Did someone think 1984 was a blueprint....?

Orwell was an "Insider". He knew what the plans were.
TPTB have a protocol that says they must inform the victim of what they are going to do. They do this in various ways. Books, movies, comic books, games, etc.

 

Orwell was an ideological leftist for sure. But he reverted in a spectacular manner when he realised what was happening in the USSR after the Second World War and the wilful blindness of the British Left to the reality of Stalinism. Not that he reverted to a sort of right-wing view, he simply parted with the orthodox Left of British politics and was villified for it. I'd recommend anyone read as much as they can from Orwell, particularly his collected essays. His most famous books are great reads but if you read some of his journalistic work you can see other aspects of his thought that are really informative.

 

Perhaps there are those so drunk on their own askew view of themselves + drunk on their own power, that they are consciously trying to turn themselves into a contemporary "god". All knowing? All seeing? All powerful.?

 

According to the Orwell Society sales of "1984" increased by 6000% after the NSA affair took off. Reasons are given by the society itself:

The setting: Orwell’s 1984 is set in Oceania, a world of “perpetual war, omnipresent government surveillance and public mind control”. The NSA scandal is set in the United States during the Obama administration’s second term. America’s perpetual ‘War on Terror’ has been used to justify omnipresent government surveillance of phone and internet usage.

The charismatic leaders: Oceania is controlled by a “quasi-divine” moustachioed leader called Big Brother. He enjoys an intense cult of personality, but it’s whispered he may not even exist. America is controlled by Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. He enjoys a cult of personality despite whispers from Donald Trump and other right-wingers that his US birth certificate doesn’t exist. Obama does not wear a moustache – in public at least – but he enjoyed quasi-divine status when he first came to power in 2009. Now his liberal credentials are looking distinctly tattered. In recent days it has been suggested that his campaign slogan, ‘Yes, we can,’ may have referred to his government’s ability to monitor Americans’ phone conversations.

The anti-heroes: Orwell’s protagonist is Winston Smith, a worker at the sinister Ministry of Truth. He is responsible for propaganda and historical revisionism – re-writing old newspaper articles so that they support the party line. Smith is described as a “diligent and skilful” worker, but he secretly dreams of rebelling against Big Brother. The NSA scandal’s protagonist is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old contractor. Snowden is paid $200,000 a year for his diligent and skilful work at the sinister agency, but is secretly appalled by its “massive surveillance machine”. He dreams of rebelling against the NSA by leaking its secrets to journalists.

The beautiful heroines: In 1984, Winston falls in love with Julia, a beautiful 26-year-old party worker. As their illicit affair gathers pace she acknowledges that they will eventually be detected and arrested, because “everybody always confesses”. Edward Snowden’s girlfriend is Lindsay Mills, a beautiful 28-year-old performance artist he left behind in Hawaii. Devastated by her boyfriend’s sudden departure, she confesses on her blog: “I don’t know what will happen from here. I don’t know how to feel normal.”

The sinister technology: The citizens of Oceania are kept under surveillance by telescreens, electronic devices in every room which “eliminate the chance of secret conspiracies” against the state. Citizens in every country in the world – excluding the US – are kept under surveillance by computer screens attached to the internet. The NSA hopes its ability to monitor internet use will eliminate the chance of secret conspiracies against America.

The sinister language: Orwell’s 1984 introduced the phrase ‘doublespeak’ – language that deliberately disguises, distorts, or reverses the meaning of words. The website TechCrunch accuses the heads of Facebook and Google of using doublespeak to obfuscate the companies’ role in the spying scandal. “You didn’t spell out your denials of the NSA’s data spying program in plain English, and now we know why,” says TechCrunch. “You were obligated to help the government in its spying, but were muzzled.”

Richard Jinman is Deputy Editor of The Week.co.uk. He has worked for The Guardian, The Australian and The Sydney Morning Herald

End of quote

http://www.orwellsociety.com/2013/06/24/nsa-spy-scandal-boosts-sales-of-orwells-1984-heres-why/

 

I have to agree with the sole comment (so far) on the Orwell site - bad analogy. Jinman has stretched too far to make his narrative fit. If Orwell's book is a template then Jinman's article is a very, very loose fit.

 

Until Snowden, many people were in denial about the Big Brother State apparatus. But its always been there. This thing didn't happen all of sudden and not even in the last 12 years since Sept. 11th. America has always been a survelliance state, it has been documented in our libraries since the 50's and 60's. The CIA created this huge Hydra that just kept growing more and more heads. Some people ignored it, but that does not mean it wasn't always there. Our freedoms have been an illusion, a mythical one created by U.S. Govmnt PR, Hollywood movies, and State regulated high school textbooks revisionist history. Look at our media for example. Everything is massive commercialism, unrelenting ads, govmnt public relations announcements, megaphones for the government and Pentagon. Political agencies and Government Elites control everything, the peoples voice is barely heard on our own public airwaves.

 

Better watch what you say, they are watching you.

[video=youtube;tN2eqWz9LXU]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN2eqWz9LXU[/video]

 

I too have often wondered such things.

 

The resemblance is not "coincidental".

The fact of the matter is that Eric Blair, aka George Orwell, was an incredibly perceptive writer. In one of his essays, he predicts that in the future men will turn to riskier sports than those that then existed, simply for the thrill of the danger. What do people do? Bungee jumping, base jumping, sky diving, incredibly dangerous skiing, moron kids with skateboards, etc.

Orwell simply wrote what he observed happening in Mother Russia, observed what the English socialists were doing and what their goals were, and extrapolated quite naturally from that to both Animal Farm and 1984.

You should also read A Clergyman's daughter, as it's about a girl who loses her faith in the established order of things, and Keep The Aspidistra Flying, which is a novel about a man who finally grows up and stops being a foolish socialist.

 

You mean they don't already have it?

That's not believable.

Merkel is pretending to be annoyed with King Obama because KIng Obama is so stupid he doesn't even know he put his own "Kick Me" sign on his back. Getting annoyed with an idiot like that is good politics back home.

Let's put it this way: The Germans don't have to invent jews to villify when the idiots of the US elected a thing like Obama as a gift to the world.

 

Sounds interesting.

I can get a used copy for about a £1 on Amazon.


"Intimidated by her father, the rector of Knype Hill, Dorothy performs her submissive roles of dutiful daughter and bullied housekeeper. Her thoughts are taken up with the costumes she is making for the church school play, by the hopelessness of preaching to the poor and by debts she cannot pay in 1930s Depression England. Suddenly her routine shatters and Dorothy finds herself down and out in London.

She is wearing silk stockings, has money in her pocket and cannot remember her name. Orwell leads us through a landscape of unemployment, poverty and hunger, where Dorothy's faith is challenged by a social reality that changes her life....."

 

That "down and out in London" is an allusion to Orwell's Down and Out In Paris and London, a must for everyone to read.

 

*cough*Obama*cough*

 

Indeed it is. The analysis of Parisian waiters in flash restaurants (Orwell was a dish-washer from memory) thinking themselves above more ordinary folk because they happen to be serving the fabulously wealthy always comes to mind. But sadly I think it may have been Orwell's rough living in London that eventually gave him the terribly bad health that dogged him until he died.

These are good - http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/o/orwell/george/o79e/

 

He got TB from somewhere. Could have been from living in trenches in Spain, too.

Oh, and people who take Orwell's lessons to heart don't use e-books.

Today's Minitrue is even editing song lyrics. Heard on the radio the other day "Money For Nothing". The lyric that used to be "see that (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*) with the earrings and the makeup" is now, on the radio, "see that guy with etc...".

Bull(*)(*)(*)(*)!

They can't change the imprint on the Mayor's CD...

 

Nothing wrong with e-books, especially when it may cause a reader to go and hunt down some paper books. That's the good thing about secondhand book stores, finding little gems. Sadly though the online world is killing the best secondhand book stores (http://www.leonsbookstore.com/). Nothing like wandering about the dusty piles of books and finding a treasure for a few bucks. Online might be more efficient but it robs everyone of that rare delight.

 

Can you write an E book for free and sell it?

Or if you wanted to circulate it free, what is the best way?

 

I know of one particular writer who is self-published and his books are available for sale on Amazon.

 

Speaking of all seeing eyes ... ever hear of Operation Octopus?

The U.S. Government could use the old televisions with vacuum tubes and instantly turn them into radio receivers complete with the screen being used as a camera to spy into private homes.

Ever hear the Exploited song "F___ the USA"?

Here is a cover version from 2003, and think a song from the 1980's, I never heard until 20 years later.

Thats censorship for ya!

Thrash on!



[video=youtube;QRO3WKXoZrA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRO3WKXoZrA[/video]

Lyrics:

There really is nothing nice about USA
You go to the hospital you have to pay
The dollar is the language that they all speak
they don't really bother about the radiation leak

(*)(*)(*)(*) THE USA

They keep their secrets undercover
the rich don't bother about those that suffer
this ain't the land of milk and honey
cause all they want is money money money

(*)(*)(*)(*) THE USA

Nuclear bombs are (*)(*)(*)(*) all new
you'd better start running when they drop on you
run into a shelter, play hide and seek
cause when you die your body reeks

(*)(*)(*)(*) THE USA

There really is nothing nice about USA
You go to the hospital you have to pay
The dollar is the language that they all speak
they don't really bother about the radiation leak

(*)(*)(*)(*) THE USA

 

Sounds good.

Must check that out.

 

You'd never believe your college university or school has a CIA office in it, until you've seen it on a list.

- superior version BBC Television's live production of George Orwell's "1984" w/ Peter Cushing as Winston Smith

[video=youtube;Al8rm3nX_80]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al8rm3nX_80[/video]

 

Ah, Acres of Books closed in Long Beach a few years back, a one time haunt of Ray Bradbury. You literally had to bring a flashlight to read the titles in the stacks.

The Mayor's problem with e-books is both Orwellian, and they lack the PRESENCE of old books. Sure, you can read When Worlds Collide in a Kindle... the Mayor's 1935 copy SMELLS real....and so many things just won't be digitized. How about the first two volumes of The Submarine Boys, from 1909? Picked 'em up for a buck each from the Salvation Army. As an ex-submariner, the Mayor was amused ...and impressed with the details they got right. The books were written before the invention of the Periscope, even. Perhaps they are e-booked, the Mayor hasn't looked, it's not the same.

 

On the demise of books - I totally agree. I understand that e-books have a lot going for them but I miss the treasure hunts in the musty corridors. Progress can sometimes be destructive of small, good things.

But I'm taking the thread off-topic, but always good to read another bibliophile.

 

The old TVs could be used as cameras, just as the old land line telephones were reversed and used as microphones.

Strange you had to address the Exploited song line by line. Punk rock is anti-establishment. If you don't like it, take it up with the U.S. Constitution.

But with the Big Brother state, the Patriot Act, and lack of Congressional oversight of the Intel Agencies, the generally charitable and generous American people have given their freedoms and right to privacy away.

Give a politician an inch and he'll take a thousand miles.