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Essay / The Prophecies of George Orwell in 1984
1984, a novel by George Orwell, takes you on a journey through a dystopian version of Oceania where two protagonists try to keep their illegal romantic relationships secret in different ways through party members. spy on them. The two lovers never seem to be safe with undisclosed microphones and cameras embedded in the streets they walk, the places they work and even their homes. In today's world, the American people are always wondering whether or not our government is invading our privacy or even spying on us through our technology, and why shouldn't they? With today's technology, the government could easily monitor an unsuspected person through their personal devices. And not only that, we help them by taking photos of our daily lives and literally posting them on the internet for everyone to see. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay George Orwell's blood-curdling prophecies about the future of our society correspond to the controversial topics of the unknown if we are monitored through our personal devices, surveillance on the street and the use of spies from the NOC. Currently, the methods used by the government to monitor the population in today's America are certainly not as extreme as the methods used by party members in 1984, but today's society makes it seem like we are Let's move towards a more dystopian society. surveillance cameras on the streets of America are produced with the aim of observing a specific area. Whether it's on the streets of New York, in a bank, or in a jewelry store, they all serve to identify crime before it happens and hopefully dispatch law enforcement officers to assess the situation in time. More and more surveillance cameras are produced each year, and the data collected by these devices has increased each year, from 2,000 petabytes in 2018 to approximately 2,500 petabytes in 2019. To put that into perspective, 567 petabytes of data equals to all current Netflix users streaming 1.2 hours of ultra-high definition content simultaneously. Now, some might wonder how this fits with the incessant number of hidden cameras and microphones described in Orwell's 1984. If cameras prevent crime, then what's the problem? Well, the problem comes when cameras are used more to control people than to help them. In the novel, our two main characters are not even able to have a conversation without being spied on by members of the Big Brother group, unless they are in a place where microphones cannot be placed. "Yes. Look at the trees. There's nothing big enough to hide a microphone in. Besides, I've been here before" (Orwell 119). Both of our characters were doing nothing legally wrong by today's standards , but still had to keep a simple conversation secret because it does not fit with the party process or the plan to control their people in order to have absolute power over them “We are not only interested in the good of others; in power” (Orwell 263 Displayed atop the Ministry of Truth, the slogan “Freedom is Slavery” is a simple reminder to all people of Oceania that an independent man is whoever is). doomed to failure Get everyone to believe in this, and then you will get the following slogan: "Ignorance is strength". This could also be read as "Your ignorance is our strength".in case the party makes sure that everyone is unaware that they are working as slaves of the government, then the effectiveness of creating this social structure for which they are striving for increases. . The third and final slogan, "War is Peace", means that even though Oceania is constantly going through war situations and everyone acts as if there is peace everywhere, the party could instantly change the situation. state of emotion of the people as they wish. In summary, the party uses these three slogans to maintain constant and absolute power over their people and if the US government started using a similar tactic to keep everyone under control, then the surveillance cameras you see on the streets would serve to stop people from taking action against the government and Orwell. the prophecies would be about to come true. Millions of Americans today are terrified that someone might be watching them through the cameras on their phones and computers. Whether it's a hacker or the CIA, no one wants unwanted eyes searching their personal devices. When former FBI Director James Comey was asked whether or not he covered his computer's webcam with duct tape, he responded, "Hell, yes, yes." Also, I get made fun of for a lot of things, and I get made fun of a lot for this, but I hope people lock their cars… lock your doors at night. I have an alarm system, if you have an alarm system you should use it, I use mine. If a former FBI director is afraid of people looking at him through his camera, why shouldn't the rest of us be too? So who exactly could be monitoring us through our personal devices? Well, government security agencies like the NSA could gain access to your devices through built-in backdoors. This means they can read your messages, listen to your phone calls and take a photo of you whenever they want. Hackers also pose a significant threat to your personal device through apps and multimedia messages. Therefore, it is not so unimaginable that someone is monitoring you through your phone or laptop while having no idea about the situation. The correlation with the novel is that no one really knows if they are being heard or seen. This is realized when O'brien confronts Whinston about the diary. “Do you remember, writing in your journal, that freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two makes four? » (Orwell 249). Winston was aware of the dangers of keeping a diary, but if he had known the party was watching, he wouldn't have had it in the first place. The uncertainty of absolute intimacy is also manifested when an iron voice echoed to Winston and Julia as they spoke in Charrington's room. “You are the dead, said an iron voice behind them” (Orwell 221). That's when a painting was ripped off their bedroom wall, revealing a TV screen with Big Brother's face on it. They didn't know there were microphones and cameras in the room all the time. Unfortunately, the novel doesn't give an easy critique or flaw to this whole situation, as it ended with their capture. However, this tells you that there would still be people who wouldn't accept the lack of privacy if the government decided to start wiring private places with microphones. Overall, the idea of our privacy being violated by our personal devices isn't too far-fetched. If the government wanted to, they could watch you in your home, just like in 1984. Spies, CNO spies, personal government spies, these are the guys who 1984.