1984 #3

North Korea is intimidating in the way it is so much like 1984. The more I thought about North Korea, the more I realized, there is so many similarities. Both countries are directed by a person who more or less stays out of the public eye. In North Korea, Kim Jong II has been portrayed saying few words, as the video said some have only seen him say one phrase. In 1984, Big Brother is never viewed, but he is just portrayed around the country and worshiped reguardless of their involvement. Winston's thoughts are directed around this character that never really shows up. 1984 and North Korea are also both very good at playing with the fears and emotions of their citizens. In 1984 they play off the sexual frustrations of their citizens. Julia even stated that "The Party channels the energy from sexual frustration into fear." Pg (142) In North Korea, they exploit the dangers that occur outside of North Korea into convincing the citizens that they are in the safest area so they never want to leave. Also, there is a great amount of surveillance occuring in both countries. The simple line in 1984 drives everyone by saying that "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU." (page 2) This regulates everyones means of everyday life in the story. In North Korea, much is the same. They monitor the behavior of their citizens, and anything considered different is up for discussion in the government.

1984 #2

Censorship, although it doesn't completely eliminate any words, is becoming intimidatingly close to being like the Newspeak discussed in George Orwell's 1984. Newspeak is one of the only languages every represented that actually gets smaller every year due to the want to keep everything simple, and to make sure peoples thoughts aren't running in any direction that the totalitarian government doesn't want to see. Censorship today, as presented by Thin Gruel, is becoming more prevalent. Censorship is being driven by the fact that youth shouldn't be exposed to such wrong things. Thin Gruel specifically states that there is belief that the youth of America should only be exposed to things praising our country. I found it a bit ridiculous when the article discussed how people believed our history books should only represent the good of America. When are people going to wake up and realize, American history is not all rays of sunshine, but rather a brutal struggle with a lot of monstrosities occurring along the way. Trying to feed us lies about how great America was and only the good things is not only giving inaccurate information, but rather it's giving false sense of accomplishment. But, that's how I see 1984 and censorship today are hand in hand, because the government is so attached to the fact that they need to bring themselves up in the peoples eyes. In 1984, Big Brother is portrayed everywhere and only brought up to be good. Through the use of Newspeak, they are eliminating the ablility to even think different thoughts about Big Brother. 1984 is extreme, but not too far off from where we could and very well may be if censorship is continually allowed.

1984

"The power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them....To tell deliberate lies while genuinely believing in them, to forget any fact that has become inconvenient, and then, when it becomes necessary again, to draw it back from oblivion for just so long as it is needed, to deny the existence of objective reality and all the while to take account of the reality which one denies — all this is indispensably necessary. Even in using the word doublethink it is necessary to exercise doublethink. For by using the word one admits that one is tampering with reality; by a fresh act of doublethink one erases this knowledge; and so on indefinitely, with the lie always one leap ahead of the truth." Double think is the process of basically accepting two complete opposite truths, and applying them to different situations. It can be basically summed up with one word, hypocrisy. When this occurs in 1984, they forget what the hypocrisy and actual difference between the two things were. Using doublethink, the party is allowed to maintain their excessive goals but also retain reasonable expectations. In 1984, this avoids the whole idea of messengers, which creates a sense of ability and control. One very famous politician I can think of that used language to distort reality is none other than George Bush. Weapons of mass destruction, did we ever find them? No. But, yet we're still at war. All because George Bush used his words to get us there. Lies and distorted reality are the reason we're in Iraq. Also, distorted truth is in large presence in Nixon's watergate scandal. His lies and deceits were present, and although he tried to deny them, it was one area where he did get caught although he used his words in order to try and distort the truth.

Cloning

Cloning: a way to make life more valuable or a way to work about mother nature? I'd like to say i was anti cloning, but I can't completely say that's true. As seeing the effects of my own family members needing and waiting for organs, I think therapeutic cloning is a good idea. But, my biggest question is, how does this affect our world? I guess I've always thought things happened for a reason, and disease was the worlds way of diminishing the population and allowing for a new generation to pass through. What will happen if we allow cloning to double the life span? Also, I think the idea of using animal organs to substitute for human organs, as portrayed in the video, is a process that is brutal to animals. Also, I don't think it's safe for us as humans to receive organs for animals as animals and humans were certainly not designed the same way. As a whole, I think cloning even organs is a bad idea, but on a personal level I believe it's beneficial. I guess that's just part of human nature occurring. I believe that cloning for purposes of having kids, even if infertile, is wrong. There are thousands of people in this world who have no parents and no where to live. I know some people want a kid with their own genetics, but I just don't think it a legitimate reason enough to support cloning. I also believe that the more cloning that occurs, the more our world is going to be like that of Brave New World, as cloning humans takes away the family dynamic of our present society. As showed in the video, it takes away the parent aspect used in the video and points out that children will have no connection to one of their parents. This could eventually cause quite a bit of psychological problems. Cloning for the ideas of removing certain diseases in a blood line I believe sends a right message, but I believe that if we allow for it, the process with never contain itself. It kills me to know that children such as the child of Ricky and Lori Riggins is dealing with a illness such as SCIDS, and many children never have to deal with it. But, in my ideals, as it may be coming from my religion, does it really make you want to love your child less because they are affected by such a disease? I know life is hard with those from a disease, but many have done it before, and many will do it again. I also believe cloning animals for food is wrong. When the video showed the idea of mixing two separate types of chickens to make a stronger chicken, i couldn't help but think about how that was completely against nature. The black chicken and the yellow chickens proved to be some type of big chicken with impossible breeding potential. Although I believe cloning is wrong, there is one way I find for true possible cloning potential: For young children.

MARX

Marx's theories strongly support the unified communism, because it takes away the competition for private property. Private property is what causes the "inevitable" class differences within the capitalist system. As Marx says, "labour is therefore not voluntary, but coerced; it is a forced labor." Labour, because it's so forced, causes everyone to compete for a higher position, in Marx's view, and private property is the driving force behind this competition for higher wages. Marx believes this could be fixed through communism. Personally, I don't agree with Marx. I don't believe his ideas of the "abolition of property in land and application of all rents on land to public purposes" or any ideas found in the ruling ideas of communism would benefit a society. I think, as found in America, competition is what drives our country. I realize that as a country of choice, I have different views than many others in the world. But, would taking away our private property, the reward of our hard work, be the right way to go? I do agree that communism unionizes the classes, but I don't believe that the unionizing is the right way to look at it. As seen in Brave New World, communism is a way of giving off false happiness, because it basically tells one to be happy. This idea of false happiness is wrong, because I believe everyone should be able to see their benefits of hard work and what it does for oneself.

"A gramme is better than a damn"

"A gramme is always better than a damn" is a quote that caught my eye even before it was pointed out. I thought it summed up the idea of soma perfectly, as it basically says it's better to have drugs and a false sense of happiness to cover up and disguise any real problems occurring around a person. The use of Soma is so popularized throughout the book. It blows my mind how these people can turn to one drug to deal with their problems. For example, when Lenina uses Soma to knock her out for almost 20 hours because she felt uncomfortable about visiting the reservation really hit hard for me. It showed me that emotions were so highly frowned upon, it was better to knock yourself into a happy state instead of dealing with any emotion considered "unstable." This society is so highly based on stability, it is willing to do anything to keep each and every citizen in one mind set. Having everyone in a mind set is not only stable, but much easier to control as they are never questioning the government. It seems as if the world state thrives off of false happiness and complete control. This highly reminds me of dictatorships around the world today, such as Korea. For the people in Korea, they are all kept in one mind set, in approval of the government, which is how the country remains in a stabilized form. It seems as if in these highly governed areas, it is that "a gramme is always better than a damn."

Brave New World #1

The World State is a place that has given nothing but the option of being happy to it's citizens, as it has taken away the thinking of life and allowed everyone to be brainwashed into the fact that they are happy. Choices, the very dilemma of life and the causes of much stress, are non-existent in this place. Humans don't even have a choice of what life they are going to live, as they are mixed up in a bottle in order to create the caste system provided for them. The fact that they decide who will be intelligent and working which jobs takes away the majority of stress in life. They even brainwash them into thinking their lives are alright. For example, they have the kids repetitively listen to "Alpha children wear grey. They work much harder than we do, because they're so frightfully clever. I'm awfully glad I'm a Beta, because I don't work so hard. And then we are much better than the Gammas and Deltas. Gammas are stupid. They all wear green, and Delta children wear khaki. Oh no, I don't want to play with Delta children. And Epsilons are still worse. They're too stupid to be able to read or write. Besides they wear black, which is such a beastly color. I'm so glad I'm a Beta." (Chapter 2) With as much sex and soma as they have, you'd believe there is no room for unhappiness. Well the problem with soma and this World State, is that they've mistaken the truth and happiness. Everyone within this society has deluded themselves by the use of soma, a drug used to allow everyone to escape from the trials and tribulations of daily life. The problem is, for those outsiders, or labeled unfit for their caste are left to question the real quality of life provided in the world state, such as John (too small to fit his category) or Helmholtz (too perfect to fit his society. The reason this world society is so wrong, is because it has taken away all aspects of being human. The choices, the "instability," and the over all chaos that makes society develop has been torn away from society. This leaves those with an opinion a threat.