The Slippery Slope Towards Thoughtcrime
Hi friends --- I was humbled by the gracious response of my last post, that I wanted to follow it up with some insights I believe George Orwell was trying to warn us about in his work 1984.
Orwell painted a dystopia of epic proportions where no citizen is safe from the all-knowing Big Brother. Not even their thoughts.
Although this is a work of fiction, the lessons that Orwell shares are relevant right now. Every time you turn on the TV, it seems that half the US citizens believe we are inching our way towards a fascist like state.
The first danger Orwell warns us of is collectivism. What does that mean?
The Danger of Collectivism
Collectivism is the complete and total denial of the individual in favor of the collective...or shall we say the Political Party. And through this Party, the leaders can obtain their insatiable quest for total power.
Photo cred: Rex Barron
The Party doesn't even hide this fact from their people because they know the individual is limited by their life spans, strengths of will, intellects, and as long as they know how to control them, no one can challenge it.
Now let's get philosophical. Orwell brings up the question, What is Reality? In the story, the main character, Winston, is a realist, who believes that things are real, whether they are observed or not.
Much like knowing other galaxies exist, even though you've never seen them or physically been to them. Big Brother, however, who is played by O'Brien is an idealist, which means reality is fully dependent on consciousness...making truth only a very strong belief. If you believe the Earth is flat, then the Earth is flat, even if there are ample facts disproving it.
Therefore, the Party can control reality if it controls its citizens' consciousness. They achieve this by brainwashing their people by controlling the present. And by controlling the present, they control the past, which means they ultimately control the future.
They hire workers to spend their days making up facts and presenting them as news. If something doesn't play out the way they scripted, all they have to do is make constant updates to any news articles or books so they are always on the right side of power.
Fake News is Dangerous
This is timely with our Fake News situation in the States. News can be reported or manufactured at a rate that fact-checking just can't keep up with. And with the future of AI-powered writing based on your data, how do you know you're reading the same article I'm reading? What if yours is tailored for your interests and anger points...reality and what to believe starts getting murky.
One of the scariest scenarios in the book revolved around Thoughtcrime, which is an extreme form of a type of mind reading of their citizens to see who is against the Party. Those who are against were tortured, and since they know your thoughts, they know your greatest fear.
Photo cred: J.E. Lattimer
Imagine if your worst enemy knew your greatest fears. What if they used it against you to bend your will? Privacy today is a thing of the past. In the 1800s for example, if you didn't know someone by either talking to them or through handwritten letters, you didn't know their thoughts.
Now, you leave a digital trail just by visiting certain websites, using GPS, or other forms of digital tech, all of which provides you with the context of who you are to those who capture it or buy it. Yet we don't give it much thought, we just blindly trust that the information will be used in a positive way...but positive for who?
Going back to the story, Big Brother knew Winston's deepest fear and used it to break him. His rebellious nature was set straight...so straight he believed 2+2=5 because Big Brother told him that's true. Let's hope this scenario remains between the pages of this book.
How did Orwell get to be this pessimistic on the state of human nature?
He was an English author who focused heavily on social injustice. He was the original Mike Rowe, reporting on the state of those living and working at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
Actionable Nugget
For our actionable nugget to chew on, let me first start by reading a quote from the book:
The ideal set up by the Party was something huge, terrible, and glittering --- a world of steel and concrete, of monstrous machines and terrifying weapons --- a nation of warriors and fanatics, marching forward in perfect unity, all thinking the same thoughts and shouting the same slogans, perpetually working, fighting, triumphing, persecuting --- three hundred million people all with the same face.
Being different and holding different ideas about the world and how it works keeps us in check from a totalitarian group. It takes work to get your voice heard. When's the last time you reached out to your local representative, even just to introduce yourself? How are they going to know what you care about if you've never even said hi?
Once, just for the hell of it, I scheduled a meeting with the office of Senator Dianne Feinstein and had a great chat with the Field Representative. These people want to hear what's on your mind and will present it to your senator. It might be a small act, but for our system to work, we can't forget to do what in our control to help steer this ship in the direction we feel is right.
So send an email to your local Field Representative.
A simple introduction and maybe if you're up to it, schedule a time to visit. At least you'll get a free coffee out of it, meet someone new, and help us keep our Representative Democracy experiment in check.
Daily Inspiration
I like to give credit to those on SteemIt who inspire me to keep writing.
@transisto - transisto showed a real use case where YouTube has been removing videos without explanation based on their content policies. None of this is bad necessarily since they are a private company who have to abide by rules of the government bodies and shareholders. This simply makes the case the blockchain technologies including D.tube might be a better platform for uncensored content to be published and shared. Also, thank you for introducing me to Error 451 through you Steemit post and Reddit post.
Thank You for Reading!
Great to see you again! Nothing makes me happier than sharing this short moment with you to exchange ideas.
If this is your first time meeting me, it's a pleasure to meet you too!
I write new posts 3x per week on various topics including:
- Thought-provoking books I've read
- Everyday philosophical matters
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If any of those topics interest you, be sure to follow my profile so you don't miss a post. If you do any of these hobbies, let me know on Steemit.chat so we can share stories.
Cheers!
-Jon
P.S. Can you spot my hidden message on what I like to write about?
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Another awesome post :)! Thank you. There are so many parallels between the book 1984 and our current time... It's nice to see that I am not alone in feeling like its important to take a stand against it!
@amyf --- aww shucks, I don't know what to say :). Thank you! I'm curious, have you participated in any local government activities?
Indeed, I've made several phone calls, and written a few letters about our local police utilizing stringray devices without a warrant to locate people.
I love it! Anyone who's put in the time to make the effort earns the right to comment on the state of their government. Keep putting skin in the game!
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I see what you did there 😲.
As someone who only made it halfway through 1984, this was a great piece to help round out some of the biggest lessons from the book. As @amyf said, it seems like a topic that's becoming more relevant once again...and I'm not sure how I feel about that 🤤
@halcyondaze --- hopefully, you finish it! Definitely worth getting to the end.
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@minnowsupport --- super cool! Thank you!
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Thanks @banjo and @drotto!
Do you think they will code you to react to emotions?
Great post. This reminded me of the technology that Israel claims to have that can 'predict future terrorists.' I wonder how much time they've put into developing a technology that can predict the next great minds that may come up with new technology that may change the course for mankind? lol I'd say '1984' was little more than a training manual for many of the governments in power today, including the US Government.
@rip-youtube --- wow that sounds freaky. Do you have a link to an article talking about that prediction technology?
Did a quick search, but didn't see the exact article I read. Here's one talking about the increase in the number of Palestinians being arrested, but it's not the one I read. http://therealnews.com/t2/story:19754:Israel-Is-Arresting-Palestinians-At-Highest-Rate-in-Years