George Orwell..in his book '1984'. Everyone was spied upon by 'Big Brother'..?

Question

In the UK, we are the most spied upon people in the world...being captured, on average, 300 times per day by cctv cameras. There are now cameras in some cities where a controller will tell you, over a tannoy, to pick up a piece of litter you've just dropped or to stop drinking alcohol in a public place etc...
Do you think that Orwell's prediction is becoming fact but he was just 23 years too early?
How do you see the 'surviellance culture' developing?

Answer 1

Just because we do not have all the cameras all connected yet, and all the databases connected yet and we are not at the destination of a militerised totalitarian police state, does not mean that we can be complacent and do nothing.

We can see what direction the Government policy is taking us and if we keep going in the direction they are taking us, we will end up at that destination.

By the time we reach that destination it will be too late. When all protest is banned, organising as groups to push for change will be impossible, because any behaviour linked to that activity will be tracked and you could be 'disapeared' before you get a group organised. When you are at that point, it is too late. You may as well hold your hands out and be willingly shackled and enslaved within the system.

With all the ID databases and tracking technology and the implanting of trackable ID chips being planned, we are well on the way to a very advanced Orwellian wet dream of population control.

All that is required for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing.

Liberty shall not of itself flourish, but for the careful vigilance of determined souls.

Ammendment********************************

and I take issue with what stay_fan1 implies. Just because what the taliban and other religious fundementalists do is evil, does not mean we should do the same. What the zionist fundementalists do is evil, what the christian fundementalists do is evil too. They are ALL wrong.

Look at what the USA did in fallujeh. From the destruction of the city to the physical and electronic tracking and licencing of all activities of the entire civillian population. they made everyone register to get back into the city and they have to carry an ID badge everywhere they go, in THEIR OWN CITY! I remember Jews being forced to do the same in germany in the 1940's.. all activities from work, to travel, were licenced by the occupying power. Breach of your licenced activity, even if that merely meant taking a different route from your home to a destination, would mean that you could be shot on sight.

How would you feel if foriegn invaders came in and did that in YOUR town?

And people wonder why the USA is becoming universally hated? What happened in Fallujeh was a clue, it has nothing to do with the myth that you are free or the myth that you are a democratic nation.

People resent, often violently, being oppressed and enslaved into subservient obediance to immoral, evil, corrupt leaders.

Answer 2

Ever been audited? They've been here for a long time. I was without work and earning no income for almost a full year a long time ago. I couldn't afford to drive and bought a bike with money I saved. When tax season came around, I filed my earnings. $0. I was audited and they went into my bank transaction history for the year and filed charges based on my bicycle. If I was out of work and had no earnings, how could I afford a bicycle without stealing money from the government? Almost every purchase we make these days is by bank or credit card. They know exactly where you are and what time. If you buy a CD during working hours of the week, somebody's taking note to that. I used to be in the military. I never told them I had a part time job on the side. One day, they called me up at work to ask why I wasn't on base. You're exactly right. It's creepy how he knew what was coming. World War Two was won by knowing where people were, with who and why. America became very good at the game of knowing everything about everyone very quickly and Mr. Orwells knew what was going to happen because of it.

Answer 3

"There are now cameras in some cities where a controller will tell you, over a tannoy, to pick up a piece of litter you've just dropped or to stop drinking alcohol in a public place etc..."

Are you serious? That is crazy! I never realized how bad it has gotten over there, geez. They are sneaking them in the US too...they are on almost every traffic light in my city now...supposed to deter people from running red lights...yeah right. Noone I know has ever gotten a ticket from these "snapshots", nor have I...and I know I have done it a few times in the last few years. It's really insane, these freedoms we will give up in the name of "security"...not that I am a huge fan of littering, of course. Orwell is rolling over in his grave right now.

Answer 4

Not really. The difference is that this surveillance is not co-ordinated or collated. There maybe hundreds of cameras in the average city centre, but they are run by different organisations and controlled by undertrained underpaid clods!
Look at how terror suspects can 'disappear', or how escaped prisoners can slip away - hardly indicative of a surveillance state! To give one example of the inefficiency of this system, a serious crime was committed outside of the college where I work, in an area covered by not one but two cameras. No one was monitoring the cameras at the time, and the operator did not know how to record permanently, so the record had been automatically deleted!

Then again, I'm just an old-thinker who unbelly-feels Blairsoc. I'm double-plus bad and I'm sure the thought police will catch up with me eventually and haul me off to room 101!

Answer 5

We are at a fork. If the current systems get coordinated then we are in deeper trouble. We need some legislation to control their use, and to get pointless ones removed.

Typically, there is no evidence of thought on the consequences of actions. If you treat a person as though they exhibit trait X (could be sociability (+) or criminality (-)) then they are more likely to actually exhibit that behaviour. So, if we treat citizens as though they are potential criminals...

Question, Which European country has the biggest problems with prison overcrowding?

It's a simplistic argument perhaps - but one worthy of further research.

Further Reading: two books by Alexander Solzhenitsyn "First Circle" and "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich". The first deals with state use of surveillance technology, the second with the consequences of overpowerful governments.

Answer 6

I think that sooner or later the camera set up will be co-ordinated. We all do silly or wrong things from time to time because we are human. The most frightening part of 1984 was went people who loved one another were forced to betray them because they were faced we the one thing they could not bare. Governments already know how to do this, so watch out it is not about crime or terrorists (or freedom fighters if you insist) it is about power and more power to protect the lying, corrupt and powerful

Answer 7

The thought police are everywhere, be very afraid. Have you noticed how all this is for our own good? New Labour are destroying any vestige of freedom we have in this country in the cause of " for your own good" the well known hiding place of all despots and dictators. Wake up out there! Don't let the scum take away your freedom, once its gone you will never get it back and it will be too late to wish you had made a difference.

Answer 8

I agree that surveillance definitely has become more pronounced in the society in which we live, but I don't think it is (or ever will) reach the extent to which Orwell portrayed them. I don't believe technology will be used to create a quasi-socialist state - ecspecially in this country. I think Orwell was a bright guy, but his fictional story will probably remain just that.

Answer 9

if you want to see "1984" in place and in action, look at the territory that the PA controls, or areas that the Taliban controls, or areas tha the "insurgents" control in Iraq.
The mind control - the double-speak - the perpetual war - it's all there. But it's never mentioned, because people only want to attack UK and USA and the West.

Answer 10

Camera's which are at some airports,that see through you.will be next.Then like the police road rage TV crap they have.We will
have the dangler dick show followed by floppy tit etc.Hurry.Bring on the revolution before I'm to old to fight.