Orwell’s 1984: Big Brother as Vampire seducing people re their ‘exceptionalism’ while draining them of their will to fight falsehoods
This seems so familiar in 2012…
ORWELL PUTS FORTH THE IDEA THAT WAR WILL KEEP THE HOMELAND SAFE, IS FALSE DOUBLESPEAK.
It was after WWII and the huge millions of lives lost that Orwell wrote 1984. He did not buy the idea that the world had been saved by bombing and murdering civilians worldwide by all sides. 1984 is about what he thought lay under the holocausts on all sides of the oceans that had just occurred in reality. One of the most famous lines from 1984 is that “War is Peace” meaning that being at war constantly actually creates peacetime in the country waging war. But Winston, the protagonist of 1984 shows us the rot under the rhetoric.
IN 1984, LAW ENFORCEMENT IS ONLY GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS AND BECOMES WEAKER AND WEAKER
We see the overt law enforcement doing mere ‘busy work’ snooping and collecting data that no one in power pays any attention to. THey are unable to hold the peace.
THERE IS A SECRET SET OF ‘WATCHERS’ WATCHING EVERYONE TO SEE IF THEY ARE PATRIOTS OR NOT
But, we see that the ‘thought police’ are the real enforcement/crushers of souls… they creep about in disguise and then pounce on those who are deemed disloyal to ‘Big Brother’– The thought police are draconian and unjust and thereby to be feared greatly.
WORDS THAT ONCE HELD TRUE MEANING, LIKE JUSTICE, LOVE, COMPASSION, BROTHERHOOD ARE CONSIDERED UNFAITHFUL TO BIG BROTHER IDEAS
The over-principle is that Justice is based on Big Brother’s blather: evil is good, and good is evil.
THE PEOPLE STRUGGLE TO KEEP THEIR JOBS AND FEAR BEING MARGINALIZED AND SO GO ALONG TO GET ALONG
And yet people are afraid to confront Big Brother. It is easier for the struggling masses to keep their heads down and keep hoping to eke a living, scared to death they will lose their jobs for even thinking about freedom, let alone saying the abject corruption they see, as they see it, aloud…
BIG BROTHER IS A RICH BLOODSUCKER WHO FEEDS OFF THE POOR AND ECONOMICALLY ENTRAPPED
and even though many somewhere in their hearts dont believe in Big Brother’s touted ‘exceptionalism’ of the people, the truth is the people are more and more debased and depressed, while Big Brother is ever growing glossier and shinier and faux famous. In this sense, one could say Orwell wrote the quintessential Vampire thriller… Big Brother grows ever ruddier, whilst he drains the people who grow more and more pale and gray.
BIG BROTHER IS INVADING PEOPLE’S PRIVACY AND COMPILING THEIR PRIVATE INFORMATION TO USE TO EXPLOIT THE PEOPLE
We are told that not only is the continual propaganda voice pouring into everyone’s room, but also the same device also can hear and film every word, nuance, move each person makes in their own home. That there is no privacy. That the corporation that is Big Brother pretends this is all for the good of the people, but is constantly secretly and not so secretly collecting everyone’s data.
BIG BROTHER HAS CREATED A POLYGLOT LANGUAGE THAT OBFUSCATES FACTS AND FOGS CLARITY OF WHAT BIG BROTHER IS ACTUALLY DOING, OTHER THAN MAKING PROMISES THAT ARE NEVER KEPT AND BELCHING FALSE PROPAGANDA
The Government has developed a new language in which most things that were once true, are seen as no longer true, very similar to changes of regimes that attempt to wipe out all traces of better times.
PEOPLE’S MEMORIES OF FREEDOM GROW MORE AND MORE DIM AS THEY NORMALIZE BEING ENSLAVED TO THE WEALTHY OVERLORD, BIG BROTHER
Winston himself tries to remember his own childhood, but he cannot. The regime counts on the repetitive images stamped down over people’s minds for years on end, ones they are to think over and over– or else be in risk of losing favor, losing job, losing their lives if they didnt– the regime counts on these to overwrite memory until every thought, every idea carries the ill logo of Big Brother only.
BIG BROTHER LIES LEFT AND RIGHT ABOUT HOW EXCEPTIONAL EVERYONE AND EVERYTHING IS, WHLE CREATING A KIND OF STOCKHOLM SYNDROME IN ALL DRONE WORKERS… THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE GRATEFUL FOR BEING ENSLAVED INSTEAD OF KILLED.
We see too in this part of 1984, the ‘government/Big Brother’s’ overstated claims about how GREAT everything is, how far ahead of production quotas the province is, how superior, how amazing, how invincible compared to all other nations and provinces. Meanwhile, behind the gaud are the people; once rocks, they are breaking down to sand from all the incessant hammering of their spirits and minds.
Viz:
From Chapter One of 1984:
“In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs, hovered for an instant like a bluebottle, and darted away again with a curving flight. It was the police patrol, snooping into people’s windows. The patrols did not matter, however. Only the Thought Police mattered.
Behind Winston’s back the voice from the telescreen was still babbling away
about pig-iron and the overfulfilment of the Ninth Three-Year Plan.The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that 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 they wanted to.
You had to live–did live, from habit that became instinct–in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.
Winston kept his back turned to the telescreen. It was safer; though, as he well knew, even a back can be revealing.
A kilometre away the Ministry of Truth, his place of work, towered vast and white above the grimy landscape. This, he thought with a sort of vague distaste–this was London, chief
city of Airstrip One, itself the third most populous of the provinces of Oceania. He tried to squeeze out some childhood memory that should tell him whether London had always been quite like this. Were there always these vistas of rotting nineteenth-century houses, their sides shored up with baulks of timber, their windows patched with cardboard and their roofs with corrugated iron, their crazy garden walls sagging in all directions?And the bombed sites where the plaster dust swirled in the air and the willow-herb straggled over the heaps of rubble; and the places where the bombs had cleared a larger patch and there had sprung up sordid colonies of wooden dwellings like chicken-houses?
But it was no use, he could not remember: nothing remained of his childhood except a series of bright-lit tableaux occurring against no background and mostly unintelligible.
The Ministry of Truth–Minitrue, in Newspeak [Newspeak was the official language of Oceania. For an account of its structure and etymology see Appendix.]–was startlingly different from any other object in sight. It was an enormous pyramidal structure of glittering white concrete, soaring up, terrace after terrace, 300 metres into the air.
From where Winston stood it was just possible to read, picked out on its white face in elegant lettering, the three slogans of the Party:
WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH“
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Question: Did BB start out as a friendly, benevolent little brother (LB)? I can’t remember.
Are we at the BB stage or the LB stage in America. Certainly, some places like Russia are half way to BB, are there others?
DD, I think the nuance in the book 1984 is that some finally suspect that BB is not even a person, but a concept that is promoted by other warlord-like men in order to cow others. As I’ve been rereading the book, I thought of Rove and Cheney being the force and the President being only a vaguely drawn figure… so that applying to him would not be effective, for the power was elsewhere.
Old Communist Russia along with many surveillance groups in many countries such as US, Israel, Middle East, Africa, South America, truly did not behold dissenting ideas or human life as precious. Stalin alone, the butcher of his time, was a BB, slapping farmers on the back, letting his army rape the women, and shooting the farmers if they protested.
Let us discover more as we read along. As you can see, I am taken by the similarities. Just thinking about Facebook and Google, oh, oops we are following you around recording your keystrokes, and uh, we sure are sorry, but um, see we cant stop because, you know, there is no such thing anymore as privacy… someone shattered that.
I wonder who? I swear. lol
thanks dd.
I guess I was being a little too coy. Of course BB, at least now is the state not a person. My point is it starts out as LB with gradual encroachment by the government into all phases of our lives, all done with good intentions, of course (yes, I’m talking creeping paternalism/socialism).
Whether the state morphs into BB depends on how effective the checks, balances, a free press and effective political parties are at keeping BB under control. And, increasing the untoward influence of BM, skewing the whole game.
The old Soviet Union was a model of the old BB model, but the new, supposedly more democratic nation still looks pretty bad with journalists frequently murdered, oligarchs jailed on trumped up charges, etc.
Am looking at this through the lens of Advaita-non-duality, which points towards the human tendency to identify with the little egoic self, whose slogan could be; “i think therefore i am”, instead of the true nature of Source/Soul.
Truly 1984 is collective egoic gone amuck…
There is need for the ego, but it can easily ” steal the pelt” as you have said Dr.E.
Tolle on the Collective Egoic….
“A collective ego manifests the same characteristics as the personal ego, such as…
the need for conflict and enemies,
the need for more,
the need to be right against others who are wrong, and so on.
Sooner or later, the collective will come into conflict with other collectives, because it unconsciously seeks conflict and it needs opposition to define its boundary and thus its identity. Its members will then experience the suffering that inevitably comes in the wake of any ego-motivated action. At that point, they may wake up and realize that their collective has a strong element of insanity. It can be painful at first to suddenly wake up and realize that the collective you had identified with and worked for is actually insane. Some people at that point become cynical or bitter and henceforth deny all values, all worth. This means that they quickly adopted another belief system when the previous one was recognized as illusory and therefore collapsed. They didn’t face the death of their ego but ran away and reincarnated into a new one.
A collective ego is usually more unconscious than the individuals that make up that ego. For example, crowds (which are temporary collective egoic entities) are capable of committing atrocities that the individual away from the crowd would not be. Nations not infrequently engage in behavior that would be immediately recognizable as psychopathic in an individual.
The tactics used by BB in “1984″ have, to some extent, been used by every power clutching politician and police state in the world–and way before the post WW2 writing of Orwell’s spooky, yet accurate, prediction of the future.
From the Ayatollahs in Iran to the Syrian Assad Regime’s slaughter of anyone who dares to resist, and, even the police tactics that were used my Mayor Daily in 1968 Chicago, in addition to the latest anti-OWS new coverage demeaning those “dirty bums” and malcontents who publicly scorn the upper 1%, these are the universally employed tactics of Despots everywhere!
Numerous Big Brothers everywhere remain quick to blame, “outside agitators, “Pro-american spies,” “Israel’s supporters dispensing anti-Assad propaganda,” and on and on etc…etc. Anything available to focus blame on others rather than reveal their own continuous efforts to brainwash the hapless citizens of their repressive states!
I think we might as well admit that many of our politicians and lords of Wall street are using the same deceitful tactics to control our Government and promote only the liberty Of special interests by special interests and for special interests. So help me–all evangelical, fundamental, and non-secular Gods everywhere–Amen!
If we need a typical example of Big brother’s choke hold over those who eventually come to believe all of their double-speak and lies, look no further than Rush Limbaugh, Sarah Palin, Karl Rove, and Fox cable news in general. I am so disgusted by these hate mongering, opinion manipulating, excuses for real journalists, that The freedom loving patriot in me often feels physically sickened by their lies. There is no more need for me to play the game of, Your lie is bigger than my lie, or your political dogma also hypnotizes you. We all know that a truly humane society will value the ability of it’s citizens to obtain health care, and we all know damn well! that running Republicans as Democrats during the recall was a shabby excuse for cheating WITHOUT ANY REAL POLITICAL INTEGRITY!
Before we lose our memories about what our justice, freedom and Democracy (used to be) let’s just quit voting only to line our own wallets. Instead lets vote compassionately to rescue real people, involved with real financial issues, from poverty! Don’t settle for only the false security that you’ll get from BB! That’s all!
Thanks, Dr. E, for that thought- and worry-provoking post and petew for your comments.
As to:
“In the far distance a helicopter skimmed down between the roofs, hovered for an instant like a bluebottle, and darted away again with a curving flight. It was the police patrol, snooping into people’s windows. The patrols did not matter, however. Only the Thought Police mattered.”
Just today, in the news, big debate as to whether private companies, organizations should be able to launch and operate drones, UAV’s, etc. packed with cameras and other “snooping” equipment in our domestic skies…
DDW, “Just today, in the news, big debate as to whether private companies, organizations should be able to launch and operate drones, UAV’s, etc. packed with cameras and other “snooping” equipment in our domestic skies…”
We know that “snooping” is for our own protection, do you have doubts that LB will turn into BB?
Smile for the camera next time you are in Times Square and going through a red light, I am.
Have now started the re-read and here is one that has some present shades coming through, such as Fox News in that Winston’s job is to change history by changing old newspaper records to match with the new truth as decided by the Party.
“He who controls the past, controls the future” is a Party slogan….
*****
“In this sense, one could say Orwell wrote the quintessential Vampire thriller… Big Brother grows ever ruddier, whilst he drains the people who grow more and more pale and gray.”
That makes sense of the vampire fascination among the youth, in that they so often act out and are harbingers of the coming wave.
Excellent post Dr E. Your outline nails the similarities between the fictional society (a warning) and the society we have evolved (devolved) into. Those who can’t or won’t see those similarities are in effect playing the parts BB wants them too. People often know there is something wrong without grasping the reasons for it – and in turn they become fodder for politians who exploit thier anxiety and ignorance. This is where we are now and where we have been throughout the new century so far. Of course we have the potential to understand this and change it, but do we have the collective grokking ability, the courage and the drive? That remains to be seen.
As has been mentioned, there is great power in controlling the meaning of words (Dr E) and in controlling the narratives of history (sparrow). Concerns about big brother were a common theme within the counterculture of the 60′s. It’s interesting to see those concerns emerging in the national consciousness four plus decades later. Will we pay attention this time?
Zephyr, I have another question similar to yours, but different.
Will we even know who else pays attention this time? How do we find out how many others think like us. BB’s true power lay in that those who opposed it could find no other advocates. They existed (else the ministry would have been far smaller), but they could not unite.
Good question Rc. Seems like social networking via internet provides some means for that, but the great number of willing adherents to the status quo are the real problem. Not sure what you do about that.
To ordinarysparrow,
I read your interesting comment concerning personal ego and collective ego, and, I have to admit that much of it rings true.
I think we all are (at times) under the illusion that we must be right as opposed to others who are considered wrong, and I often feel the need to express opinions that are in direct opposition to someone else’s, but I think there is a problem if we think we should give up all of these ego needs.
As Buddhists say, “namaste”–we need to return to innocence. But how can we facilitate that process without passionately opposing the ideas of dictatorial regimes
that would repress all freedoms, including the freedom of allowing individual minds to discriminate between what is true and what is false?
I know that in the final summation, human endeavors may only amount to words against other words and, “vanity of vanities, all is vanity and a striving after the wind.” (this may not be an exact quote from Ecclesiastes).But, I think it is close enough to accurately express it’s authors observations.
Although it is true that I, as well as other’s may often write in order to be “right,” even children constantly ask the question why, and become confused if the answers makes no sense. They are also the ones who are not afraid to cry and be upset if a bully punches them in the shoulder. So, I think it would be a mistake to think that one can never be objectively right–because it is our duty to create a world that will allow us to meditate on our spiritual natures in the first place.
Even though our individual egos may be an illusion, we all have basically the same needs and fears, and these (particularly in a world like BB’s) potentially have the power to crush the very possibility of enlightenment.
I read an account about how a Zen master explained the meaning of enlightenment by standing perfectly still without speaking or making any sounds, for an hour. This answer may well be a powerful statement about avoiding intellectualism, but since the passion to be free of passions is also a passion (or desire) the master would undoubtedly not stand in the way of using words to advocate for human dignity and freedom.
In my youth a popular song (by Buffalo Springfield I think) was titled “For what it’s worth” and pointed to the futility of the polarization that is created by using words, with the lyrics(and this may not be a perfect quote)”people singing songs and carrying sings mostly saying, hooray for my side!”
Obviously we often do polarize each other, but, I do not think that this fact should be used to justify or advocate, that we should consider every argument or outcome to be nothing more than relative and only subjectively true. So I can accept parts of your comments, and this response of mine is probably and effort to be “right”, but, If our eyes are opened about the abuses of power, why in the world shouldn’t we say so by using every word available to us?
I agree petew… one of the differences in the East and the West is the East has much more subtle meaning for ego…being from a Western psychological frame and embracing Eastern philosophy and spirituality has been to see both meanings of who they reflect and at times deflect….
For me the reality created by the egoic is what i dance in every day, but life sure becomes easier as i remember to not buy into the egoic being the enduring reality or identity for myself or anyone else.. I know there is something beyond the egoic reality and find enough peace and sanity there to keep flowing most days…
To engage in the world without ego or story is not possible with a physical body. We live in a world created by
story… i love story, and the egoic reality…lets learn to tell stories that bring us together, seems like a really good story to me…
The world is made of story, and story comes from an individual or collective frame…Story has the capacity to teach us what is real and unreal, what is possible and of value. How could there be story without ego. How could we engage in the world without listening to each others stories? How can we understand anything without storying it?
According to a Hindu myth where the world is upheld by a great elephant called Maha Pudma, who is then supported by the great turtle, Chukwa.
An Englishman asked a sage, what the great turtle rested upon?
Another turtle was the reply.
And what supports the turtle?
Ah, friend, after that it is turtles all the way down.
++++
Our world is created by the stories told from an individual/collective egoic base.
I am not at war with ego or storying…
I dance in a world with stories all the way down…do not advocate the getting rid of ego or the stories we tell ourselves and each other…
Hear where you are coming from, but perhaps you are mistaking me as being alingned in another story…which is okay, for that is part of another story based on our egoic reality…:)
Life becomes easier when we hold and dance within all of our stories and remember there is a loving peaceful silent reality beyond anything that can be put in language for all of us… sometimes it is really nice to sit out some of the dances and know we are all more than what we think about each other and our self.
with kind regards petew… thanks for the exchange…
Hello ordinarysparrow,
I have long been interested in eastern philosophy but presently do not want to become absorbed by it. It seems that whenever I begin to dance against the egoic, as you put it, of course that is just another ego dance.
It is so easy for me to become lost in esoterically “special” ideas and, since I am an obsessive thinker, sometimes I just have to forget about all of my philosophical musings and just laugh at some mundane TV show like, AMERICA’S FAVORITE VIDEOS.
When the idea of enlightenment is viewed as something required, or, some goal to ACHEIVE, I can never feel real acceptance of my life. I really am gravitating toward the idea of giving up the big ideas, or participating in the heavy idologies of life as if they were the only things in life.
I comfort myself by remembering that at the center of all faiths, lies the hope of becoming loving and accepting human beings but, even if the topics in 1984 as well as my own responses are just another dance of the egoic, it is self-defeating to dwell on metaphysical concepts like what it all means and how can my “I” attain or grasp some other ultimate reality.
I can tell that you are concerned about political and social repression because you feel the need to comment about it, and, your description of “wanting to “tell stories that bring us together,” is reassuringly peaceful. I guess I just feel rather rebellious about seeking utter peace without any struggles because we shouldn’t rest in peace until we really are “resting in peace,” and, if there is reality beyond everyday ego, then, by definition,it can never really be known by my ego anyway! At present I desire to come out of my self imposed mental monastery and really stand against some of the injustices I see–actively writing about them if nothing else.
I have come to dislike the notion that everything is relative, and of course, our egos must even dance to eventually be free of dancing. But there are many monks and seekers who hide from life by seriously contemplating things like, whether nuclear explosions really happen since Buddha says,all is an illusion. I feel this is all metaphysical claptrap which is nothing more than another way to escape, and wondered if you were into something similar. I know that there are many levels of spirituality and so, accept my apology if I am wrong.