2003=1984 “Big Brother Is Watching You.” Many people in the US today have said that phrase and too many of those that have said it, have no idea where it originated from. In the early twentieth century, Socialism was a dirty word. Every American feared it, thanks to major pushes on the parts of both the government and corporate America. We didn’t want to be like Russia. No, our women needed to be protected from becoming too masculine, as theirs were. We didn’t want to be like Canada. Oh, no! They SUPPOSEDLY have to wait hours for a hospital visit. Key word, as I so subtly highlighted for you, is supposedly. If one was to research Canada’s “health care problems” they’d find that only in rare cases must one wait in lines for a Band-Aid. It wasn’t until the COMMERCIAL insurance companies and the COMMERCIAL pharmaceutical industries got nervous about the enormous amounts of money they’d be losing if we used Canada’s plan, that they launched a media attack against the idea. And they succeeded because they have the money to fight a media war, and because Americans so readily consumer what the media tells them. But, I’m getting off my real point here. Socialism was a very real fear in American in the early 1900’s. So much so that books were written on the subject. Two worth noting are Ayn Rand’s “Anthem” and George Orwell’s “1984.” Both wrote on what they thought the world would be like under a Socialist society. Ayn Rand’s was less violent and less frightening than Orwell’s. Sadly, hers was not the one to begin happening under American’s noses without many of them doing anything. Orwell wrote, in 1949, of a nation that is perpetually at war. Big Brother was the dictator/president/ruler. Big Brother used media devices to monitor the people of his nation, in order to be sure that everyone conformed to his doctrine. The nation was called The Party (much like Russia), and their slogans were: “War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength.” Those that were in charge of monitoring the people were called the “Thought Police” and there were various Ministries that were required to keep the Party running smoothly. The Ministry of Truth: which controlled the media and entertainment. The Ministry of Peace: which focused on War. The Ministry of Love: which maintained law and order. And finally, the Ministry of Plenty, which did the economic work. The Party, under the never sleeping leadership of Big Brother, was constantly at war with one of the other two nations of power in the world. These three world powers, as Orwell saw them were Eurasia (which was Europe being taken by Russia), Oceania (which was the US taking over Britain. ), and Eastasia (which was China and the countries south of it). As the book unfolds, we see that Oceania, the country in which the main characters exist, is in constant war, and the enemy changes every so often. But, it is the duties of the Ministry of Truth to change all existing records of who the Party is at war with, so that the masses never notice that anything changed at all. Why perpetual war? For this I will directly use a portion of Orwell’s book. He states it far better than I can. “None of the three superstates could be definitely conquered even by the other two in combination. They are too evenly matched...there is no longer, in a material sense, anything to fight about...the consumption for raw materials is no longer a matter of life or death...In so far as the war has a direct economic purpose, it is a war of labor power.” What the three superstates are fighting over are the bordering areas between their areas that contain valuable minerals, and other goods. It is a war over oil, or coffee, or rubber, or any number of the fighting history has seen in developing countries. Even the US isn’t above a war for resources. How does this apply to today? With America’s new enemy, the terrorist who can look like anyone, Americans once again live in a state of fear. It may not be so bad that we stay home from work, but never the less, there is an undercurrent of fear. And it emanates from the media and the government. Hmmm, the Ministry of Truth and Big Brother. Even if we ignore that parallel, one cannot deny that these two organizations are not working hard to keep the masses thinking in a certain way. Their way. Not many people have truly questioned George W. Bush’s thoughts on using our phone lines to watch for terrorist activities. What he wants to do is violate the civil rights of every citizen in the country. Just as Big Brother used mass communication device to monitor the members of the Party, Bush wants to use ours to monitor us. In the name of safety many argue. Well, Steven Sousa, one of my greatest friends, once quoted to me, “He who gives up freedom for security has neither.” And that holds true here. Once they are monitoring our phone lines, what’s to stop them from illegally using anything that might be said to wrongfully accuse and imprison those who might oppose what Big Brother Bush is doing? And, how many Americans have noticed how closely George W. Bush’s “Homeland Security” mirrors something Adolf Hitler issued before World War II? Not enough, in my opinion. The doctrine used to label and suppress Jews and others that the Nazi’s deemed as infidels and the like looks a lot like what our present president wants to impose here in America. And what are American’s doing to protect themselves? Falling prey to the other side of America. The corporations. Michael Moore, who recently produced the film, Bowling For Columbine, argues that by keeping the masses in fear, they consume more products. Since the September 11th attacks, gun sales have skyrocketed, as have many other home security devices. Americans do not see the bigger picture anymore, mainly because what they see is controlled by corporations only interested in money or a government only concerned with war. George Orwell saw this happening in 1949, and although he thought it would be like that by 1984, it took a small while longer. When are we going to wake up as a nation and stop this madness? And before anyone criticizes me for this one point, let me address it. Yes, I believe that those responsible for the September 11th attacks should be brought to justice. Yes, I think we need to apprehend these persons. However, continuous war with any nation labeled as “evil” is not bringing us any closer to those we should be seeking. Iraq and Korea should not be concerns to the United States presently. And under Big Brother, who hardly gives us any real reason beyond that they’re evil, or that we are taking preventative measures “just in case,” we are looking at a perpetual war that will cost many Americans their lives, and for what? Fossil fuels? The making of more money for corporate America? Bill Maher, in his book, “When you ride alone, you ride with Bin Laden” has many poster like pages to emphasis his points. One of them has an image of someone surfing off a coast line, while someone on the shore curses at him, and the caption reads, “They hate us because we don’t know why they hate us.” Americans need to start to take serious notice of what is really going on in the world, before their freedom continues to slowly be taken from them. “War is Peace. Freedom is Slavery. Ignorance is Strength.” How true are we going to allow these statements to be before we act? Email Daive with any comments to: plstrcstr@hotmail.com
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