1984

After completing 1984 I found myself questioning how far off George Orwell was in his 1949 dystopian predictions of the future. Sure, Oceania doesn't really exist, but do we really know whether we are at war with Eurasia or Eastasia? One day it's the Gulf War, the next Iraq. Orwell speaks of being at war over land purely for natural resources and the labor of the people, who will always be kept at the lowest class by the superpowers of the world. While Big Brother may not be on a Telescreen in my living room, I certainly do feel all my personal information and internet searches are easily accessible to the government. The government instituted in 1984's grim predictions was based on fear and succumbing to false realities. When I look at the radical Conservatives fearing gay marriage and anyone with an Arabic last name, I wonder, was this Cheney's guide during the Bush administration? There was one particular passage in the book that described the constituents of the Party as believing anything they were told because they were not intelligent enough to create their own thoughts. The fear mongering of the past administration clung to these people in order to gain support from people who truly lacked the capability to coherently understand what they were choosing to believe in. I feel as though the dark cloud of the potential for a 1984 style future has lightened since the election of Obama. However, the potential for such a dangerous and pleasure free society still exists. We must relinquish the Soviet style Communism as well as the American style capitalism. Both have proven unsuccessful in their own time. The starkness of neo-Bolshevism, Socialism and Communism in 1984 predicted a scary future, the totalitarians of the 20th century inspired fear in Orwell's writing for an all controlling power, yet the love of money and greed for natural resources led us to the same place in recent years. There must be a better way.