with the senate ,however there are still position that hold great power, but no kings. This takes us back to our question was his murder justified under Roman laws. Caesar was no king ,however he did make himself dictator for life. Hypothetically if he was king he would hold this titles , Chief Executive , Chief Head, Chief Priest ,Chief Legislator and Chief Judge. List examine the title of Chief Legislator under a monarchy.
Big Brother has two classes of society, Proles and Party Members, in which they both must follow certain guidelines of life, and doing otherwise has people look at you oddly. Big Brother uses Telescreens to monitor everyone in society, has undercover Thought Police watching everywhere, and has trained citizens, even family, to turn on one another if signs of treason appear. Big Brother also attempts to “cure” its people and make them love Big Brother, before assassinating them. In many ways Equilibrium and 1984 have the indestructible totalitarian governments, and would never have fallen. The two governments in these stories are very similar in ways they controlled the people and eliminated resistance.
Aristotle believes that our three offices of the senate, the assembly, and the courts which are supposed to represent democracy are in fact monarchs. Ironically we overthrew our mother country because we believed that monarchs caused tyranny. Aristotle explains that our presidents, governors, and mayors are in fact our Monarchs. He explains that these people are a type of monarch because they hold powerful office in which one man is in charge of many problems of a public concern. Aristotle uncovers that tyranny still takes place in this alleged “free country”.
The NSA: An Orwellian Reality In the cautionary novel 1984, George Orwell paints a scary picture of what society might look like by the year 1984: a surveillance state, where privacy is long-forgotten, civil liberties don’t exist, and the government can view and track everything one does—or even thinks. While he may have been far-fetched, Orwell’s prediction is not at all laughable. Edward Snowden, a National Security Agency (NSA) official, revealed to the public in June of 2013 that the aforementioned government agency has had access to excessive amounts of domestic metadata (phone calls, emails, internet activity) and has used this metadata to spy on U.S citizens illegally. Not quite Orwell’s vision, but Snowden’s disclosure has opened the eyes of many to see that the NSA should be a cause of alarm for
Indeed, throughout the text, Orwell plants both subtle and overt warnings to the reader. What do you think are some of the larger issues at hand here? Some of the larger issues at hand were that Orwell was warning about a society that is completely controlled by government. In 1984 the government controls everything. It puts forth situations which allow them to put forth certain measure that takes away the rights of the citizen for them to gain greater control of