Are things like 1984?

Question

We have a government that wages perpetual wars, for the sake of waging war. People are ignorant of the past (even though the information is out there, most never seek it). People who continue to use Oldspeak and ignore the system of Newspeak (a.k.a. political correctness) are derided as "intolerant." We have televisions like in 1984 that brainwash people 24-7. We even have a Junior Anti-Sex League (which uses STDs to draw members) and organizations promoting making our draconian victimless crime laws even worse (such as MADD, SADD etc.).

Are things like in 1984?

So somebody's accusing me of being a drunk. That's defamation as I've never drank alcohol once in my life. I merely oppose the government's violation of other people's right to drink alcohol if they want to.

Answer 1

Absolutely. We are under constant surveillance and have to endure a constant stream of propaganda from government which uses language in such a twisted way to frighten people into believing its lies.

Answer 2

1984? You're just a spring chicken. My husband was killed by a drunk driver years before that and left me with 2 pre-schoolers to raise without a father. Tell me more about MADD and SADD. Yes I use Old Speak and people say things about me being politically incorrect every time I put an article in the newspaper but I don't really care anymore than I care right now. The newspaper always prints what I right without exception or correction. We live and we die for what we believe is right or wrong. If we don't we have neither pride nor dignity.

Answer 3

Not only your premise is wrong, but your 'facts' too. Waging perpetual war? Before 2001, it had been a decade since our last major engagement. Before the Gulf War, it had been almost 2 decades since Vietnam. Ignorance is at pretty high levels, but 1984 wasn't about ignorance, those people KNEW things, but only what the govt. wanted them to know.

Your characterization of MADD and SADD is truly sickening, as they stand for Mothers Against Drunk Drivers, and Students Against Drunk Drivers. Drunk driving kills innocent people every day (I am an EMT, and have pealed people out of enough cars to know). I would hardly call that a 'victimless crime'.

When Orwell wrote 1984, there was one thing he never could have foreseen that thwarted this kind of govt. control. The internet. The knowledge is out there, and it can't be suppressed with anything less than a global effort. Get off the conspiracy theory band-wagon man, it's so 1990's.

Answer 4

I think you draw a valid comparison here, although I would be hard pressed to consider drunk driving a victimless crime. Drinking is fine, but getting behind the wheel while intoxicated should never be looked upon lightly.
In 1984, Oceana is at war. The enemy, whom always seems to change with time, is not important here. What is important is that war is a necessary constant. The same applies with the U.S. war against terror. It is a constant ongoing struggle with no known ending against an abstract. First Usama Bin Laden, then Al Quaida, next Saddam Hussain. In the future, Iran or possibly North Korea. The enemy is inconsequential. What IS important is that we fight them there (wherever there is) so we don't have to fight them here...and that they hate our freedom so we must continue to fight.
There are other glaring comparisons between Orwell's novel and today's government. One could argue that the Fox Network is Bush's "Ministry of Truth", pandering lies, bias and misinformation to the party members (that would be the Republicans). Fox was responsible for driving the Iraq/Al Quaeda connection into so many people's heads. It's completely possible that if Murdoch decided that 2 + 2 did equal 5, half of America would buy into it. Instead of two minutes of hate, we get thirty every time O'Reilly comes on. Or three hours of it from Rush Limbaugh.
The Big Brother aspect of 1984 is comparable to the Patriot Act and the assault on privacy our country has seen as of late. Warrantless wire taps have become acceptable to the populace. Government watch lists include peace activists and dissenters. Some who are critical of the government or it's policies find themselves watched or put on no-fly lists (this has happened to a good friend of mine) by the FBI (Thought Police).
Lastly I want to point out Emmanual Goldstien, the reviled and hated enemy of Oceana. Osama Bin Laden is Goldstien. His visage brings out anger and hate in Americans. Also, like Goldstien, he has yet to be found or killed or taken into custody. One could argue that if this happened, the perpetual war against terrorism may collapse upon itself.
Strangly enough, 1984 was written about Communism and a totalitarian state. Could it be that Capitalism could be taken to the same extreme?

"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake… We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means, it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."

Answer 5

Well in some ways it is like 1984. The Detroit Tigers won the World Series in 1984 and they will win it again this year. Also I was in the store the other day and saw a bunch of cavas shoes with paint on them like the ones during the 80's.

Answer 6

No, we're like 2007. Unlike "1984" we are still a free society.

Answer 7

Yes, and no.

There were some things Orwell could not have foreseen when he wrote "1984".

If you like Orwell's stuff, by all means, read his "Animal Farm".

wsulliva

Answer 8

I think so.

But how can you call drunk driving a victimless crime? I can show you several graves that point to the contrary.

Answer 9

It's drinking and driving that is being dealt with by SADD and MADD----I wouldn't call that "victimless".

Answer 10

We are not there yet, but we are heading in that direction...and the majority needs to wake up, if we want to nip this trend in the bud! *sm*