Reaction to George Orwell’s 1984

Haris Ibrar
Professor Ana Marie
English 12
March 18, 2014

Reaction to George Orwell’s 1984
A world without privacy is a world without conscious. We live in what is said to be a modern society filled with new technological innovations on a daily basis. A society can’t withstand without its leaders therefore we have our so called government to lead us but little are we aware of the totalitarianism that goes on, some even to the logical extreme. In the novel “1984” George Orwell reveals us to a world without privacy, where the leaders of the society in the form of Big Brother are aware of every action; they rewrite the past and control the present.
George Orwell’s vision of the future holds right to a certain extent, we now live in a time where our society thrives on technology. We are given privacy rights yet invaded by the same government that has granted them to us. We lack conscious and consider the government’s actions for our own safety without committing any attempts to question them therefore giving more reasons for our privacy to be invaded. Yet we claim we still have rights. The World Wide Web is one of the main sources of invasion of our privacy; all these social network sites used today actively collect user data without our awareness. Not only can the government view most of that data collected but it’s also available to a large group of other members. Large companies may requite to look over your social media profiles before employing you.
George Orwell states “In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs, hovered for an instant like a blue-bottle, and darted away with a curving flight, it was the Police Patrol, snooping into people’s windows” (2). George Orwell reveals to us that his society the Ocenians are used to living in a constant state of surveillance by the party, either through technology or police patrol. He provides us with a perfect example of our current society. Here we are in the not so distant future where minority groups such as the Muslims are being the victims of police surveillance. Even religious areas such as Mosques are under surveillance in United States; I being a Muslim myself find it very offending to be monitored in a land which claims to be equal for all and promises the rights of freedom and privacy. Just like the Oceanians even after we are aware of such actions by our government we ignore them thinking they are making the world a better place however endangering our own rights. “The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound Winston made, above the level of a very low whisper, would be picked up by it; moreover, so long as he remained within the field of vision which the metal plaque commanded, he could be seen as well as heard. There was of course no way of knowing whether you were being watched at any given moment. How often, or on what system, the Thought Police plugged in on any individual wire was guesswork. It was even conceivable that they watched everybody all the time. But at any rate they could plug in your wire whenever the wanted to” (George Orwell 1984, 2). Here the author shows us that everything was monitored in the society from the Party through telescreens similar to what we have today, cameras all over our streets monitor our every move we are watched without even being aware of it. Our government not only has the right to monitor us but is also allowed to tap our phones or even check our emails and claim it as for security purposes. After all we let it all go by, being unconscious about our surroundings and accepting these conditions.
George Orwell predicts a perfect future which we live in today. We accept our society the way it is relying on technology and containing no thought of privacy. Letting our leaders lead us in the way they desire monitoring our actions and manipulating our thoughts. We rely on them to keep us safe while being exposed out in the open in a world without privacy. Pertaining no thought or self-conscious.