Please remember that you are choosing to read my opinions.

I just finished Nineteen Eighty Four by George Orwell a couple days ago, and I've taken some time to gather my thoughts and attempt to relate the book to the world. It isn't something someone really wants to do really. It is rather disheartening to observe similarities between our society and one that completely oppresses their people, but they are certainly there. It may not be entirely a fault of our government, but that Orwell created a very realistic alternate universe. Some people believed him to be writing a novel predicting the state of human affairs in 1984. What he was writing, however, was a novel laying out a possibility of the future, should totalitarian government defeat democratic socialism.

Winston is the central character in the book. His is a skeptical sort of person. And, unlike in our society were one can question the government not only in our own mind, but also in voice, print, and any media we choose, Winston cannot do so without being punished eventually. Thinking unconventional thoughts is what is known as a "thoughtcrime." Although it is still impossible to read thoughts in 1984, the very concept of a thoughtcrime keeps people constantly monitoring themselves. He is virtually the only person who questions Big Brother and the ideologies of The Party. He isn't the only person who might feel some dislike of the party, but even they are caught and "cured."

The Party is basically run by an elite upper class called the Inner Party. The Inner Party effectively oppresses all those not in the upper party so there is no chance of a revolution overthrowing the system. It is essentially flawless. The class directly below the Inner Party is known as the Outer Party, and the Outer Party is controlled absolutely. Through a device like the television, called a "telescreen, that also watches back, privacy is effectively destroyed. Behavior is constantly monitored at all times as far as people know. The past is constantly being updated so that the present seems to be constant, except for the fact that things are constantly getting better ever since The Party came into power.

Although the book takes place in the sort of alternate timeline, the world it is set in is very much our own. It is set just far enough in Orwell's future that it seemed like such outcomes as described in the book could form in our own lifetimes, which would be a scary thought. He even mentions how utopian thought went out of style after the first world war, which was true. Up until that point many people thought that it was reasonable to believe that we could lay a path to the perfect society, and some believed we were already on such a path and would eventually evolve into perfection. WWI effectively broke that spirit.

Like in the book, our society has increasingly lost their right to privacy. Security systems are being installed on a daily basis and, although there isn't a connection to some governmental establishment that is always monitoring our behavior, it can be used by law officials at any time they want.. If someone should accuse us of something and officials such as the FBI or the police believe these statements, our property can be searched and seized and searched some more. Various acts are passed into law in times of "need", sometimes never being repealed. Most recently there was the Homeland Security Act, Total Information Awareness, various plans disguised as good, but potentially bad.

Our right to free speech, like in the book, is being adapted all the time in order to ensure that there isn't a revolution. We don't think of it like that, and you are free to believe whatever you wish, but should there ever be a group that would assemble to even contemplate overthrowing the government, it would be denounced as terrorism, treason, and who knows what else even if there was due reason. We have free speech, but hate speech is a crime, slander and libel (defamation) is a crime. While these things can be hurtful to certain reputable people, it is effectively limiting to the expression of ideas, which was in the absolute sense what Newspeak was representing in Nineteen Eighty Four.

Also, our history is always adapted in a degree to make us look better to ourselves. Most people don't hear the whole story in their classes, and in their adult life it isn't important enough to discover for themselves, so whatever is told to us in school becomes the truth as far as most people are concerned. It doesn't happen to the extent in the book, where what was already being written was detroyed and replaced with what the government wants us to read, but it also doesn't matter whether this takes place because, like I mentioned, very few people pursue the whole truth of history outside of what we are told in school. Whether or not old information is destroyed, few people are going to find the old information when the new and updated is available.

Read the book. It was very worthwhile even if some things seem preposterous. We know many things of are past to be farfetched, but they happened. Who would believe that one man could inspire the horrors that took place prior to WWII? There is very little in the world that is impossible, and Orwell placed before us, rather slammed down in front of us a possibility and demanded that we beware of such a future. This book is more frightening than any horror novel because its not wholly unbelievable. Read.

And please, feel free to add your own comments on the book if you've read it. I know a lot of people obviously have since it's currently #4 on Mindsay Top Books.