THE LAND OF 1984 WAKES UP IN THE LAND OF 1984

George Orwell wrote about it in his book 1984, Science Fiction films have used it, but even so very few people see, or want to see, the magnitude of this 1984 theme that has crept and creeps steadily forward, into our modern society. In fact, in certain senses it already dominates society. Sadly, even fewer people see, or are unwilling to accept, the danger to everyone of this. Yes, everyone! A danger that is already present in society today, not tomorrow, or the far distant future of science fiction, but a danger that has and will have major negative influences on society and everyone’s lives.

For a while, 1984 had some influence on some people. They took it seriously, but mostly this was laughed at and ridiculed by the majority of people, no doubt led or stimulated by those who have the most to gain from derision of such ideas. 1984 was relegated to the shelves of literature in libraries, or studied at schools as literature and less for the warning it tried to give. The term 1984 popped up here and there throughout the years, in books, or films or in other forms but mostly it had this tone of “don’t take it too seriously” attached to it. The actual year 1984 came and went and no visible big brother was present so another reason to shrug off the book 1984, relegate it even further into the dusty shelves. Yet the critical word is “visible”.

It is highly possible that George Orwell’s book 1984 played into the hands of those who gain the most by the use of the themes of the book. They are fully aware of the phenomena that once something has been aired in public by protest, hullabaloo, warnings or whatever then this usually gets pushed away to the dusty background, or shelves, and provided the people don’t receive any further major shocks on this theme then it will remain in that dusty background. Once something has been treated with derision or such like, it is almost impossible to bring it back out into serious daylight to be taken seriously by the majority of the people. Not without some major shock that threatens, or makes people feel threatened personally. Because of this phenomena along with a general unwillingness (possibly part of our natural psychological structure) to see the dangers of such matters, it is, and has been, possible to slip the themes of 1984 into society. And for the greater part unawares to most people, and in such a comprehensive way that most will find it hard to believe.

In another book by George Orwell, Animal Farm, he describes for us the way this is done. A subtle blending of telling us how much it is for our own good, and that it is "being done" for our own good, and most importanly of all, fear! Fear is the major factor in this. This has been known and used devastatingly throughout the history of mankind. And for what purpose? To gain power and often personal wealth.

A man of a different quality but with the same forename as George Orwell uses these techniques intensively. George W. Bush and his government! Animal Farm!

Fear and more fear and more fear, and to give this the right taste, so that this fear is swallowed properly by the public, the sauce is poured over it. And the sauce is: continually being told that what he is doing and the way he is doing it, how much "he" and his government is there for "us", that it is for our own good, and that it is being done for our own good! And while he is doing this, he is creating more and more control over society, reducing personal rights and personal privacy, not just in America but all over the world, and in all areas of society everywhere. His main argument to justify this is that it is for the safety of America and American people, and people everywhere. And just like the animals in Animal farm we listen to this and accept it without seeing what is really going on. We do not and will not see or accept that this is a far greater threat to our lives and our freedom than any terrorist organisation.

George W. Bush and his government uses fear indiscriminately, but they use it effectively. It is the greatest weapon of the human being, and against the people, as long as people allow fear to take over in their life. And we are allowing George W. Bush to create this for fear for us so that we can be manipulated just as the characters in Animal Farm and in 1984.

In the land of 1984 George W. Bush’s companion Tony Blair is doing the same thing.

A recently released report puts Britain and Russia as one of the most controlled societies in the world. Britain is the most “watched” (controlled) place in the world. It now has 4.2 million CCTV surveillance cameras, which is about one camera for every 14 people in Britain. A person in Britain can be expected to be watched about 300 times in a day.

But the cameras are only a very tiny part of the information gathering that is going on in Britain and in most places around the world today, particularly in countries like America. In fact information is being gathered on, and through, almost everything we do. As usual it is argued that it is only for our own good, our own safety, for the greater good, to make life easier, better, richer or more comfortable, or in the fight against terrorism.

In actual fact it is a massive business making lots of money for a small selection of society. Even when it is supposedly done in our so-called interest, with no particular ill will, or ill intent, the results can be devastating. The BBC reported about a woman who had been given the classification of being an alcoholic by the national health service, although this was not true. It took the woman two years of hard work to clear her name and get this classification removed from her health documents, and only then did she succeed in the end by having to appeal to the health minister of the UK.

You might think that what does it matter if this classification is on her records, well it matters a lot these days, because this information is crossed checked in many different ways by different people for different purposes so that it can start having negative influences on many different areas of her life or our life. Such as employment chances, getting insurance, children and so on.

Under the umbrella argument of protection against terrorism this is now being done not only far more intensively, but also over a far wider range of areas in our daily and personal lives. Most of which we have no idea about, could not even imagine, or probably would not want to be believe if we found out. The areas where the information (and the type of information) is being gathered is absolutely staggering, and goes far beyond anything even George Orwell could ever have imagined.

But if you think it stops there, just at the gathering level, then you are making the biggest mistake of your, or you children’s, life and future. If we think it does not have any real effect on our life now, or in the future, then we are making a mistake that one day will come back to haunt us, or our children.