1984

[MehTeh]

So who has a big brother that intrudes on everything you do?
Are we living in a big brother society right now?
Is this freedom of choice and emphasis on individuality just another control?

 

[MacFall]

Are we living in a big brother society right now?

Yes. However, Orwell did not see that technology could be used the other way around - people are using it to record government officials and spread disruptive ideas and technologies.

Is this freedom of choice and emphasis on individuality just another control?

What freedom of choice and emphasis on individuality? All I see is the freedom to complain (without acting on it) and the active destruction of individuality.

 

[Andrew12]

aww, you mean conforming to non-conformism is just the current conformity?



the word conform is funny if you use it too much.

 

[Rhamiel]

i love the book 1984

it is SUCH a horrible world, it is not that they were being watched all the time
it was the leval of constant fear and control
we are not even close to that
it is such a perfect system that I am not even sure it could even be done in real life
perfect but horrible
the use of language to control thought struck me as far more sinister then the use of cameras, though both were horrible

 

[Andrew12]

well lets juxtapose the 1984 society with the society from A Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.


Which would you want to live in? Why?

 

[MacFall]

Well considering that BNW had a (sort of) brighter ending, I'd say that one. As Qoheleth said, 1984 is a perfect tyranny. It is so perfect it could not even exist. I would choose the world that has hope, no matter how dim it may be - and indeed, we do have more hope than either of those stories offers.

 

[Andrew12]

or Farenheight 451.


Montag had a happy ending. lol

 

[Im_A]

So who has a big brother that intrudes on everything you do?
Are we living in a big brother society right now?
Is this freedom of choice and emphasis on individuality just another control?

I don't and I live in America. Australia must suck for you to ask those questions.

Now of course I don't know that Big Brother isn't intruding me, or sifting me soma. Nevertheless, with enough reasons to believe at this current juncture, yep, I don't have a Big Brother doing that and I live in the USA. Heck, I haven't even felt pressure to live the life of an orgy porgy.

 

[Im_A]

BTW-Orwell was a democratic socialist.

Beware of socialist propaganda

 

[Verve]

1)Why does my birth order matter?

2) In a different way than most of those books would put it. Social media and communication devices allow our friends to track us but if someone really wants to get their hands on your info they can. We have been culturally conformed to share our information and carry around electronic devices without question. Don't get me started on the Patriot act. Honestly, it doesn't bother me much.

Actually, I view books like 1984 and Brave New World to be as capable of leading people to conforming viewpoints as anything else. If anything they stir up the neurotics and create social chaos at times when it's inappropriately applied.

If it loses context it loses genuine impact and becomes a tool of manipulation perverted from original intent.

3)There's this thing about "conforming" that really gets me.

Once "non-conformists" get into a group they expect you to be non-conforming in the exact same way they are.

This is why I am convinced that people are easily manipulated even when they are under the illusion that they are "free-thinkers." Want an example?
Hot Topic. Making non-conformity a trend since 1989.

 

[MacFall]

BTW-Orwell was a democratic socialist.

He died a syndicalist, however, and may have been by the time he completed 1984.

 

[MehTeh]

I don't and I live in America. Australia must suck for you to ask those questions.

Now of course I don't know that Big Brother isn't intruding me, or sifting me soma. Nevertheless, with enough reasons to believe at this current juncture, yep, I don't have a Big Brother doing that and I live in the USA. Heck, I haven't even felt pressure to live the life of an orgy porgy.

It is interesting that you came to the assumption that I was asking based on where I live. I'll just chalk it down to the fervour generated by your national day shall I?

The motivation for asking such questions finds its basis in the Big Brother thread regarding the tv show and cryptoscripts comments regarding the nature of the thread.

What is interesting is that people in the same country have completely opposing views on such a topic.

 

[Verve]

I just wanted to add:

 

[Im_A]

It is interesting that you came to the assumption that I was asking based on where I live. I'll just chalk it down to the fervour generated by your national day shall I?

That bad over there eh?


The national day has nothing to do with me saying what I had to say because I haven't been celebrating the 4th of July. I just wanted to say that.

The motivation for asking such questions finds its basis in the Big Brother thread regarding the tv show and cryptoscripts comments regarding the nature of the thread.

Thanks for the clarification?

What is interesting is that people in the same country have completely opposing views on such a topic.

Welcome to the world of multiple opinions.

 

[Im_A]

He died a syndicalist, however, and may have been by the time he completed 1984.

Being one of the 3 most current streams in socialist economics...ok? Being a form of a socialist economic corporatism "that advocates interest aggregation of multiple non-competitive categorised units to negotiate and manage an economy"(Wiarda, Howard J. Corporatism and comparative politics. M.E. Sharpe, 1996. pp. 65–66, 156.), still makes him a democratic socialist.

Can't be that hard to imagine a democratic socialist preaching against totalitarian rule.

 

[MacFall]

Democratic socialism and syndicalism have similar goals, but differ radically on the means by which they ought to be achieved. In observing the means they respectively advocate, they must be regarded as ideologically distinct.