In a time of accelerating technology, are we prepared for the inevitable?

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	• 1984 (Signet Classics) George Orwell New American Library, 1961 - 268 pages average customer review:based on 1385 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

In a time of accelerating technology, are we prepared for the inevitable?

George Orwell's 1984 is no longer a thing of the future.

The Internet is everywhere--including your wireless cameraphone.

Digital technology makes surveillance push-button easy. Those in power cannot resist. And we even do it to ourselves using social networks like Facebook and Myspace. Soon, every phone will incorporate GPS location technology.

Are we prepared for the inevitable?

In a time when the pace of technology continues to accelerate, Orwell's classic has never been more relevant.

One of my favorites...

This is one of my favorite books of all time, right up there with Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead. This book is a must-read for everyone!

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1984

Although the images are not profound and the grammar and language usage rather basic, what holds this novel together are its plot, intelligent ideas, and unique, beautifully flawed characters. I loved the fatal relationship between Julia and Winston, mostly because it was unsentimental and virtually realistic. I don't think Orwell romanticizes anything, alluding perhaps to the bleak style of life led in the book. (The denouement between the two is stunning, yet tragic). The novel ends on a melancholic, similarly unhappy note, which epitomizes the main idea presented: there really are no happy endings, and sometimes there is no winner. Winston, our anti-hero, already dull at the beginning, goes full circle, culminating in a conclusion full of Orwellian grace and sadness. Perhaps the ending was the best part of all, as it leaves the reader feeling like the world of 1984 is, in fact, real and never-ending. Clearly, that was Orwell's point.

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One of the classics

This book is one of my all time favorites. Classic in every respect of the word. George Orwell's vision should be taken with a grain of salt, but look at all the striking similarities there are to the world that we live in. With all the recent and upcoming advances in science and technology we would do well to remember the world in 1984.

Who is Big Brother, really?

The term Big Brother is almost a cliche today, but I imagine most folks who use it have never read the book that made the name so infamous. For Orwell's purposes, Big Brother was the personification of "the Inner Party" or just "the Party," that 1-2% group of elitists who ruled over the fictionalized country called Oceania [a.k.a., the UK, US and all other English-speaking countries].

It's ironic that Orwell was so pessimistic throughout this book since he was himself a socialist. His idea of socialism, however, was not so malicious, even though just as powerful. Like most idealists, he had hoped socialism would bring about an end to elitism, where the law of the jungle would be managed by a brotherhood of man [Humanism, the religion of the New World Order]. By the late 1930's though, the soviet experiment was proving that true socialism was an impossibility for inevitably ruthless individuals always rise to the top, ulimately producing an oligarchy [rule by a few].

I see in the figure Big Brother another evil that Orwell would never have suggested, being an atheist/humanist. Big Brother is the god of this world, the prince of darkness, the devil -- Satan. The issue that allows me to make this connection is knowledge. Note throughout 1984 that Big Brother's goal is to control minds by controlling knowledge. The "Proles" [85% of the people] were severely limited by their education, an education supplied [rationed] by the state. Sound familiar? Do you ever wonder why public schools are failing? Do you suppose it's possible they're actually succeeding in their intended purpose? Of course, a more forceful control was required of "Outer Party" members, that 10-14% given just enough education and training to perform complex tasks required by the state. Thus, the neccessity for the Thought Police [sort of like the PC pundits of today, only with official government power to cure thought criminals like pro-lifers, gun owners, Christian fundamentalists, etc.].

Then too is the application of "Newspeak," that effort by Big Brother to control the minds of everyone by limiting vocabulary. Although a limited vocabulary doesn't limit one's ability to actually think, it does limit one's ability to articulate what he or she is thinking, so that eventually the thought vaporizes. Knowledge is built on knowledge. Prevent a core knowledge from developing and you can essentially control how people think about certain issues. Unborn babies aren't babies; they become fetuses. Sexual deviants becomes gay. And enemies of the state become anyone refusing to accept the absolute authority of the state.

Where does Satan fit in with this analogy with Big Brother? Was it not Satan who beguiled us regarding knowledge by asking, "Yea, hath God said?" He has always tried to control our knowledge of good and evil, even to the point of quoting Scripture to the Lord Jesus in an attempt to trick the very Son of God into doubting Himself, if not the Father. Shortly after the 66 books making up the Bible were established as canon, papal decree forbid the lay Christian from possessing a copy of the Bible. Why? More recently, modern bibles have been edited for political correctness and reflect the belief system of the Gnostics who were thriving in Alexandria, Egypt in the 4th Century. Gnostics denied the deity of Christ and absolute moral values, claiming only that which is spiritual matters, so what men and women do in or with their bodies does not. Thus the roots of moral relativism.

All those who attempt to control knowledge, academic and biblical, are doing the bidding of Big Brother. Those who fall for it are little more than simple "outer party" members, foolish "proles" or scornful "inner party" members. Think about it.

Other books similar to this one include the following: Animal Farm, The Deliberate Dumbing Down of America, New Age Bible Versions, The Underground History of American Education, Educating for the New World Order and Legally STUPiD: Why Johnny doesn't have to read.

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