1984

[HENRY]

Hello,<br><br>I enjoyed your article. My question is,"where can I find such a book?"

[Dan]

JB - spot on about the role of the television. I, for example, have chosen not even to own one any more, but how many houses these days go without? Instead I find lots of time for reading books, for gardening, for the outdoors, for writing, for courses, for more conversation and interaction with other people, for going out to concerts, and the list goes on. Television steals huge chunks out of millions of people's lives, if not billions', and mostly, as you say, it is just filling their minds with crap - with occasional notable exceptions, of course, of certain documentaries or films, for example. Even Orwell hardly predicted the success of the TV for stupefying the masses - and I'm sorry, it is as much stupefication as the subliminal mind control you speak of - although for the latter sense of controlling the masses, just observe the massively successful manipulation of public opinion in support of Bush's policies that has been been achieved courtesy of 9/11 being shown and reshown fifty billion times in everyone's living room. The memory of the victims of that day has been repeatedly disrespected, because the images of their dying moments have been used to justify mass murder by the US in foreign countries ever since, as well a clamp-down of basic civil liberties through the Homeland Security Act at home, both of these events which mirror '1984' wonderfully. You are right, the TV is a very effective Big Brother, and without it more people would now be questioning Bush's war-hungry police-state mentality.<br><br>Nevertheless, don't OVERestimate the power of "them" against "us". The problem is that they ARE us!! It is a self-perpetuating cycle, except for those who decide to break the mould and step out of the normal ways of doing and thinking about things. First of all, we vote for them. Secondly, we all have the chance to stand for president instead of them - just as Ralph Nader keeps doing, for example - it can be done. Thirdly, there is no dividing line between government stooges/the Inner Circle and the rest of us. Any of us might fall into that circle any day, or any of them step back out of it any day. What I'm trying to say is that the people in control of the world are just like you and me, and for all it mattered they could have been like us and we like them. People too often forget that institutions (e.g. the government) are NOT inanimate objects - they are composed of individuals, and who are these individuals? They are citizens like you and me. There is a lot of feeling of powerlessness and despondency on this board, and certainly that is the desired effect of those that seek to manipulate us. They would have us forget that among those very people - those sick individuals who actively seek to manipulate the public in order to make their million and as a game - that among them are many more individuals like you and me - average people. The sick individuals are always outnumbered - in the government just like in everyday life. This is why we should always be working to increase them in number, to vote for them, to contact them, to support them, to become them, and in general to bring the human element into society through the individuals within its institutions. . . . and to sell those stupid tellies!! We've all got better ways of spending our time. Time is short and we have to make waves while we still can.<br><br>Henry: if you are an adult, you can find this classic book at any large bookstore, or online through Amazon or Powell's. You can also find your arse just below your elbow if you look hard enough. If you are an adolescent or child, try asking your parents if they will buy it for you next Christmas.<br>

[Unregistered]

I was wondering what do you believe that 2 of big bothers primary goals areAND the reasons for these and his effective means that he uses to achieve these goals?

[JB]

One can believe that Orwell was predicting the future, but in reality he mearly wrote what he saw in his time and how the world was becoming just with a little more emphasis. 1984 is simply one of the best books I have ever read. This may have been repeated but I hope I can clearly state betterpoints of view. The eery sense of Orwell's book being true or mearly near truth has scared me. I hardly think to myself any more about politics or even my opinions on certain matters.<br> I've always thought about the government and it's control over the population. It has always been like this, even in 1949. I understand that it seems real that this could happen but in all truth it's been happening ever since man walked earth. There has been 'Leaders' and governments to control the 'public'. We are always being watched and heard by the 'government'. It has conformed us to it's ways. We work for it and hide behind it. It protects us and secretly controls us. Everything we purchase it controls. Everything we live for and die for it owns. We have no control over what we hear from media outlets, we mearly see what they want us to. <br> One demeaner of this is television. It is the single most controling device man has ever produced. It has formed this contry and the world to their conformities. It is like the Big Brother's mind control device. It brainwashes everyone in today's and the future's society. Turn your television off, don't let them get to you. You want to beleive that you are in control of your life, but your obviously mistaken by their falsehoods.<br> I may sound like a hipocrit, but I do beleive Orwell's book was just a message that he got out. It's critical that people read this book and books alike to fully understand what we as a society have always been and what may become.<br><br>Justin Board, Student<br><br>E-mail me any comments or to discuss this matter.