I Love Big Brother
Can somebody explain Nineteen Eighty-Four to me please?
Am I missing something or did George Orwell write a dopey book?
First the question of what he was trying to do in writing this book. He wasn't just trying to entertain us, tell us a funny story about a crazy mixed up world where ignorance is strength, was he? If so why all the dumb stuff? I am going to assume that he wasn't just trying to brighten our day. He wanted to teach us.
But teach us what? What is the lesson of Nineteen Eighty-Four? Is the lesson that a totalitarian government can make its people believe anything it tells them -- not merely parrot it back but really belive it?
I sure hope not. That is the most absurd obviously false thesis I ever heard. If people think Oceania is at war with Eurasia they are *not* going to mindlessly change their opinion merely because government mouthpieces start telling them that Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. At least, human people won't. Unless Orwell is writing a farce, he might want to try having realistic characters. And I don't want to hear any whining about the Iraq-Al Qaeda disconnect or Soviet show trials. That is not at all the same thing. You should know better.
Was Orwell trying to tell us something about institutional memory being the actual past? He tells us several times that when all records of what supposedly "actually" happened are destroyed and all that's left is the government's account that the government's story of the past becomes real. Once again does anybody seriously believe that? Big Brother does not control the past in any real sense at all and I don't think you disagree. Maybe Orwell is merely saying something like "if there are no records to challenge you you can lie all you want and get away with it!"
I honestly do not know what to think. Either I am missing the point in a big way or this book has gotten to be one of the most famous and influential in the world by saying facile things like "it can happen here" and "governments lie." Help me out kids.
Am I missing something or did George Orwell write a dopey book?
First the question of what he was trying to do in writing this book. He wasn't just trying to entertain us, tell us a funny story about a crazy mixed up world where ignorance is strength, was he? If so why all the dumb stuff? I am going to assume that he wasn't just trying to brighten our day. He wanted to teach us.
But teach us what? What is the lesson of Nineteen Eighty-Four? Is the lesson that a totalitarian government can make its people believe anything it tells them -- not merely parrot it back but really belive it?
I sure hope not. That is the most absurd obviously false thesis I ever heard. If people think Oceania is at war with Eurasia they are *not* going to mindlessly change their opinion merely because government mouthpieces start telling them that Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia. At least, human people won't. Unless Orwell is writing a farce, he might want to try having realistic characters. And I don't want to hear any whining about the Iraq-Al Qaeda disconnect or Soviet show trials. That is not at all the same thing. You should know better.
Was Orwell trying to tell us something about institutional memory being the actual past? He tells us several times that when all records of what supposedly "actually" happened are destroyed and all that's left is the government's account that the government's story of the past becomes real. Once again does anybody seriously believe that? Big Brother does not control the past in any real sense at all and I don't think you disagree. Maybe Orwell is merely saying something like "if there are no records to challenge you you can lie all you want and get away with it!"
I honestly do not know what to think. Either I am missing the point in a big way or this book has gotten to be one of the most famous and influential in the world by saying facile things like "it can happen here" and "governments lie." Help me out kids.
posted by apk01004 at 2:40 PM
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