A government such as the one imagined in 1984 exists today in North Korea. People in North Korea are controlled totally by the government and lack the basic freedoms that we have come to expect. They live in fear of the government. People who speak out against the party are sent to labor camps where many are tortured or even killed. Knowledge of the outside world is restricted. They are poor and starving but believe they live in the best country on Earth. North Korea is the modern example of the totalitarian government that Orwell warned against. Luckily for us, people living in the U.S do not live in the constant state of fear that such a totalitarian state would induce. With that being said, Orwell wrote 1984 with larger ideas in mind. He
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Between 2008 and 2010, the NSA (National Security Agency) collected 1.8 million images from webcams taken by citizens in their own homes (information released by Edward Snowden). The U.S government has the satellite capabilities to read the back of license plates from space and the U.S is also monitoring phone calls and internet searches. While each of these violations of privacy in their own right may not be severe, these many infringements add up to a government that has over stepped its boundary and is now jeopardizing our privacy. One of Orwell’s main ideas in 1984 was the lack of privacy the citizens of Oceana had. This lack of privacy caused the citizens to be paranoid and restrict any actions or words that may danger the party. If government surveillance of citizen continues in our own country, we may also be restricted in our ability to speak and act …show more content…
One year they are fighting Eastasia and the next year Eurasia. This war was a means by which the government of Oceana exposed of excess goods. The war also causes the citizens of Oceana to be filled with national pride in order to stimulate their love for the protection that big brother provided. Here in the U.S, it seems that we to are fighting our own series of endless wars. Since WWII, the U.S has been involved in the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, War in Afghanistan, and Iraq. While many of these wars were fought for a just cause, many of these wars have yielded little to no beneficial results. Is the middle-east any less volatile now than before the war on terror? Was the war worth the many lives taken on both sides or did they die in vain? It would be difficult to find anybody that would answer yes to either of those questions. So that raises the question as to why we went to war in the first place. Was it to protect the U.S or was it for a more cynical cause? These seemingly endless wars were one of the things Orwell warned against in his novel.
Another thing that Orwell warned against in 1984 was mind control. In Oceana, The government brainwashed people by bombarded citizens with posters, music, and songs to create people that followed big brother blindly. Here in the U.S, we too are attacked by endless T.V commercials, billboards, and radio advertisement all promising to make our lives better. Like the inflated rations
Between 2008 and 2010, the NSA (National Security Agency) collected 1.8 million images from webcams taken by citizens in their own homes (information released by Edward Snowden). The U.S government has the satellite capabilities to read the back of license plates from space and the U.S is also monitoring phone calls and internet searches. While each of these violations of privacy in their own right may not be severe, these many infringements add up to a government that has over stepped its boundary and is now jeopardizing our privacy. One of Orwell’s main ideas in 1984 was the lack of privacy the citizens of Oceana had. This lack of privacy caused the citizens to be paranoid and restrict any actions or words that may danger the party. If government surveillance of citizen continues in our own country, we may also be restricted in our ability to speak and act …show more content…
One year they are fighting Eastasia and the next year Eurasia. This war was a means by which the government of Oceana exposed of excess goods. The war also causes the citizens of Oceana to be filled with national pride in order to stimulate their love for the protection that big brother provided. Here in the U.S, it seems that we to are fighting our own series of endless wars. Since WWII, the U.S has been involved in the Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, War in Afghanistan, and Iraq. While many of these wars were fought for a just cause, many of these wars have yielded little to no beneficial results. Is the middle-east any less volatile now than before the war on terror? Was the war worth the many lives taken on both sides or did they die in vain? It would be difficult to find anybody that would answer yes to either of those questions. So that raises the question as to why we went to war in the first place. Was it to protect the U.S or was it for a more cynical cause? These seemingly endless wars were one of the things Orwell warned against in his novel.
Another thing that Orwell warned against in 1984 was mind control. In Oceana, The government brainwashed people by bombarded citizens with posters, music, and songs to create people that followed big brother blindly. Here in the U.S, we too are attacked by endless T.V commercials, billboards, and radio advertisement all promising to make our lives better. Like the inflated rations