AOW#4:We're Living '1984' Today
First Response Post (Due Tuesday, midnight)
A solid blog response includes a well-formed opinion that references the text and your own experiences. It shouldn’t repeat a previous comment BUT extend the thinking beyond what’s already posted.
· Grammar, spelling, and mechanics count
· Self-check your post for clarity of thought
· Keep in 3rd person
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Select another student’s post and begin with whether or not you agree or disagree with their side. Extend the discussion with a new idea; don’t just repeat or summarize what the other person already posted.
Question - How else are we living the dystopian society in 1984? Can you think of other ways in which our society exemplifies what Orwell was warning us against? Use the article or the novel to supply textual evidence for your response.
Lewis Beale opened my eyes in his article by making connections to 1984 and our society today that I never thought of. Another way we are living in 1984, is with the increased power of FBI and CIA. In the novel, children and trained adults spy on people to look for criminal activity. Today, the FBI and CIA spy on people from the U.S, and other countries to see if they are a threat. Even though this can be looked at as something positive, they still look at innocent people because of their connections or beliefs. Another way our society is similar to 1984 is the way our history is written. We do not change it completely, like they do in the book, although we alter it to make the U.S seem like the heros in times where people were uncertain. With all the technology our society has it is almost impossible to be completely unwatched, which is how Winston and others live in 1984. Beale explains the only way someone could be unknown today is; “unless you spend your life in a wilderness cabin, totally off the grid, there is simply no way the government won’t have information about you stored away somewhere. (Beale para. 11). This is the same situation in 1948, if people do not want the government to have anything on them, good or bad, they must become a ghost, which is a very hard thing to do in both the book and our society today.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your statement of history being rewritten. If you go to England, the books they have over there are very different from the books we have here, when it comes down to teaching history. Each country is its own protagonist and history is altered based on whose perspective you look at.
DeleteI agree with what you said when you are talking about society looks into people with certain races and beliefs. This is so true because nowadays if you are Muslim at an airport you get checked and taken to a separate room. The government thinks they know best but sometimes they can go overboard. Another think you brought up was how we alter our history to make the U.S. look dominant and I couldn't agree more. In every history book in schools it talks all about the U.S. and how dominant we are but it doesn't tell us about other things that are left out on purpose.
DeleteI agree history in many ways can be rewritten to suit the views of the country. Without first hand knowledge of the events that unfolded in time it is hard to decipher the truth of the history when countries write about the events in a way that glorify themselves. It's true in many ways it is hard to completely fall out of the view of the government. I completely agree if someone plans to stay out of the view of the government then becoming like Chris McCandless then completely going into the wild and abandoning civilization is the best route to go.
DeleteTo add to your statement, what is even more astonishing that we have now made this issue part of the norm and as time goes on more and more people start to question this topic. Not only the government spies on us but or families and friends also spy or hack us like in the novel by themselves or by hiring private investigators. The idea of privacy staring to vanish and some people do not question why.
DeleteI agree with you, Grace, with the fact that is it almost impossible to be completely unwatched. The government has its ways of making sure that becoming a “ghost” is not a very easy thing to go about doing. This is just their way of making us realize that it is much easier to go about your life always being watched, than trying to find ways around the system.
DeleteIn today's society we show dystopian qualities such as those found in 1984 by wealthy/average income citizens showing signs of contempt towards poor/homeless people. For example in the novel Orwell states, “..the Party taught that the proles were natural inferiors who must be kept in subjection, like animals..” (Orwell 71). This is significant because in 1984 the inner and outer Party members hold distrust and view the Proles (lower class citizens) as beneath society and are naturally shunned due to the Party teachings. Much like today’s society most people are taught to not associate with poor and homeless citizens for the reason that they may be harmed or robbed. Most people become wary of the lower class and tend to lock car doors or pretending to not see them when they are within close proximity of them thus in a sense shunning them. As a result the actions show how the people of today’s society are similar to the people of 1984.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you but I also think that who you interact with or how you go about doing certain things depends on how you were raised. Not everyone avoids the homeless. In fact there are tons of people that help them out, but it is true that they are looked down upon, being in the lower class.
DeleteI agree with what you’re saying but I feel that we don’t all avoid the homeless, it depends on who you are as a person and how you personally see homeless people. A lot of people really do try to help the lower class as much as they can by giving them money, or even food.
DeleteI agree that people in different social classes do not tend to interact too much, I believe that people do not want to associate with people who do not have a similar lifestyle to their own. People know how like-minded people act in society, so they would feel like they are in a more comfortable environment. However many people do try to support the homeless so they can become part of the working society.
DeleteDespite the book being written in 1948, Orwell has accurately predicted vast similarities we between the real world and the book. The main thing in 1984 is that there is a telescreen always watching its citizens, looking for anyone that rebels against it. Today, while we may not have telescreens, the government takes advantage of everyday tools that we use (cellphones, social media, computers) to spy on us and gather information. Likewise, “...when a government agency can monitor everyone’s phone calls, we have all become suspects. This is one of the most frightening aspects of our society” (Beale par 11). Similarly, websites, apps, and surveys are also used to collect data. Big name companies like Verizon, for example, send over our phone data to the government. The government also shows dystopian-like qualities through the people. If you’ve ever read, The Hunger Games, the Capitol watches children fight for survival. Similarly, every day in the low socio-economic areas of the world, children are stolen and trained to kill for their leaders and their ambitions.
ReplyDeleteOur world is indeed some ways similar but many things need to happen before the government can watch us. For the government to access phone records they have to go through a court for a warrant. People also have a choice to not participate in such surveys that are mentioned.
DeleteI agree many tools today are being used to spy on the people such as the development as PRISM which collects data on people at random and the use of cameras like those found in Long Beach. Though these tools are meant to serve a purpose of catching criminals, terrorists, etc they are also used to spy on the public much like the telescreens in 1984. Also to add to your statement about people who use children to kill to carry out their ambitions, an example of this would be the Ugandan leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, Joseph Kony abducted children and made them sex slaves and child soldiers to fulfill Kony’s ambitions.
DeleteI agree with what you are saying with the telescreens because the government watches everyone through cameras and webcams and it is scary. 1984 really hit it right on the head with that one but the good thing is it's not a huge issue right now. I also like how you connected your response with other books!
DeleteI love that you connected your response to the book as well as the article! our society is similar to 1984 in many way even though we don’t want to believe that, it’s true. I agree that telescreens are like cellphones in our society, Orwell was really spot on with that prediction.
DeleteI agree with the connection you make to the Hunger Games, because it is as well a great example of what our society is going to be if we don't make something to stop it. Good job making various connections in your response.
DeleteI really agree with "The Hunger Games" reference. In many places in this world and even sometimes in this country, it really can be a game people play for supremacy in the neighborhood while the government keeps the cycle going with specific media that is aimed at certain demographics.
DeleteLewis Beale does not state any other surprising facts that open up our eyes, about the book or the real world. We already know what our government does to watch over us like when Beale says "It appears that the police now have a device that can read license plates and check if a car is unregistered, uninsured, or stolen" (Beale para 1). In other ways that our society is similar to 1984 we can not be sure.
ReplyDeleteI agree, devices are literally everywhere nowadays, and everyone knows that they are being watched/recorded when they are online. And I also agree that it isn’t predictable if it will end up like 1984. Technology would advance in the future for sure, and probably the government will have more control/power then than they do now. It really isn’t predictable, since Orwell wrote this book in 1948, and it’s been over 60 years since he has made this prediction, and it is very unlikely it can happen.
DeleteI agree, Beale is telling us things that we already know, but some just do not seem to realize the actual depth of the government's surveillance. We can never be truly sure or know everything that the government does and has access too. We just need to make sure that we do not become complacent. The more complacent we are, the easier it is for the government to watch and control us.
DeleteI agree with what you are saying because we already know that the government is watching us and we are not even to do anything to stop it. We have similarities to the book 1984 but they are brainwashed to think it is okay and they have no true opinion of their own.
DeleteEven though I do agree that this is not necessarily breaking news, there is no way we can look over the fact that the book has quite a few similarities to the world we live in today. Also, the fact that it was published nearly 70 years ago, I feel that this is not just a coincidence.
DeleteIt is true that Beale does not state anything new on the topic. Most people already realize that the government watches its civilians and have accepted it. Yet Beale still does make some connections to the book that can help people recognize the extent at which we are being watched, but some points such as Newspeak may be a bit exaggerated.
DeleteI believe we are in a dystopian society because of the technology we use today and how it affects our lives. In 1984 the government watches them through the telescreens and this is similar to how the government watches us through webcams and cameras. This is a huge invasion of privacy and they should not be able to do this. I understand they do it to make the world safer but it still feels wrong that they could access your information at any time. I believe this book could of predicted the future so I guess we will have to wait and find out!
ReplyDeleteI agree that there are resemblance to 1984 and our government. They do watch us, but unlike 1984, we are not arrested for speaking out over something they do not like. (We have freedom of speech, they do not). Our government does has the control, but not complete control over this country, or we would’ve been like 1984. But it does disturb our privacy, especially to those who has nothing to hide and are doing what a normal citizen does.
DeleteI agree that our government can be like the party in 1984 just because they are consistently watching us. While we do have more freedoms than the people of 1984, like the freedom to speak and think, we still don’t have much privacy.
DeleteI agree with this because no one would of really thought of having this type of techonology unless they wanted to have control to spy on others. I also think that government is invading innocents people privacy even though it supposed to be "protecting" us.
DeleteI agree with you when you say the government invades our privacy and that its wrong. The government has no reason to see things like messages between our best friends, or even know the personal secrets of someone. The government just lets pointless information sit and go to waste so I don't get why they have to look at it in the first place
DeleteI agree with what you're saying but I don't know if we're living in a dystopian society yet, I think we may be gradually moving towards that though.
DeleteOrwell didn’t quite predict the future, but there are some resemblance to his believes. One example is the newly technology that has Orwell’s warning all over. The government and FBI/CIA can tap through any phone, look at phone calls, receipts and basically anything a normal person would do with their phone. Although, there aren’t telescreens that watch someone 24/7, once someone is online, they are, in a way, being watched and what they look through their search history would be recorded. The government has grown stronger, which is what Orwell has feared about: “NSA is spying on Americans, collecting data on phone calls we make, it’s not as if we should have been surprised” (Beale 2). Orwell predicted that the government is taking over and it isn’t uptight like 1984, but in a way it is starting to slowly look like it.
ReplyDeleteI partly agree with you because as you had pointed out we are slowly getting there and by the looks of it this situation is never going to end. As Beale also says is that we have partly given in to to the idea of giving up some of our rights to protect ourselves. Searches are not illegal because people feel it is correct to search a suspects belongings which is why we we searching and seizures that can be done by a warrant. If the warrant part did not exist then we would not like the idea we'd eventually fight and it would become illegal altogether. We are giving the government a loop hole to search us without knowing by not becoming informed on the topic of hacking and how surveillance works.
DeleteI agree, it feels like when cannot do anything without being watched at some point. The government has too much of our personal information that is completely unnecessary for them to have. We do not live in a society that is nearly as bad as the society in 1984, but if we continue to let the government have uncontrolled access to all of our personal information, we will not be far from it.
DeleteI agree with what you have to say because Orwell is only guessing with what the future hold. His guess is only as good as the rest of us. We are all being watched by the government just not in the way that Orwell had truly predicted it. Sooner or later we will be living 1984
DeleteI completely agree, sometimes it reallt does feel like we’re just being consistently watched. While I don’t think our society is anywhere near as bad as the society in 1984, our government still has a little too much more information on the innocent people than they really need to have.
DeleteI agree, that there are some similarities between today and Orwell's predictions but I do not believe it is as severe or even borderline near being 1984. I do not believe our government is becoming anywhere near 1984. The FBI and CIA do this stuff to our technology to protect our country not for fun.
DeleteOrwell astonishingly predicted what would happen in the future which has become the present. Orwell had accurately pinpointed every single detail that one would experience today. Just like another one of his works, Animal Farm, the characters which are the animals(The Proles) follow "The 7 Commandments" made up by the pigs and their leader Napoleon (Big Brother), which are rules the animals should follow. Since they are constantly being spied or supervised there privacy is taken away. They either follow the rules out fear of being punished, loyalty or lack of questioning why they are being spied on. The constant surveillance happens every single day to the people of the U.S.A. and this needs to stop, every citizen deserves privacy.. As Beale states, "websites...track our likes and dislikes, and governments...hack into our computers and find out what they want to know ...surveillance cameras...spy on the average person as they go about their daily routine"(Beale 10), similar to the telescreens in the novel. During one's day shopping is daily task done whether it be buying food in the grocery store or buy clothes in outlets, as Beale also claims "store[s] wants your phone number and ZIP code as part of any transaction" (Beale 1)obtaining phone numbers is reasonable but ZIP codes are not necessary as coupons and magazines are now electric nowadays. What is more perplexing is that "we've willingly given up all sorts of freedoms, and much of our right to privacy.”(Beale 10), which means that one now finds it the norm to willing follow along with this fact. The one’s doing so are the ones that say “if you don't have anything to hide, you have nothing to be afraid of”(Beale 11). Another bewildering fact is that “a government agency can monitor everyone’s phone calls, we have all become suspects. This is one of the most frightening aspects...the fact that we have gone so far down the road there is probably no turning back”( Beale 11). Which leaves with one new identity that Orwell had always feared which Beale points out “we are all Winston Smith”(Beale 11) and “Big Brother is watching”.
ReplyDeleteI think that Beale touched on all the ways that our society is a dystopia. I agree with Beale that our phones and computers are 1984's version of the telescreen. Both keep tabs on what we are doing and who we are with. Though, I do not agree that 1984's newspeak is the same as the slang that we use when we text. The purpose of the two is completely different. In 1984, newspeak is constantly being shortened so that people do not have any idea of words that could possibly be used to hurt the party. The way we text is pretty much just for texting. The only reason why we text like this is either to save money or out of laziness. I do agree with Beale that in many ways we are living in a 1984 dystopia, but I do not agree with all that he states.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you said you think our phones and laptops are versions of the tele screens. Our phones know exactly where we are at all times and hold all our information. For computers, the government probably watches us through our cameras and the websites we use track all our information.
DeleteI agree with your thought that our phones and laptops are versions of the telescreens because of how easily the government can access them. With that same thought in mind though, I find this comparison very interesting because only Party members in the book are allowed to turn off their telescreens, but not people lesser than them. Luckily we have the option to shut off our phones, but we make the decision to be on them constantly throughout the day.
DeleteLewis Beale really opened my mind to the connections he made from 1984 to society today. I don’t really agree with the connection he made with newspeak an slang we use today, I feel we use slang just so teens have their own little language, it because we’re trying to decrease thinking. Another way we are like 1984 is like the cameras all across Long Beach. I do completely agree that computers and phones are our society’s version of the telescreen, they both are used to spy on citizens innocent or criminal. I agree with most of what Beale’s connections from 1984 to our society today, and it really opened my eyes showing that that’s a direction we can end up going in one day.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, this article really showed us our real connections to our society. Today we have our own language as teenagers in a way. It is crazy to think how he predicted a lot that has happened.
DeleteI agree with you Jessica, I believe slang is very different from Newspeak in 1984. Today, slang is used in texting to reduce the amount of characters and words that take up one message. We are still thinking our first thought and how to condense a word or phrase to make it shorter, so it is not taking the amount of thought we have away, more and more as time goes on.
DeleteHow else are we living the dystopian society in 1984? Can you think of other ways in which our society exemplifies what Orwell was warning us against? Use the article or the novel to supply textual evidence for your response. Lewis Beale is a very intelligent human being and smart for the research he has within this article. Orwell is using the telscreens which is comparable to an iphone because the government always is having access to us, "Today websites like Facebook track our likes and dislikes, aand governments and private individuals hack into our computers and find out what they want to know" (Beale 4). This is showing that we are being watch and that people always have ways of doing things and finding out what they want to know.
ReplyDeleteWhile I don’t feel Orwell completely predicted the future, I do feel he partially did. In the article Beale connects 1984s Newspeak to the slang we use today, I do agree with this. I feel that we got lazy overtime and started making our texts shorter, and that our could be the government trying to decrease our thinking. I feel his predictions fell flat when it came to us not being about to think or speak our minds because we have the right to do that and we fight to have that right.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that he predicted some things but not everything. But maybe the other things are to come in the future. which is a really scary thing to think about.
DeleteI disagree with newspeak being our slang, I do not think the government is in any way trying to decrease our thinking. The government did not create slang, people did.
Deleteto a point orwell predicted a sort of feeling for the future, Lewis Beale made connections from 1984 to our modern day society. Beale made good well observed connection's but they are connections that have been happening since technology was invented. Since the day technology was made the government has had a way of viewing everything and we've always had slang so its not like its the new newspeak. To a point, Orwell warned us about the limits of freedom of speech because in 1984, they have the thought crime and in modern day you can be jailed or ridiculed for the way you think or speak. We have similarities of 1984 but it's not as severe as people make it out to be or as severe as Orwell wrote about it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you in the way that we have a fine line for what we can think and say even though we have the freedom of speech. Although Orwell did not predict the thought police, that is more exaggerated unless it is yet to come.
DeleteI agree that Orwell is warning us for the lack of freedom of speech we could have in the future, however today there is more of an open mind in society to accept different point of view. We are still working on this aspect to not fall in the hands of 1984. I also agree that the similarities aren't 100% accurate with today.
DeleteI agree it is not as severe as Orwell's society was but it is more to bring awareness to what could happen if we are not careful and don't pay attention to what the government is doing.
DeleteWe are today somehow living the dystopian society that Orwell created in 1984, not only because the government is taking track of our lives through technology but also because just like Winston and Julia, we want a change but, we don't anything to get that change, we don't take action. Winston started rebelling against the government since he bought the diary, however we haven't really seen any changes in what Winston wants to change, his actions are insignificant. In chapter 10 we gets caught by the thought police, and there is where Winston's rebellion ends, like I said before his actions till that chapter have been insignificant,no change made. Like Winston there are people who want a change in many aspects in today's society but don't take real actions. I agree that Lewis Beale has a point in showing the different ways we live in 1984, however we aren't in that dystopian society, I still believe that we have a way to avoid going that far, that is the primary purpose of Orwell's book. 1984 is just a warning for us.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you, you stated that we are not completely like the book but slowly getting there. We can avoid it but since no one wants to take a chance it looks like our future is pretty uneasy in a way. We can't avoid using the technology we have because we have grown accustomed to it, but maybe raise more awareness on how we are being watched.
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ReplyDeleteOther ways that make us qualify as living like 1984 are mostly through technology. There are rumors that the amazing laptops we all own today allow the government to watch us through the cameras. Along with the laptops we have apple watches and Siri on our phones that can tell exactly where we are at all times, they even tell us how long it will be to get to a certain place without us asking. The article "We're living in '1984' today" points out that certain websites track us, and all of our information. The article compared this to the tele screens in 1984 and I completely agree because on websites like Facebook people pour out all their thoughts, emotions, and basically every aspect of their life. By doing this the government kind of knows everything the person is thinking about and doing. In 2018 our government can watch and track us through new advanced technology and people are starting to catch on.
I agree, the increasing advancement in technology gives us no privacy. When you mentioned how people say anything on Facebook I think that is making matters worse for us. We re letting anyone into our lives by sharing a lot of private information.
DeleteThis article makes great key points about life today and how it was predicted nearly 70 years ago. It really depends on the person to decide whether our society has dystopian tendencies or not. One example in this article that i really found a good connection with is his remark on “The Endless War”, it really does seem like it is “America vs the world” with the constant amount of wars we seem to get into. As Lewis Beale stated: “Today we have the so-called war on terror, with no end in sight, a generalized societal fear, suspension of certain civil liberties, and an ill-defined enemy who could be anywhere, and anything” (Beale, Para 5). Whether it’s us fighting ISIS or our president insulting a nuclear pyromaniac, it just does not seem to end. Orwell is just basically saying that war causes fear and we’d all be lying if we said we were not scared of a possible nuclear war or some invasions that happen in the US.
ReplyDeleteI kind of agree with you until you stated that it is America vs the World. I do not think we are able to say that America claims that is against the world, maybe certain parts of Europe but that is it. We also have physical proof that ISIS is real like the bombing in France or maybe the multiple videos of ISIS decapitating middle aged men to try and scare other countries and send a message. Going off with what you said about bringing fear to the society I do agree with you on that but it also used to bring the society together as a whole. When people are given a common enemy they are most likely going to stand together, at least until the enemy is dealt with.
DeleteI like that you pointed out when the article talks about war, because that also stood out to me. The government tends to use any possible threats instead of prominent ones to make certain laws or regulations, and when you look at it from the perspective of how much one should actually trust the government, it shows how much we really don’t know to be true.
DeleteIn the article, “We’re Living in ‘1984’ Today,” by Lewis Beale, he would talk about the consequences of letting our society be taken over by the government, much like in the Novel 1984. It is not fair to compare Orwells invention of Newspeak in the book to simple text abbreviations that people use to communicate, on a day to day, with one another. In the novel Newspeak was meant to eliminate thought once and for all, by simply getting almost all words to narrow it down to as little as possible. When people use abbreviations like, LMAO or OMG, they’re just doing it to save some time instead of typing out laugh my ass off, or oh my god when they see something surprising or funny. This process is dumbing down the english language it is simply making it faster to type. Another way that we could be living in a dystopian society is being controlled by the government more and more everyday, with the media being able to show only bad things on TV to represent how bad of a state the United States is in right now: “Nearly all public and private places have large TV screens that broadcast government propaganda”(51 Fat Packet). This quote is connected with Long Beach article on how they were able to use over 400 private cameras to spy on upcoming crimes that may or may not occur.
ReplyDeleteI agree that abbreviating text is making our society less intelligent because more people are starting to use abbreviations and acronyms in their everyday speech and writing. Although it can make writing things faster, people will eventually begin to forget the existence of certain words. If this can be manipulated by the government in some way, then they can control society’s intelligence as they please.
DeleteThe article gave many examples of things in our society that mirrors the dystopia in 1984. I think there was some examples that the author was stretching like the newspeak comparison and the memory hole it just took text slang and compared it to the actual removal of words where they don’t exist in any way possible so people are forcefully dumbed down, while in our society the only time we use the text slang is to save time. Some of them are reasonable like the telescreens, but they still are different. The article basically covered all the things in society that could be related to the society in Oceania.
ReplyDeleteI understand where your point is coming from the article did exaggerate a bit on the comparing part. But if you look at it and just realize it might not be 100% but they are similar.
DeleteI understand what you're saying about the memory hole because I thought the same thing when I first read it. Although I think it could be true because over time we have altered words to make them easier. If you look at old English it is much harder to read because we don't understand it.
DeleteOur society has similarities to 1984 because of how many resources the authorities have to monitor civilian’s private and public lives. The government is trying to collect all of the information about every single individual in the country. The government wants to give people a false sense of freedom by limiting the freedom that people think they have. “... there are … surveillance cameras that spy on the average person as they go about their daily routine”. People are being forced to act a certain way in public environments because the government is watching what individuals do from day to day. People do not want to stand out and become suspected of doing anything, so everyone will end up being forced to act in a similar way.
ReplyDeleteI agree that the surveillance done on civilians changes the way that people act. In the book everyone is afraid to do practically anything fearing that they will get in trouble for it. With constant surveillance in our lives, the people that know about it will act in a way that will prevent them from being suspicious in any way.
DeleteI agree with you. Surveillance has played a huge role in how citizens act in public. If citizens know that they're being watched, they're less likely to act up or express certain behaviors
DeleteThe article stated multiple times how our world is in a dystopian time. It connected how Orwell partly predicated the futures technology and being from telescreens to the computers we carry in our hands. In the article it states "there are those who say that if you don't have anything to hide, you have nothing to be afraid of. But the fact is, when a government agency can monitor everyone's phone calls, we have all become suspects" (Beale 12). We get so paranoid when we're under surveillance that we tend to be afraid even when we do nothing wrong. Orwell "warned" the future on how much they were being watched, and manipulated.
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ReplyDeleteI agree with Beale to a certain extent, but on some points such as Newspeak and his comparisons to abortion, I disagree. First off, our society is set up in such a public way, that vocabulary and word choice are both used carefully to respect audiences. This is not like Newspeak, where the ultimate goal is to dumb down the citizens for the better of the governments power. As far as bringing the subject of abortion into the mix, I don’t think it relates to 1984 at all, and is unnecessary in this context. I do see how the government can manipulate and change the worlds perspective on things, which many, including myself, see as dangerous and relatable to the book, but I think Beale was overdramatic in his argument and made careless points fo prove his argument.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your criticism of Beale. Many of his points were poor attempts at being logical arguments when in reality if you put any thought into what he was saying, you would know it was illogical. His comparisons to symbols in the books and to our life are reaches, reaches that do not make it.
DeleteI’m so happy you brought this up because this was all I could think about while reading the article. I think the whole thing was very biased and his opinions as well as his comparisons were very extreme and some were just irrelevant. I could see the point he was trying to make, but I think he went a little too far.
DeleteI think the way in which we are living the dystopian society in 1984 is through the government’s capability to access anyone’s technology, whenever they like, without permission, and without our knowledge. Prior to Snowden outing how much access the government had we as a people were pretty ignorant to the amount of our lives we were giving away through the use of our technology. Lewis Beale went off the deep end when he said compared Newspeak to our use of shorthand text. A fair point was made when Beale said: “But the fact is, when a government agency can monitor everyone’s phone calls, we have become suspects” (par. 11). We all have become guilty even if we have nothing really bad to hide, just like the people of 1984 who might commit a thoughtcrime or conceive an emotion or negative feeling toward the party. At this point, with the people’s knowledge of governmental access, we know how to keep the government out of our business and it means less usage of technology. People used to function without it before, we could do it again, but nobody has that desire.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, most of the time we give away our information to apps or websites without even giving it a second thought, which is only putting us in more danger in the long run. I think the reason why nobody has the desire to go back to a life without technology is because we are so accustomed to how convenient it is and most kids probably couldn't imagine a life without their phones.
DeleteWe are living the dystopian society in 1984 in the way that the government is always watching through “telescreens.” In 1984, they are called telescreens, and in the real world, it is just about any form of technology. The iPhone has apps that are constantly asking for people’s location and if they want to connect to wifi networks. The government uses these tools to keep an eye on society, just like the government in 1984 uses the telescreens. Orwell warns people of many different ways the government is slowly taking over. For example, Orwell describes in his book all the different ways the government tortures people to get their way. He is warning society that if the government keeps leading them in the direction they are going in now, they could soon end up being tortured like Winston in 1984.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you.The governments manipulation of the technology that we citizens possess is drastic. Including the different apps and networks, Web searches contribute to government control as well. They can pinpoint were something was looked up and can be on you in an instant if its a threat to national security.
DeleteMany of the points that Beale brought up were understandable to a certain extent, but also very hard to agree with because the whole article was very biased to his opinion. However, he talked about giving up our right to privacy in today’s society: “Fears of terrorism have a lot to do with this, but dizzying advances in technology, and the ubiquity of social media, play a big part” (Beale 10). This was the only point of his that I felt I could fully agree with. I don’t believe we should be pointing our fingers at surveillance cameras, texting language, paper shredders, or birth control, but instead we should blame technology. The US has conquered a large amount of technological advances, primarily in cell phones, in just a few years. The fact that new types of technology is constantly being embedded into many aspects of our lives just opens the door for individual hackers to acquire our personal information. Even simple tasks like shopping online can put us at risk of credit card fraud if someone hacks into that company’s security system, because your credit card information, address, and other personal information is held there. We put ourselves at risk doing everyday tasks, and today’s society is getting more and more loose with awareness of where they give out their personal information to. Orwell was trying to warn us of the many dangers of society, the most important one being our own ignorance.
ReplyDeleteThe society we live in shares it's similarities with 1984 because of the various methods that are used to monitor the lives of the public. The government claims that it monitors civilians for security purposes, yet really they just want to gather as much information as they can on everyone. Surveillance cameras, web history searches, and other methods are all in place in today's society, which can relate to the practices seen in 1984. Those that are aware of this act differently than they may typically act out of fear from the government. They do not want to be suspected of doing anything bad and for that reason change the way they act, even if normally it would not cause harm in the first place.
ReplyDeleteWe are living in a dystopian society with the furthering of the advancement of technology. Governments and individuals have the ability to hack and monitor our every move. They can peek through our personal information and can be all in your business. More government control is a bad thing. We can’t let government get more powerful. The U.S. government has already been exposed for spying over its citizens and for collectiong their information. “Edward Snowden revealed the extent to which the NSA is spying on Americans., Collecting data on phone calls we make” (Beale 1).
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