No One is Safe... Not even in their minds.
I think we can all agree on how unsafe we would feel in the world of 1984. The one thing that really stood out to me when reading this book was thoughts. In this world, there are “thought crimes” and “thought crime police”. If that is the case then absolutely no one is safe. No one can really control what you think. It more of controlling the actions that come after. I know for a fact that if I lived in this world I would definitely be sent to jail for my thoughts. Not saying I think horrible thoughts but if I lived in this world I would definitely think some very negative things about Big Brother. I think it would definitely suck because the mind is a person’s safe space. In the real world, no one can read your mind which gives you the ability to think whatever without any consequences
In my opinion, I think we are living in a world that is the exact opposite. The United States, especially in 2020, is very big on freedom of speech (and pretty much every other amendment). There is no way our world today would tolerate this right being taken away let alone the freedom of thoughts (which is even less than freedom of speech). They couldn’t even tolerate a fair win in a presidential election let alone not being able to think their own thoughts. Our world is far too geared towards freedom of speech for this to ever happen.
I personally think living in this world would be my worst nightmare. If you tried to put this law on president’s day America I personally think it would be more dangerous than the Purge. We all witnessed the violence caused when President Trump fairly lost the election. I cant imagine how dangerous it would be to step outside if people were sent to jail based on their thoughts. But I can’t speak for everyone so, what do you think?
I think this is accurate. Managing peoples thoughts is a whole new form of government control and in any age I don't see us having the technology nor the power to implement this system. In 1984 the society is based on fear, fear of being reprimanded (sometimes reprimanded or killed for entertainment). Our society today I think is still somewhat focused on pleasing the people and keeping the greatest number of people safe and happy as they could.
ReplyDeleteGoing off of this, I also thought it was interesting how Newspeak attempts to limit the range of possible thoughts, further preventing thoughtcrime. Orwell further plays into this when describing the process of "crimestop," or an automatic filter in your mind that prevents someone from committing thoughtcrime. It could be possible to prevent thoughtcrime if they limited the range of possible thoughts so severely that it would be impossible to rebel.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with everything you're saying-- especially because in a society like this, the only thing you have to yourself and your individuality are your thoughts. With things like thoughtcrime and policing (especially encouraged from a young age, as we can see in the neighbors children), it makes it nearly impossible to live in a society like this without losing yourself-- which I suppose is the whole idea.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'd be arrested for my thoughts. I'd be mentally doodling a dunce cap on Big Brother and away I'd go. To a less scary extent, I suppose every society has "thought control" in the sense of social pressure. Small, tightly knit communities often condition people to think certain ways such that they in a sense police themselves not to think otherwise.
ReplyDelete