MY OZ HEALTH

Foreword

THE REALITY

 ‘1984’. The amazing predictions of George Orwell revisited

When consideration is given to the date in the early 1930’s that Orwell’s novel ‘1984’ was written, few people at this time seem to have seriously noticed the remarkable co-relationship between Orwell’s novel with its ‘Big brother’ and ‘brave new world’ scenario and current world wide trends.

Re-reading this novel and relating even the smallest paragraph to today’s society is a mind blowing experience.

This much quoted book despite being slightly out in its predicted date of a differently controlled lifestyle by 1984 is nevertheless extremely relevant today.

There have been many books and essays written dissecting Orwell’s writings, some in great detail with criticisms concerning his negativity and the books political undertones. Some in praise and horror at his imaginative story, but few if any, to my knowledge compared his either intentional or unintentional relevant predictions with current times.

Orwell’s Predictions and my comments

Prediction 1.

BIG BROTHER

Right from the beginning of chapter one in ‘1984’ where the novels hero ‘Winston’ steps out of his run-down unit in a large block of grotty slum flats similar to those built after WW2 in London, Orwell’s amazing predictions flow with seeming ease.

Winston is immediately faced with life-size of posters on each floor featuring a huge face, the eyes in the poster following his every move, a caption beneath says BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.

Comment:

Every dictator or leader elected or un- elected since the 30’s has followed this large picture example: OUR BELOVED LEADER being popular underneath, Stalin, Hitler, Mao, currently North Korea and various South American countries.

Prediction 2.

TELESCREENS.

From inside the flat a voice was reading out the latest government propaganda from a ‘telescreen’ which formed part of the wall. Winston turned a switch to lower the voice and dim the picture.  But there was no way to turn the screen off completely.

Comment:

 A Telescreen, in the 1930’s? Wow, and fixed to the wall as well! The difference with today is that in the story Winston could not turn the TV off. The screen received and transmitted simultaneously. Any sound that Winston made above the level of a whisper would be picked up. Moreover as long as he remained within the field of vision he could be seen as well as heard. The big problem for Winston being that he had no way of knowing whether he was being watched at any given moment.

 Fortunately we have yet to reach the point of reactive TV in our homes but in England there are currently cameras with loudspeakers  in public places manned continuously that are capable of talking to anyone within range. The average person is covered over a hundred times a day.

Prediction 3.

THOUGHTPOLICE

Here Orwell brings in the concept of the ‘thought police’. Was Big brother watching individual screens? And if so, how often? Or maybe watching everybody’s screens at the same time? It was guesswork and so on the assumption that every sound made was overheard and except when dark every movement or facial expression is scrutinized, Winston always endeavoured to keep his back to the screen. To show any emotion could be construed as a ‘facecrime’.

Comment: I get a chill down my spine with the words ‘thought police’. Here is a concept that has been adopted with a great deal of enthusiasm over recent years by all totalitarian regimes and many others. Existing cameras now create face recognition outdoors so how long before facial expressions are considered as facecrimes? Orwell was extremely opposed to rampant communism and what is now called the ‘nanny state’. Watered down to a nanny state makes it sound less threatening.

It is noticeable that the U.K. currently has over a million cameras in public places ostensively to catch criminals. They do catch the odd teenager painting graffiti or maybe the driver of a stolen car, but they also take pictures of harmless civilians to keep in their secret data base. When you think about it, at what cost? And why?

One of Orwell’s other famous books ‘Animal Farm’ was aimed squarely at ‘nanny’ socialism, particularly Stalin’s Russia. It is well worth a read, it is far from being outdated and like 1984 has an important relevance for students of political history.

Prediction 4.

IDENTIFICATION

While dressing in the blue overalls of his workers party uniform he looks out of the window at his workplace, The ‘Ministry of Truth’, a three thousand metre sky scraping monolith.

Comment: The idea of a 3000 metre high office building was radical at that time, as was the workers wearing special party uniforms, these days some form of uniform is mandatory in many countries. Think North Korea and Thailand at present.

PREDICTION 5.

Government Ministries

The ‘Ministry of Truth’ handled one part of the four ministries that represented the overall government. The Ministry of Truth concerned itself with news, education and entertainment; The Ministry of Peace, which dealt with war; The Ministry of Love looked after law and order; and The Ministry of Plenty, which was responsible for economic affairs. There was no mention of any type of elections, there was just Big Brother.

Comment: Don’t you just love the irony of the Ministry Of Peace and Ministry of Love?

Orwell also introduces Big Brother party slogans:

WAR IS PEACE,

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY AND

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH.

These slogans were adapted by Adolph Hitler some 20 years later.

PREDICTION 6.

The dreaded thoughtcrime.

Thoughtcrime is difficult to conceal, you may avoid it successfully for years but when you held a particular view that was considered subversive you would be under constant surveillance, the thought police were bound to get you sometime, somehow, in the future.

There would be no trial, no official reports of the arrest. People simply disappeared, name and all records removed, often their existence denied and forgotten. The word used by the thought police was ‘vaporized’. How descriptive is that?

Comment: This prediction sounds familiar but may not be particularly original as leaders like Stalin were already at that time decimating their own population and Hitler the German Jews. Orwell gave the process a name for the first time; it now has the more modern ‘up to date’ pseudonym of ethnic cleansing. What’s in a name?

Predictions 7.

Public executions and punishment.  Winston visits his next door neighbour whose children are clamouring to witness the public hanging of several prisoners accused of war crimes. With all children being constantly brainwashed by Big Brother, TV propaganda and youth leagues they were taught very successfully to hate adults and to watch their parent’s actions and conversations very closely to possibly denounce them.

 Comment: Throughout history every totalitarian government has used public punishment as a spectator sport for the entertainment of the ignorant masses. The Romans were a great example.  Even in our supposed ‘enlightened’ times this approach is so widespread you would think they have used 1984 as a blueprint. Look no further than Stalin and Hitler, look no further than Iran, and other Middle Eastern countries, where stoning to death, cutting off limbs and vicious canings are well attended as local entertainment.

The brain washing of children is continuous in all societies whether for sweets, junk foods or politics.

Predictions 8.

Wars

Comment: Predicted by Orwell prior to WW2, Winston lives in an almost permanent war with air raids and sheltering with his family in tube stations, which of course actually happened a few years later. The idea of a permanent war after the so called ‘war to end all wars’ in 1914-18 seemed far fetched at the time but haven’t we had almost continuous wars since then? Also he predicted that the wars would eventually be nuclear and that was close to the mark for the time.

Prediction 9

Newspeak

This is a subtle form of control and very important. One of the methods used by Big Brother was an extensive shortening of the everyday vocabulary disguising the fact that the smaller the range of words the more control is allowed over meanings. All shades of these meanings and any ambiguities can thence be removed. The name for literature classics (because all the beauty of our language had been destroyed), then became ‘Oldspeak’, subsequently disappearing altogether.

Comment: Newspeak creates a new language, how about that for anticipating texting? Twittering? It is brilliant prophesising! Also Note the shortening of language to just initials, iPod, GM foods, DVD’s, EMF, EMR etc. Language is a vital part of our existence. Without a full ability to clarify our thoughts and feelings we become virtually mute.

Currently most teenagers and a considerable number of adults have a poor, very limited vocabulary and are bad spellers. So much easier to control! The idea of isolating proportions of the population into different categories and groups reduces individual opinions. Uneducated people were specifically called proles and fed endless junk through media. We currently have generation x and y teenagers and so-called tweenies being fed junk isn’t that familiar?

I rate newspeak as possibly the most dangerous weapon that will be used against us by a New World Order in our coming long term resistance to the ubiquitous Big Brother.

Prediction 10.

Doublethink.

Comment: doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one’s mind simultaneously and accepting both of them. This was called reality control and created doubts about people’s memory and their past. Big Brother refers to the continuation of lies, repeating the same story on the basis that if all information sources were the exactly the same then the lies pass into history. Hence Orwell’s famous line ‘Who controls the past, controls the future and who controls the present controls the past’.

Currently all media is used extensively and successfully by governments to brainwash citizens.

 LIES, LIES, LIE…

It seems that a lot people are finally awakening to the fact that it is not a good idea to blindly accept the manipulating lies with which we are daily brainwashed, particularly by the communications media. It is currently totally acceptable and sensible nowadays to be cynical and critical of any source of information, particularly when associated with politics, big business and the media. For how long I wonder?

The ‘information’ age has literally turned upon itself.

George Orwell in his prophetic book said, “Political language…is designed to make lies sound truthful…and give an appearance of solidarity to pure wind.”

Hitler’s propaganda henchman Dr Goebells said, “If you tell people a big enough lie, often enough, they will believe it.”

There are many definitions of lies and the Thesaurus has a great source of words to describe the distorting and twisting of any facts. Among the word variations that cover outrageous manipulations that we experience daily are fabrication, misstatement, falsification, evasion, deceit and deception.

A lie is the deliberate withholding of any part of the truth from someone who has a right to know.

People are becoming accustomed to receiving deceit and deception. We are being constantly lied to by governments, government officials, drug companies, multinational industry, food companies and politicians. Lied to by media, by both employer’s and by unions. Lied to in financial transactions, stockholders reports and false corporate statements. Lied to by advertising and anyone trying to make money to our disadvantage.

Falsification has been piled onto fabrication, until lying –through omission, distortion, bias or clever wording – has become a way of life! The list is truly endless.

Currently an innocuous name is used to cover the lies. Instead of the old menacing word ‘propaganda’ it has become ‘spin.’ Less obvious than doublethink perhaps, but the same, nevertheless

Life is like a jigsaw puzzle, but without the picture on the front of the box, so that you don’t know what it’s really supposed to be like.

Big brother governments, multinationals and media are clever enough to make sure you don’t always have all the pieces!

Try to look at the motives behind everything you hear and see, there is always a motive. Keep an open mind and treat all information with a reasonable amount of suspicion. Look for seemingly reliable sources, as I do. We need to be constantly alert and aware! Question me if you wish.

We all know there is plenty of truth in our universe; sometimes it’s just a bit difficult to find. It is such a pity we have to look so hard for it.

 Predictions 11.

Total control

Comment:

Eventually Orwell’s character Winston is caught by the thought police tortured and brainwashed to love and accept Big Brother, even to the point of agreeing that 2 plus 2 equals 5. Prisoners of war are currently brainwashed by various regimes in the name of peace. Even so- called civilized countries are guilty of appalling acts, even on women and children.

Brain washing is used to create altered mind states and acceptance of a so – called brave new world. We become totally at the mercy of social engineering.

Free speech?

 Nowadays all over the world free speech is becoming a rarity. Every part of our lives is being recorded; think of mobiles, face book and twitter. Can we speak openly? If we do it will have to be ‘politically correct’. 

Politically correct and privacy?

 With the advent of modern technology there is no such thing as privacy. The speed of which this has happened would have been beyond even Orwell’s comprehension. However his concept of Big Brother is valid and we still need to be very alert. Our personal mobile phones and computers are a mine of information for authorities

For example, even now The South Australian government has new laws opposing free speech ‘specifically for political comment’. This law applies to blogs, face book and twitter, mobiles as well as the general media.

In Venezuela there are laws forbidding citizens from making comments that could be seen as causing instability, a broad phrase that could be construed as words against the President. Brazilians have microchips in their groceries to track eating habits. The new Apple Iphones can apparently view the inside of your home and also access someone else’s phone details. (Next stop Telescreens?). In Australia and the U.K. which are perfect examples of countries becoming politically correct ‘nanny’ states with new laws being introduced constantly by paranoid politicians particularly when elections loom. Bumper stickers that could be construed by anyone as racist are banned in most countries. The U.K is undoubtedly the worst, particularly in regards to politically correctness.

The British used to be the home of the free but are now the home of Big Brother.

 It is insidious, just one bite at a time and suddenly we are slaves to outlandish laws with no privacy at all.  The American government and BP oil banned journalists, photographers and all media from accessing the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Also the Japanese radiation disaster.  Why? Because the problem is obviously worse than officially reported. That is Big Brother in action!

SUMMING UP All of this article with its dissection of one man’s perceptions of a nightmare future should be studied by young people who are more than likely to be the ones affected but unsurprisingly don’t want to know about it. The above predictions have unfortunately not been as outlandish as originally thought.

There is always more:  Scientists funded by governments are now seriously considering implanting microchips in babies to permanently oversee every part of their lives with the excuse of ‘monitoring’ their health. This is ironical because there is a considerable doubt about the safety of the implants. The amount of information gathered would include both physical and mental medication, illegal drugs, diet and be available to ‘approved doctors and bureaucrats’. (Surely we see through that?). New rules, new technocrats, new power, continuous organised confusion? Then it’s all working already.

The aim of total Government control all over the world  of our lives through media, science, big pharma and policing is closer than you think and getting closer all the time. Read Aldous Huxley’s predicted vision of a ‘Brave New World’ with mass cloning, in his book written in 1932. Huxley was also ahead of his time and it makes very thought provoking reading.

Want more?

With new inventions appearing almost daily who knows what to expect?

The emergence of ‘political correctness’ warrants deeper thoughts and comments on mind control.

Would up-dates on this subject would be of any benefit to you?  I’m willing to do it, just email me if you are interested.

Someone once said “Ignorance is bliss”.

Is it?

Think about that because believe me…