"1984" today?

In our society there are a lot of issues concerning how much the government should get involved in our lives. We see what happens from the novel "1984" by George Orwell, when the government becomes too involved. From the book I got a sense of what it would be like to live under a government that has so much power. Thinking about how such a party could become in power in the first place boggled my mind. I think one thing this book shows is that the people of society need to remain educated and informed of the consequences of allowing a government to possess too much power.
I think there are some instances in our current life that connect to the "watching" in "1984". For example, the Patriot Act which was enacted under President Bush can be considered "watching". However, what most don't realize is that this program was designed to watch serious threats, and prevent them from harming innocent citizens. Regardless, a program like the Patriot Act could be taken to the extreme and to the point where even people who may be no threat at all, are spied on. Another way "1984" connects to our society is with the Telescreens in everyone's household. These are even hidden in some areas to catch those who don't think they are being watched. This is how Winston was caught and it is also how criminals today are caught. Because of the amount of technology today, it is hard to do something without there being some record of it. Hidden cameras are becoming more popular and though they do catch those doing wrong, you can't help but alter your behaviors in areas where you think your being spied upon. In for example, an airport, you would never want to say the word "bomb" at a tone of voice where other people could hear you. You also wouldn't want to look like your doing anything suspicious, as the security at airports is a very sensitive issue. Of course, situations like this don't occur everyday and we usually don't have a lot to worry about in our houses or in a mall. This was not the case in "1984" and of course in a time like that, you were so brainwashed that you did not realize the amount of rules you were obeying, nor did the greater population of Oceania have a desire to break them. A society like Oceania would be horrible and I think that if we don't fight for our rights and freedom, that problems could arise where we begin to restrict our actions on a more day to day basis. But I believe that we as human beings will not allow a party like the one in "1984" to ever take control.

1984

From everything I heard about the novel “1984”, nothing prepared me for actually reading it. The only phrase I knew from the book was, "Big Brother is watching you". So I figured, ok this is just a book about a society where your always being watched. However, it turned out to be much more than that.

George Orwell did an outstanding job making you feel how the main character, Winston did, and I found myself picturing living in a society like that of Oceania. I thought about the run-down apartment Winston lived in and how dark and cold it must have felt to him. I was very disgusted when I read about Winston's job of rewriting history so it said what the Party wanted it to say. It must be horrible to live in a society where you second guess every thought you have and are never sure of which memories are real and which ones are fake. To me this almost seems impossible as I don’t think I could ever betray the memories I have, especially when I know they were real.

One part of the book I found to particularly gruesome was when they had captured Winston. Obrien turned out to be a spy and turned him in. The torture methods he used on Winston sounded horrifying and I don't think anyone could hold out when you are threatened by someone who will let rats eat your face off if you do.

From this I got a sense of how horrible the government of the Party really was. Thinking about how such a party could become in power boggled my mind. I think one thing this book shows is that we as people need to remain educated and informed of the consequences of allowing a government to possess too much power. I think there are some instances in our current life that connect to the "watching" in "1984". Because of the amount of technology today, it is hard to do something without there being some record of it. However, I don't think we as human beings will allow a party like the one in "1984" to ever take control.