We cannot deny that there have been political unrests over the past few months (or even the past couple of years) in some countries. It is not my place here to express what I think of the politics, its problems and all the disagreements it has caused. However, what I have been hearing and reading (sometimes feeling) made me think of one book that I had picked up years ago but had not had a chance to read. This book was, of course, “Nineteen Eighty-Four” by George Orwell. I thought it would be appropriate to read it in this situation.
1984
George Orwell named the book “Nineteen Eighty-Four” as in the year 1984, but he actually began writing the book in 1948. He gave attempt to foresee or predict what politics and governing process would be like in the future. Let me tell you here that if you think “Animal Farm” gives an accurate reflection of politics, “Nineteen Eighty-Four” is on another level.
The Party and the Big Brother
George Orwell told a story in 1948 that in the year 1984 there would be a group of the powerful and the elite called “The Party” whose leader was to be known as Big Brother. Their main job was to keep an eye on the nation’s or the state’s people 24 hours a day. Whether the people would be eating, sleeping, working or doing anything, they would be watched. If anyone had a television at home, that was how the Big Brother and the Party would be watching you. Good bye privacy, I say.
Could this be reflected in us using the Internet? Could this be the way George Orwell tried to tell us that we would be watched when using social media? Possibly.
The Thought Police
This leads to the most frightening thing told in the book. The “Thought Police“!!! Yes, the people’s thoughts were also watched and listened to. You only had to think or believe differently from what the Party wanted to be arrested by the Thought Police. Basically, no one would be allowed to THINK differently, let alone speak and act. …
Sounds familiar. I leave that for you to say.
Why?
Why would the Party and the Big Brother have to do this? The question is very simple to answer. It was because the rulers wanted to control the people from their behaviours to their thoughts. The rulers and the elites would want everyone to think, believe and act in the way (the only way) they wanted. That’s all. It would be so much easier to control and keep them in order like this.
My Thoughts
“Nineteen Eighty-Four“, I thought, was a scary book. Not just because how the story was told, but more because how real it felt, especially in the current situations. The Party could and would do absolutely everything in order to control and rule. They would even change the history. They believed that those who controlled history would be able to control the future. Those who control the present would be able to control the past also.
Living in 1984, the truth was what the Big Brother and the Party specified, and nothing else. The book said that if the Party said 2+2 = 5 was correct, it would be correct.
“Nineteen Eighty-Four“, to be honest, was very depressing and frightening. Why? At the end, anyone who hated the Big Brother would be forced and made to love the Big Brother.
I have now finished reading the book and am not even sure whether George Orwell wanted “Nineteen Eighty-Four” to be a fiction or a non-fiction. What a read it was, nonetheless.