Subject: 1984 by George Orwell
Posted by: Lorvanwa
Date: Nov 19 11
I read this book first when I was still a kid, and re-read it several times since. I think it may have negatively impacted my view on the world, turning me into a quasi-paranoid conspiracy theorist.
Anyone else worry sometimes that this novel may have done the same to you? Or are you too busy worrying about domestic espionage?
Posted by: Lorvanwa
Date: Nov 19 11
I read this book first when I was still a kid, and re-read it several times since. I think it may have negatively impacted my view on the world, turning me into a quasi-paranoid conspiracy theorist.
Anyone else worry sometimes that this novel may have done the same to you? Or are you too busy worrying about domestic espionage?
23 replies. On page 1 of 2 pages. 1 2
nautilator
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I read it while I was in middle school and didn't totally understand its implications. If I reread it I think I'd see it in a much better light. Some of the things that it talked about are close to, if not, happening now though some of that is a natural result of technology progressing. Reply #1. Jan 06 12, 12:22 AM |
redwaldo 
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An accurate description of modern day 'spying' by Western governments. Reply #2. Jan 06 12, 1:25 AM |
daver852
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This book can best be interpreted as the inevitable end of liberal goverment. Scratch a liberal, and you'll always find a fascist. Liberals always view people as as cattle; (one death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic). Orwell is one of those rare people who realized the failings of socialism and communism and came into the light before his all too early death. Reply #3. Jan 16 12, 10:26 PM |
houston1127
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Geez, Daver. Are you reflexively partisan or are you a paid hack? Does it even register that the Patriot Act was passed under Bush and the recent heinous Bill of Rights-killing NDAA bill (look it up) was a thoroughly bi-partisan affair? I'm not sure about other countries, but the US, the UK, and Canada have had "conservative" parties in charge at various times in recent years and the epansion of the surveillence/police/Big Brother state has yet to halt or even slow down--let alone abate. Of all candidates in the current American GOP race only one ever mentions or criticizes the surveillence/police state cancer that is spreading in Amerika. Why is that? Reply #4. Jan 17 12, 12:11 AM |
| callie_ross
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We had to read this in high school for English class. I thought it was a very weird book & didn't like it at all. Now that I'm older, I better understand the point the author was trying to make. Big Brother is a very scary concept & he wasn't far off the mark, was he? Reply #5. Jan 17 12, 2:03 AM |
boxjaw
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In response to post#3: ("This book can best be interpreted as the inevitable end of liberal goverment. Scratch a liberal, and you'll always find a fascist. Liberals always view people as as cattle; (one death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic). Orwell is one of those rare people who realized the failings of socialism and communism and came into the light before his all too early death.") Figure out first which label you want to paste on someone daver. You're all over the board with it. Are liberals fascist or communist? "One death is a tragedy, a million deaths is a statistic", is a quote from a communist named Stalin. Heck, you probably don't even know the true meaning of a conservative anymore. Please don't smear and put a spin on Orwell's book with your smattering ideas and ideals. Reply #6. Feb 03 12, 11:33 AM |
| boxjaw
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As well Lorvanwa. When Orwell wrote this book, the world didn't have the technology at their disposal as we do now. Whatever type of government is currently in power in any given country today, doesn't really matter. It strikes me that what he wrote about is a clear and present danger. You shoudn't worry about governments, wether they are fascist, communist, democratic, theocratic, ad nauseam. You should worry more about the corporations of the world. The latter, in the long run, don't care what political entity is in power. They have the means to know whatever you are doing now with the ethernet and what I am doing by merely typing this. National government really has been superceded by commerce. Put a spin on that and come up with a new ideology name for that daver. Reply #7. Feb 03 12, 11:59 AM |
| boxjaw
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Another good book to read that is older that "1984" is, "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin. Reply #8. Feb 03 12, 12:03 PM |
jolana
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I only watched the movie and I didn´t understand what was going on. I shoud have probably read the book before watching the movie, shoudn´t I? Reply #9. Feb 03 12, 7:00 PM |
rustic_les
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I read it as an adult working for the British Civil Service. We have a long way to get before we turn into 1984. The British government does have at it's disposal perhaps some of the most Draconian legislation out of any Western democracy. The Special Powers Act of Northern Ireland is as close as it gets to a police state. Though, I am still bound by the Official Secrets Act and can't talk about it. *looks nervously over shoulder* Reply #10. Feb 04 12, 5:46 PM |
george48
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A simplistic thought here,the government of any country,democratic or not, does not trust the people they govern to act in their own best interest,or more to the point in the interest of the government itself. Therefore they will implement whatever measures they see fit to protect their interests under the guise of whatever is the bugbear of the moment. Reply #11. Feb 04 12, 6:28 PM |
mikeeagle1
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This and "Atlas Shrugged" have made me very suspect of any government institution. Reply #12. Mar 09 12, 2:48 PM |
honeybee4
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It is strange how Daver and I see eye to eye.. Reply #13. Mar 09 12, 4:14 PM |
| boxjaw
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Actually it's quite normal. You're two peas in a pod. Not strange at all. Reply #14. Mar 13 12, 12:26 PM |
Mixamatosis
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I love the ideas in this book about the "future" (at the time) which were written as science fiction but have since appeared in our world. I'm often reminded of 1984 when listening to politicians - especially of "double-speak" and "double-think". An example of double speak is calling the Ministry responsible for war The Ministry of Peace". Double think is holding 2 contradictory ideas (as true) in your head at one time. All that monitoring of people in the book - now we have intelligence gathering and spying on the internet and CCTV. I also remember that they kept wiping out history and replacing it with different history, so when they were at war with X, their history said they had always been at war with X and when they switched to being at war with Y, their history said they had always been at war with Y. Some history on the internet, that relates to individuals is now being wiped and politicians rapidly "forget" inconvenient history. Reply #15. Jul 21 15, 10:05 AM |
| Mixamatosis
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I disagree with Daver, Orwell wrote about the failings of Communism in the Soviet Union but he never ceased to be a socialist. Many people don't realise this because, of all his books, they have only read "Animal Farm" and "1984". Reply #16. May 22 17, 2:59 PM |
| daver852
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Those were written near the end of his life, when he had become wiser. There's also the little matter of the list of Communist sympathizers he compiled for M15 just before he died. Doesn't sound like something a committed socialist would have done. http://www.openculture.com/2015/02/george-orwell-communist-list.html Reply #17. May 22 17, 3:50 PM |
| Mixamatosis
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Daver, In his essay "Why I Write" Orwell wrote "The Spanish War and other events in 1936–37, turned the scale. Thereafter I knew where I stood. Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written directly or indirectly against totalitarianism and for Democratic Socialism as I understand it." Reply #18. May 23 17, 7:24 AM |
| Mixamatosis
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Sorry - typo. The Orwell essay I referred to was called "Why I Write". His views are explained in Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Orwell Reply #19. May 23 17, 7:26 AM |
| daver852
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That was written four or five years before he died. Reply #20. May 23 17, 12:41 PM |
23 replies. On page 1 of 2 pages. 1 2
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