celia
05-24-2005, 06:07 PM
There's a saying that only the fish doesn't know water -- we can't comprehend our environment until we get outside it. <br><br>What made "Winston" such a compelling hero was that he was able to mentally "get outside" his 1984 environment and see it for what it was. We can't "get outside" our 2004 environment to see whether we are truly free of "Newspeak" or not. <br><br>The statistics regarding current beliefs about evolution, religion, race, gender, politics and magic suggest that "Newspeak" is alive and flourishing. People generally believe what they've been told since childhood -- without questioning it. We're all "flat earth" believers in most areas of our lives. <br><br>George Orwell was trying to make people question the obvious -- that the earth is flat -- or the government benevolent. That remains an imperative.