What Big Brother Is Really Doing
According to Google Big Brother is “A person or organization exercising total control over people's lives.” Not only is Big Brother seen in George Orwell's novel 1984, Big Brother is also seen everywhere in our every day lives. Our modern day form of Big Brother, is our government system. They way our U.S. governs with all its new technology and advances, we are never truly a lone. Our every move is constantly being watched. The difference between our modern day Big Brother and the Big Brother seen in 1984 is that our version wants to help keep us safe, not brainwash us to achieve total power and control.
In my opinion North Korea's government is currently the most similar compared to the government displayed in Orwell's novel. Just like Oceania, North Korea is run under a dictatorship that's cult like. Just like Big Brother in 1984, Kim Jung-un censors most information from his citizens, he punishes people for criticising his government, and he constantly advertises propaganda about war and how North Korea's the best country. The citizens of North Korea have no choice but to believe the information their leaders telling them. The Big Brother of North Korea (Kim Jung-un) is the ultimate decider of whats real and fake in his country. It's like he's erasing apart of history by keeping so much information from his people and the outside world.
I think all governments have a control in each country over what's really and what's fake, each one just goes to different extents. Goverments can control what their people believe by choosing what information they tell and show them. People tend to believe what their leaders tell them because we like to think our leaders have our best interests in han...
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If technology didn't exsist, I don't think “Big Brother” would excist either. This idea of Big Brother has only become extremly prominent these past few decades and I think that's because of all our technological advances. Almost every location you go there's cameras that can see what you're doing at all times. Every email and every phone call can be monitored. All your locations and routes can be traced if you have a smart device near by. The government has the capablity to turn on your laptop cameras and phone cameras to see what you're up to. Some people see this as an invasion of privacy and than there's “Big Brother” who sees these as safety procautions. In this situation, I think the NSA(National Security Agency) is the real Big Brother. The NSA is the one with all the power to perform all these tasks by hacking all electronic devices.
“That is what has brought you here. You would not make the act of submission which is the price of sanity. You preferred to be a lunatic, a minority of one. Only the disciplined mind can see reality, Winston. […] Reality is not external. Reality exists in the human mind, and nowhere else. Not in the individual mind, which can make mistakes, and in any case soon perishes: only in the mind of the Party, which is collective and immortal. Whatever the Party holds to be the truth, is truth. It is impossible to see reality except by looking through the eyes of the Party.” This is how O’Brien, a high-ranking official of the world of Nineteen Eighty-Four, describes the worldview forced into the minds of its citizens. Demonstrated by Winston Smith’s nonconformist thinking, his unorthodox actions, and the deconstruction of his individuality, it is this world of O’Brien’s with which the concept of the individual is incompatible.
James Stacey Taylor's article, "In Praise of Big Brother: Why We Should Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Government Surveillance" begins reviewing the concept of "Big Brother" as it was originally presented in George Orwell's 1984. The Big Brother started off as a fictional character in 1984-- a dictator of Oceania within a totalitarian state. Set within a society in which everyone is under complete surveillance by the authorities, mainly by telescreens, the people are constantly reminded of this by the phrase “Big Brother is watching you” (Wikipedia) . Taylor goes on to explain some examples of recent surveillance technology and how it is applied in lives today. An interesting note and comparison between today’s technology and that of the telescreens in 1984, is that people could be sure that they could not be watched by Big Brother’s telescreens by going out of the cities into the country, where they only had to take care that their conversations were not monitored by hidden microphones (Taylor 227). He contrasts the two, highlighting the fact that “Such an escape is not impossible, for spy satellites can be used to monitor people wherever they go” (277). From there, Taylor perpetuates the framework for his position on the Big Brother notion. Taylor argues that, "rather than opposing such an expansion of surveillance technology, its use should be encouraged -- and not only in the public realm" (227). Taylor’s argument presented in a more formal construction is as follows:
Today’s modern world may not be exactly like 1984, but there are some issues that are very similar to it. Some of the biggest issues that is becoming compromised today is the issue of privacy, which in the book 1984 was something that the people did not have much of because of things like telescreens. Not only is our privacy compromised but the government is also being too controlling. Ways today’s privacy is being compromised are through things like game consoles, phones, social media, and drones and not only is our being compromised through these things but the government is also gaining too much control by compromising our privacy.
1984 demonstrates a dystopian society in Oceania by presenting a relentless dictator, Big Brother, who uses his power to control the minds of his people and to ensure that his power never exhausts. Aspects of 1984 are evidently established in components of society in North Korea. With both of these society’s under a dictator’s rule, there are many similarities that are distinguished between the two. Orwell’s 1984 becomes parallel to the world of dystopia in North Korea by illustrating a nation that remains isolated under an almighty ruler.
During the 1950s and the Korean War, people were worried about brainwashing and mind control techniques. In 1949 the book 1984, written by George Orwell, was published. At this time Korea was in a civil war. The civil war ended up with North Korea as a totalitarian government and South Korea as a separate nation, with a permanent state of war existing between them. Orwell's novel accurately predicted this scenario. In 1984 brainwashing was used to distort the citizens' concepts of reality, and these distorted concepts led to a total belief in a totalitarian regime. As a result, brainwashing, as described in the novel and as seen in the reality of North Korea, is the principle ingredient in totalitarian governments.
Nineteen Eighty-Four was meant to bring the mid twentieth century reader a novel full of intensity, love, and manipulation but also brought something greater than all of these things. Nineteen Eighty-Four created a way for people to look into a future created by Orwell himself, a future that slowly became a reality in the years since it was written. One reality is that personal space and privacy is never granted in the novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. Every citizen is always being watched by their peers, the Thought Police, Big Brother, and the Party. This constant observation denies a person from being themselves and furthermore, stops society from acting as a whole.
We face the same conflict today, almost fifty years later. Our government uses all kinds of surveillance to keep track of its citizens, from satellites in space to cameras mounted on telephone poles. Although it's highly unlikely that total privacy has been taken from us, the concept is possible. When Orwell wrote 1984, he wrote of a foreign idea, not realizing that we are experiencing excerpts of his book in 1999. It's almost sad, in a way, that our government has taken a piece of one man's imagination and applied it to everyday life. Who's Big Brother now?
In the novel you will see that everybody in the whole society is watched and have no privacy of any kind. Every person is under surveillance. This makes people frustrated to live a free and individual life, but it seems to be an impossible task towards surveillance, self thought, and reality. Here we can observe the effects it portrays in today 's society and ways it also acts as a warning for the future.
Ultimately, common ideas found in the novel 1984, totalitarianism, surveillance, and lack of privacy are also ubiquitous in modern society and government. Big Brother and modern day government have been able to control its citizens through surveillance equipment, and fear all for a little more power. There is much to learn from such an undesirable form of society much like the one of Oceania in 1984. Examining Big Brother government closely, alarming connections can be made to real-world government actions in the United States and the cruel world within Orwell's book.
Your home alone in your bed, the T.V. playing in the background and sleep has its grip on you. As you feel your eyes start to fall something else has its eyes on you, Big Brother. For the people in 1984 this is how every night ends, and every day begins. You would think being watched everyday would drive one mad but not for this society. They have all been conditioned to think this is a normal way of life, and to question is as bad as thought itself. To grow up and always have eyes watching your every move, ears listening to your every word, and unknown figures lurking in the night. Ready at a moments notice to erase your very existence if you dare question the nature of your reality not brought to you by Big Brother himself. All of this surveillance
Truth, it’s always being shifted and manipulated. It can never actually change, what changes is people’s perspective of the truth. We cannot always prove everything there is to be true or untrue, but we always strive to convince others to believe what we believe. Big Brother is a key offender of manipulating the truth, and manipulating people to believe their beliefs. It is sad that people abandon their morals, beliefs, and one’s own self, all because they face a little pain. Pain is a driving force in how we make decisions, and what decisions we make. No one wants to be in pain, and to avoid it, humans and animals alike will do whatever it takes to avoid it. Big Brother uses this to their advantage to control, and keep order in their “soul sucking”, humanity depriving society that is based on hate, lies, and pain.
Also, "Nineteen Eighty-four depicts the horrors of a well-established totalitarian regime of whatever type with great power and skill and force of imagination." (Davis). The book 1984 was written in futuristic setting to depict what a well established totalitarian government would look like. In the book, George Orwell crafted many ways of how big brother controls society and creates fear. In the book “Big Brother is watching you” (Orwell) is a common phrase that appears throughout the book. The phrase is creating fear in the society, it gives a sense that Big Brother and other party members are watching and he or she is not alone. As well keeping the people in the society in place, so he or she does not “rebel” against big brother or the party. The quote “Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.” (Orwell), to have freedom a person in the society has to believe that two plus two does equal four. While Big Brother and the party wants he or she to believe that two plus two equals five, the party wants the society to believe everything that they say, the party does
What drives fear in people? Maybe it’s a depraved person, death, heights, or the spider on the wall. Either way, everyone is afraid of something. In the book 1984 by George Orwell, the characters fear someone whom they don’t know the existence of called Big Brother. He is the symbol of fear, torture, and persecution in the eyes of the citizens of Oceania. In the following paragraphs, Big Brother’s impact of fear on people’s lives will be discussed. Also, a great leader of Germany by the name of Adolf Hitler will also be gone over.
George Orwell’s Famous book 1984 is about a man who struggles to live under the superintendence of Big Brother. Throughout the novel, Winston struggles with constantly being surveilled and the lack of freedom. Similarly, in our world today, there are government agencies that have the power to listen to phone calls, track people's movements, and watch them through cameras. Winston’s world of surveillance and inadequate confidentiality both privately and publicly is in many aspects much the same as in our world today and the people should demand regulations to be set in place to protect their privacy.
The fictional world of 1984 is best described as bleak. In the aftermath of the fall of capitalism and nuclear war, the world has been divided among three practically identical totalitarian nation-states. The novel takes place in London, which has become a part of Oceania, the nation state comprising the Americas and western Europe. A state of perpetual war and poverty is the rule in Oceania. However, this is merely a backdrop, far from the most terrifying aspect of life in 1984. Oceania is governed by a totalitarian bureaucracy, personified in the image of Big Brother, the all-knowing/ all-seeing godlike figure that represents the government. Big Brother is best described as a "totalitarian socialist dictator, a political demagogue and religious cult leader all rolled into one." So great is the power of Big Brother that the reader is unsure whether he actually exists or is simply a propaganda tool of the government. The party of Big Brother, Ingsoc (English Social...