A few years ago the Wikileaks web site realize sensitive and controversial material that upset a lot of people, making the editor-in-chief of the website Julian Assange had to face an investigation by the government of the United States that still continues. The information that it was realized had to do U.S. military and diplomatic documents and Assange finally found political asylum by Ecuador.
This fact raise the debate of how is not the money that controls the world but the information. How governments and companies are trying to hide the truth from the citizens, exactly how it happens in the novel by Orwell’s 1984.
Making a quit plot overview, 1984 it is about the nation of Oceania in which a ruling Party controls everything and everyone. One of the citizens Winston Smith writes a personal diary in which he express how much he dislikes the control of the party, because he is not allowed to express his individuality.
The Party has as a leader the Big Brother, and the opposition to the Party it is called the Brotherhood. Of course the Party tries to make everyone thinks they are the good ones and this is why they change historical records, they can see what every citizen is doing in every moment, they force people to always watch their televisions and never turn them off, and they try to eliminate any sign of rebellion by creating a new language that doesn’t allow thoughtcrime.
The change in the character spirit begins with his prohibit relationship with his co worker. They have an affair, and then they try to join the Brotherhood but they fall into the tramp of O’Brien and the Party take him to torture.
After they make Winston go to his worst phobia they finally break him. He ends up having no feelings for Julia (his co worker) and loving the leader of the Party.
The aim of the Party is to eliminate every glimpse of individuality a person can have so they can perpetuate in the power.
They make people believe facts that never happen like Oceania has always been allied with Eastasia in a war against Eurasia.
Governments controlling and hiding the truth? It only happens in books right?
In our era of assumed “free information” we can choose what to believe, where to read it, or not read it at all. Every Time a big scandal blows up making our dearest leaders of the world looking like criminals people tend to take sides. Just like what happens with the wikileaks scandal.
-He’s lying.- He’s telling the truth.- Everything's a conspiracy.- They are trying to scare us.-
But one thing that we can all learn from 1984 is that identifying “them” and “us” is confusing and also dangerous. So in the year 2015 how far are we from 1984?
We are nearly as far from the year 1984 as George Orwell was when he wrote the book in 1948(...) The book introduces many interesting ideas including “telescreens”, “thoughtcrime” and “newspeak”. While the forces that Orwell wrote about have not been the driver for these concepts to come to reality, much of their essence may well have slipped into our society without us noticing. (Hillard, 2013).
More than that we are slowly being brainwashed by campaigns that try to appeal to our feelings and emotions but are just a different face of “they” trying to look like one of “us”.
See for example the viral video Kony 2012
Now see the truth behind Kony 2012.
What to believe then? Should be better if I just sit in my room and watch the Simpsons all day? At least I'm safe.
What is the truth behind all this information?
There is such thing as the truth?
It could be said that all these examples are far away from our nation.
Even Though Wikileaks did realize some juicy gossip about our President, and Kony was kind of a deal here I have more examples to say that we are not as far as we thought from 1984.
See the case of Copa America, our biggest victory in years on what is the most important thing in our culture besides complaining, FOOTBALL.
There were months dedicated to the event, it was what everyone talked about, the news, the shows, even the stand up comedians talk about it. We only had time for football, we only had head for football, even if you hate football you spend time telling all your Facebook friends how much you hate it.
But surprise surprise! There was other issues besides the ball fever, like the teachers and students strike. Now we care about it because we are going to have classes in Christmas, but back then all the information was about our Roja.
Football is the classic example of brainwashing population, using the game as a distraction of bad decisions from the government. Making people believe that a game is more important that their education, because if people actually care about it then would be impossible to brainwashed them.
The Party might act in a subtle way our governments are not that clever but they are in fact clever enough to realise information in order to obtain what they want.
I think that “they” trying to control the media, and making “us” believe, feel or even buy whatever “they” want is the same aim that O’Brien did with Winston, but who can tell that O’Brien wasn’t a Winston himself? that Winston was from the moment he declare his love for the Big Brother a O’Brien?
So who are “they” and which one are “us”?
It seems to me that we are not that far away from 1984.
References.
Hillard, R. (2013). Living as far from 1984 as Orwell.
Orwell, G. (1983). 1984. New York: Plume.
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It's interesting that, as you said, we are nearly as far from 1984 that Orwell was when he wrote the novel but nothing has changed. Governments, especially through mass media, use the same kind of tricks and hoax that governments or totalitarian systems used more than 200 years ago, however, we still believe everything that we are said. I remember that CNN, during Brazil's protest, were showing images of extremely violent riots in the Middle East, trying to make us believe that those were images of Brazilian people completely destroying the city, and they did the same with Venezuela.
ResponderEliminarNow, the difference here is that we can search for more information than the information that people in powerful positions want to show us. We can compare that information, we can corroborate its fidelity, but most of us don't do that, even thought, we know that information it's power. I believe that is our job, as future teachers, to teach our students to think critically and stop being sheeps, that way maybe we could change, a little bit, the future. As Noam Chomsky said " "I try to encourage people to think for themselves, to question standard assumptions… Don’t take assumptions for granted. Begin by taking a skeptical attitude toward anything that is conventional wisdom. Make it justify itself. It usually can’t. Be willing to ask questions about what is taken for granted. Try to think things through for yourself.”