1984/animal farm and today?

[damadin]

despite reading many threats until now it is not clear to me where the facts are...

i have to compare these books with today's scenario on earth, and in my opinion we're already as under "control" (in some ways) as orwell wrote, but my personal opinion would mean that i'm gonna kicked out of school(because my teacher's opinion is that i'm gonna miss the subject...)

so: compare 1984/animal farm with today...!

it would be kind if someone could help me..

the problem is: orwell descibes three states of sozialism/kommunism and today we have one hypermight of capitalism...

and i've got no idea what is should write cause i need sources for the facts i write down..( so it should be out of books or magacines, not out of the www)

has someone ideas?

[warpax]

Hello damadin,

i would support Your teacher's point to most extent and for the following reasons:

First of all Orwell was strongly biased against socialism, and the whole novel is sort of a manifest against it. Just try to compare Goldstein's manifest with that of Marx and Engels. Goldstein is the voice to warn the reader of the things to come, if he gives in to socialist thinking, so to say. In so far that may support Your point on first glance...

1. But on second glance Orwell's world is ruled by three major power blocks which are controlled by their political castes - in total. But if You have a look at nowaday's national politics this just doesn't fit. Ever more classically political topics are "privatised", tasks of the state fulfilled by civil corporations ("neo-liberalism" being the key-word to look for).

2. There is not one Big Brother, but many small ones. Your data is not held by one huge governmental institution (at least not in western Europe, where i live). Instead many corporations trade personal data to increase the effectiveness of their marketing and sales. When YOu walk the streets You are filmed by surveillance-cameras. But they mainly belong to shops, parking houses, etc., and not to the government (although there are some as well).

BUT: if You are from America i can't totally reject Your argument (at least when it comes to European press coverage. Key words supporting Your point could be the patriot acts and that "strategic disinformation"-thing, what means nothing less than lying on behalf of the governmet. I can't recall the right term at the moment, but in Greman press some similar term came up as a description for a US propaganda-doctrine that soon got withdrawn due to it having been attacked publicly. Now it is back under a different name again.

That's all i have to offer. Now You have to search for YOurself. :thumbs_up

By the way, if You want to read a rather precise extrapolatoin of our current state, shop for William Gibson's Neuromancer trilogy. The first book is from 1984, but describes many technical and social developments that have come up much later.

Hope i could help You.
warpax

[Erik]

I haven't read 1984 (yes! I know. Cardinal sin. it's on my list.), but with Animal Farm especially, look into the Chinese Cultural Revolution with Mao Tsedong. China is such a prevalent nation in the global sphere, it's got potential. Don't forget those quarterly academic journals.

I hope you follow the U.S. farmbill and the Wall Street Journal and such as well. Good reading that. Very telling. Considering our position (and my tone). And that of other nations("lesser nations"). With a little inference from facts, you get a pretty accurate picture (which definitely helps out on your Animal Farm parts).

No terrorism group or movement is totally start-to-finish original; every group learns from others. Look closely into history. And into the evolving of our public mindset. If your big political entities can emerge as global business icons, I'd wager our fears settle on extremism more than a certain form of government. "Fanaticism is the devil" a friend of mine once said. It could be that the metaphor has shifted.

Perhaps something will rise out of that incoherent mess? Good luck. Oh, and listen to those gut reactions; you can't cite them but dig deeper and you might very well find what you seek.

--E